The 2025 World Series, which begins tonight, will feature a battle between two slugging first baseman - Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) and Freddie Freeman - who are eligible to play for Canada at the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

October 24, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Canadian Baseball Network

The last time there was a World Series game played in Toronto, Joe Carter was joyfully skipping around the bases after his walk-off home run off Philadelphia Phillies closer Mitch Williams.

With the Blue Jays trailing the Seattle Mariners 3-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series on Monday, George Springer authored his own “Joe Carter” moment when he belted a three-run homer to give the Blue Jays a 4-3 victory and their first Fall Classic berth in 32 years.

This year’s World Series, which begins tonight at 8 p.m. E.T. at Rogers Centre, will feature the Blue Jays and ALCS MVP Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.) facing off against reigning World Series MVP Freddie Freeman and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Both of these slugging first basemen are eligible to play for Canada in the World Baseball Classic. Freeman, who was born in California to two Canadian parents - is the most likely to do so.

The scrappy Blue Jays have captured the hearts of Canadians. Sportsnet is reporting record TV ratings and tickets for Game 1 in Toronto are fetching four and five figures.

Whatever way Canadian baseball fans choose to watch the Blue Jays, their beloved club will face their toughest test yet in the 2024 World Series champion Dodgers.

Unlike last off-season, we can say definitively that two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani - fresh off a historic three-home run, six scoreless inning performance in Game 4 of the NLCS against the Milwaukee Brewers - was on a flight to Toronto this week. Joining him are fellow future Hall of Famers Freeman, Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw, as well as ex-Jay Teoscar Hernandez who has four home runs this postseason.

The Dodgers are the favourites to repeat as champions, but the Blue Jays have thrived as underdogs all season.

They are also likely have team RBI leader Bo Bichette back on their roster after he missed more than six weeks with a knee injury.

So buckle up Blue Jays fans and enjoy the first World Series games played in Canada in more than three decades.

Here’s a deeper look at the Canadian content on the Blue Jays and Dodgers:

Toronto Blue Jays

Regular season record: 94-68

Postseason record: 7-4 (Beat Yankees in ALDS 3-1, Beat Mariners in ALCS 4-3).

Prior to the start of the postseason, I wrote that for the Blue Jays to make a deep postseason run, they will need Guerrero Jr. - the only Canadian-born player on their roster - to rediscover his power stroke.

Well, guess what?

Guerrero Jr. has rediscovered his power stroke — big time.

He homered in each of the first three games of the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees and then became the first player in major league history to have nine hits and nine RBIs in the first four games of a postseason.

He followed that up by going 10-for-26 with three more home runs in seven games against the Mariners and was named ALCS MVP.

His combined numbers this postseason include a .442/.510/.930 slash line with six home runs and 12 RBIs in 11 games. He also has 11 runs, a 1.440 OPS and has outperformed American League MVP favourites Aaron Judge and Cal Raleigh.

And with the probable return of Bichette, who should hit behind him in the order, Guerrero Jr. is likely to see better pitches in the Fall Classic.

Players: 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (Montreal, Que.)

Major league coaches: Alex Andreopoulos (Toronto, Ont.), bullpen catcher; Sam Greene (born in Philadelphia, spent five years in Montreal attending McGill, mother is from Thetford Mines, Que.), assistant pitching coach

Trainers/Medical staff: Voon Chong (Vancouver, BC), assistant trainer; Drew MacDonald (Teeswater, Ont.), assistant trainer; John Biggar (Toronto, Ont.), physical therapist; Dr. David Lawrence (Toronto, Ont.), head primary care physician; Dr. Jason Smith (Toronto, Ont.) consulting orthopedic surgeon; Jeremy Trach (Coquitlam, B.C.), major league assistant strength & conditioning coach

Clubhouse staff: Scott Blinn (Toronto, Ont.), director, major league clubhouse operations; Mustafa (Moose) Hassan (Toronto, Ont.), home clubhouse manager, equipment; Kevin Malloy (Pickering, Ont.), senior manager, visiting clubhouse

Minor league players: OF Dasan Brown (Oakville, Ont.), RHP Micah Bucknam (Abbotsford, BC), C Nicolas Deschamps (Quebec, Que.), LHP Adam Macko (Stony Plain, Alta.), LHP Connor O’Halloran (Mississauga, Ont.), 3B Damiano Palmegiani (Surrey, BC), INF-OF Tim Piasentin (Coquitlam, BC), INF Sam Shaw (Victoria, BC.), RHP Aiden Taggart (Grimsby, Ont.), 3B Sam White (Aurora, Ont.)

Executives: Edward Rogers (Toronto, Ont.), executive chair of the board; Andrew Tinnish (Ottawa, Ont.), vice-president, international scouting and baseball operations; Marnie Starkman (Mississauga, Ont.), executive vice-president, business operations; Paul Beeston (Welland, Ont.), president emeritus; Paul Quantrill (Port Hope, Ont.), special assistant to player development; Mark Ditmars (Toronto, Ont.), vice-president, partnerships; Devin McElroy (Toronto, Ont.), director, ticket sales and business development; Michelle Seniuk (Oakville, Ont.), vice-president, fan experience; Alex Wong (Toronto, Ont.), senior vice-president, strategy and analytics, technology and events business development

Front office staff: Charlie Wilson (Toronto, Ont.), director, minor league operations; Spencer Estey (Toronto, Ont.), senior software engineer; Anna Coppola (Windsor, Ont.), executive assistant to the GM; Gabrielle Campos (Brampton, Ont.), senior data engineer, baseball systems; Jeremy Reesor (Stouffville, Ont.), vice president, baseball operations; Clare Padmore (Toronto, Ont.), senior manager, biomechanist; John Meloche (Pakenham, Ont.), lead developer, baseball systems; Liam Stevenson (Toronto, Ont.), senior data scientist; Anthony Lucchese (Toronto, Ont.), quality assurance analyst; Rodney Hiemstra, manager, team travel; Alykhan Ravjiani (Toronto, Ont.), senior manager, social media and real time content;

Minor League coaches/staff: Ashley Stephenson (Mississauga, Ont.), position coach, Dunedin Blue Jays; Brent Lavallee (North Delta, BC), field manager, New Hampshire Fisher Cats; Stephanie Boville (Waterloo, Ont.), nutritionist, New Hampshire Fisher Cats; Tyler Dobos (Ancaster, Ont.), pitching resource analyst; Shelby Nelson (Toronto, Ont.), vice-president, Florida operations; Noah Or (Richmond, BC), strength and conditioning coach, Vancouver Canadians; Katie Reyes (Surrey, BC), athletic therapist, Vancouver Canadians; Jaimie Vieira (Georgetown, Ont.), minor league hitting coach

Scouts/Player Performance: Kory Lafreniere (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.) assistant director, amateur scouting; Jon Lalonde (Midland, Ont.), manager, player personnel; Kevin Briand (Montreal, Que.), Jay Lapp (London, Ont.), Adam Arnold (London, Ont.), Jasmin Roy (Longueuil, Que.), Rene Tosoni (Port Coquitlam, B.C.), Patrick Griffin (Oakville, Ont.), Matt McCue (Bradford, Ont.), international scouting analyst; Tommy Farah (Ottawa, Ont.) senior analyst, pro scouting; Megan Evans (Brooklin, Ont.), Graydon Carruthers (Toronto, Ont.), senior data scientist; Julio Ramirez (Toronto, Ont.), senior coordinator, international scouting; Dan Goldberg (Toronto, Ont.), lead data scientist; Ryan Mittleman (Toronto, Ont.) vice-president, pro scouting; Josh Goreham (Halifax, NS), lead performance analyst; Peter L’Oiseau (Gatineau, Que.), data scientist; Matt McCue (Bradford, Ont.), international scouting analyst; Liam Ralph (King City, Ont.), baseball research analyst; Liam Stevenson (Toronto, Ont.), senior data scientist

And the media relations team of: Andrea Goldstein (Toronto, Ont.), vice-president, communications; Madeleine Davidson (Toronto, Ont.), director, business communications; Adam Felton (Georgetown, Ont.) director, baseball communications; Simon Wells (Toronto, Ont.), manager, baseball information.

Freddie Freeman, who is a dual American-Canadian citizen, was the 2024 World Series MVP with the Dodgers.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Regular season record: 93-69

Postseason record: 9-1 (Beat Reds 2-0 in Wild Card Series, Defeated Phillies 3-1 in NLDS, Beat Brewers 4-0 in NLCS)

The Dodgers don’t have a player born in Canada on their roster, however, as noted earlier, Freeman’s parents were born north of the border, and he played for Canada in the 2017 and 2023 World Baseball Classics.

Prior to the 2022 season, Freeman inked a six-year, $162-million contract with the Dodgers. And he certainly hasn’t disappointed. He has been an All-Star in each of his four seasons with the club. In 2025, he batted .295 and had a .367 on-base percentage with 24 home runs and 90 RBIs in 147 games. But he has had an uncharacteristically quiet postseason, going 9-for-39 (.231 batting average) with just a solo home run. Remember, however, that this is a guy who had four home runs and 12 RBIs in five games in last year’s Fall Classic to almost single-handedly lead the Dodgers past the Yankees. And in the past, the deeper Freeman’s teams have gotten in the postseason, the better he is.

Ellen Harrigan (Beeton, Ont.) is the Los Angeles Dodgers’ vice-president, baseball administration.

The Dodgers also employ Beeton, Ont., native Ellen Harrigan, who is one of Major League Baseball’s most respected executives. After beginning her career with the Blue Jays as an administrative aide in player development in 1981 and later becoming the general manager of the club’s New York Penn League affiliate in St. Catharines, Harrigan moved on to the Dodgers and has risen through the organization’s ranks to hold a number of key executive positions. Now in her 26th season with the club, she is currently the team’s vice-president, baseball administration.

Player: Freddie Freeman (Villa Park, Calif.), WBC eligible

Executive: Ellen Veronica Harrigan (Beeton, Ont.), senior director, baseball administration

Minor league players: LHP Shane Brinham (North Vancouver, B.C.), OF Charles Davalan (St-Bruno-De-Montarville, Que.), RHP Cam Leiter (Bayville, N.J., lived for part of his youth in Vancouver, B.C.), RHP Lucas Wepf (Georgetown, Ont.)

Doctor: Dr. Keith Pyne (Niagara On The Lake, Ont.), medical consultant

Glew: Freeman vs. Guerrero Jr. in 2025 World Series