Top Questions as Dodgers, Blue Jays Face Off in First Meeting Since World Series

Shohei Ohtani, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and the rest of the crew that gave us that epic 2025 World Series are back on the same diamond since that amazing Fall Classic. It's an early-season reunion between the two-time World Series champion Dodgers and the stout Blue Jays squad they took down in seven games, starting with Monday's matchup. Breaking down the teams and how they've looked so far ahead of their three-game series. 1. Three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer is expected to take the mound for the Blue Jays on Monday, while the Dodgers have Shohei Ohtani set for Wednesday. How realistic will it be for Ohtani to win that award? Kavner: Ask Dave Roberts or any of Ohtani’s teammates, and it’s clear that winning a Cy Young is on the two-way player’s mind. "You can tell with the way he carries himself," Dodgers catcher Dalton Rushing said this spring. "He’s the greatest, and he wants to be the greatest." Now that Ohtani’s a back-to-back champ, he has pretty much done everything else imaginable on a baseball field. The only year he didn’t win an MVP trophy the last five seasons is the season he finished fourth in American League Cy Young Award voting in 2022. He hit 34 home runs that year and had a 2.33 ERA in 166 innings. He would probably need to throw at least that many innings again if he wants a realistic shot at winning his first Cy Young in 2026, and he would need to be considerably better in the innings he pitches than the other contenders, who are almost certain to throw more innings than him. Ohtani is expected to go wire-to-wire on the mound this year after being slow-played in 2025, but the Dodgers will still be mindful of keeping him as fresh as possible by extending his rest between starts at times as the season moves forward. Over the last 30 years, only one starting pitcher — Corbin Burnes in 2021 — has thrown fewer than 170 innings and won a Cy Young. Perhaps Ohtani could make it a second. It has to be considered a longshot, given his two-way duties and the Dodgers’ desire to be as healthy as possible in October, but he tends to amaze and redefine the limits of what’s possible when he puts his mind to something. 2. Despite the pitching injuries the Blue Jays have, do these two teams have the best set of arms in baseball? Thosar: The Dodgers are in that conversation, but the Blue Jays’ pitching staff isn’t at the top of the heap, even though their arms are still very good. Toronto’s Dylan Cease has ace-level stuff while being frustratingly inconsistent. To demonstrate that point, Cease’s Blue Jays debut couldn’t have gone much better after the right-hander struck out 12 and held the Athletics to one run in 5 ⅓ innings. But he was less dominant in his second start as he struggled with control issues and gave up three runs over 4 ⅓ innings against the White Sox. Kevin Gausman has pitched like an ace so far this year, piling up 21 strikeouts in two starts, and he was impressive in the postseason last year, but he’s 35 now and projected to decline over the course of the season. Injured starters Trey Yesavage, Cody Ponce, Shane Bieber and Jose Berrios make up for an assortment of talented arms, but even if they were all healthy, the Blue Jays are still on the periphery of being considered a top-5 rotation in baseball. But the Dodgers? They have legitimate Cy Young award contenders in Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Ohtani leading the starting five. Roki Sasaki has Yamamoto’s durability last year (30 regular-season starts, followed by six postseason outings) was nothing short of incredible. Even though he’s an anomaly in the rotation, with Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell being elite-tier arms but injury-prone starters, the Dodgers are able to slow-play pitcher recoveries and overcome lengthy absences thanks to their excellent depth. Pitchers like Emmett Sheehan, River Ryan, Gavin Stone, and Justin Wrobleski are considered depth on the Dodgers. Anywhere else, those arms would be rotation regulars. Los Angeles’ star power, consistency, and ridiculously large quantity of high-quality arms put it at the top of any rankings. 3. Let's talk hitters: Who has started hot? Who needs to shake off the offseason rust? Kavner: On a team that features three former MVPs, it’s a player who went 4-for-51 last postseason who’s carrying the Dodgers’ offense. Andy Pages can be prone to volatility at the plate, but the Dodgers are riding the roller-coaster up right now. The 25-year-old outfielder entered Sunday leading all of MLB in hits (15), with nearly twice as many as the next closest hitter on the Dodgers. Pages started the season 15-for-30, also leading the team in home runs (3) and RBI (10). The Dodgers needed to find that production from somewhere, with their stars struggling through the first week of the season. Entering this weekend’s series in Washington, the batting averages of the top three hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup — Shohei Ohtani, Kyle Tucker and Mookie Betts — were all in the .100 range. The Nos. 4 and 5 hitters, Freddie Freeman (.208) and Will Smith (.200), weren’t much better. This weekend was a reminder that it’s still not worth overreacting to any numbers we see, good or bad. Each of the top four hitters in the Dodgers’ lineup homered on Friday, and Ohtani, Tucker, Freeman and Smith each had multiple hits Saturday. Already, the best hitters in the lineup are getting their averages up to more respectable numbers. The only worry now is the health of Betts, who was placed on the injured list with an oblique strain. The Blue Jays have had their own surprises, as the typically light-hitting Andres Gimenez, who was coming off his worst-hitting season as a big-leaguer, has been the best hitter on the team. He has knocked in more runs than anyone on the team, and after hitting just seven home runs all of last year, he already has two. That total is tied with Kazuma Okamato, who has struck out in nearly half of his at-bats as a big-leaguer but has otherwise performed well, and George Springer for the most on the team. Springer, however, has been unable to reproduce last year’s resurgent year to this point, and Addison Barger has started 1-for-16 at the plate following last year’s breakout. 4. Way-too-early take: Are these two teams the teams to beat in their respective leagues? Thosar: The Blue Jays aren’t the team to beat in the American League right now — that characterization belongs to the 8-1 Yankees after their red-hot start to the season — but Toronto is definitely in the mix to be a playoff threat. The Jays have a strong, balanced roster that’s hungry to finish what they started during last year’s captivating run to the World Series. As previously mentioned, their pitching is good but not dominant, and several injuries in the rotation are already cause for concern. The success of the offense, led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Springer, is dependent on big steps forward from potential breakout hitters like Barger and Okamoto. Still, the Jays should be right behind New York and neck and neck with the Mariners to finish as a top-two team in the A.L. The Dodgers are the favorites to win the World Series and three-peat, making them the unequivocal team to beat in the National League. They addressed their two major weaknesses (the outfield and bullpen) in dramatic fashion this past offseason. They signed the consensus top free agent in outfielder Tucker and shocked everyone by acquiring the game’s top closer in Diaz. Los Angeles’ roster depth is unrivaled. The Dodgers’ phenomenal farm system will help them address any potential holes at the trade deadline. Finally, their postseason grit and back-to-back championship pedigree means they’ve proven they can get it done in October, and there’s no reason to doubt them now.