The script for how a particular game could go south for the Los Angeles Dodgers was followed to a tee in this blowout Blue Jays win to open the World Series. Much was made of the battle between elite swing-and-miss stuff from the Dodgers starter and a contact-oriented approach from the Blue Jays lineup. Contact alone will only take you so far, and it’s important not to gloss over the many home runs hit by Toronto in Game 1. At the heart of the Blue Jays’ success was an innate ability to avoid strikeouts, keeping Blake Snell from getting in a groove throughout the whole evening.

As was the case in the matchup against the Brewers, Snell faced a righty-heavy lineup in Toronto with Daulton Varsho and ninth-hole hitter Andrés Giménez as the only two lefty presences. This once again led the Dod

See Full Page