Baseball is Bleeding Blue in October

Justin Loretz
Sports Editor

The 2025 MLB Championship Series has delivered two very different stories: one made up of total domination, and the other of raw resilience. One ride, a monorail, the other, a roller coaster. In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers brushed aside the Milwaukee Brewers in a commanding four-game sweep, making their return to the World Series look almost routine. Out in the American League, the Seattle Mariners and Toronto Blue Jays have been locked in a volatile, emotional struggle that feels more like an all-out brawl than a series. With just three teams left now, one is chasing a dynasty, one is fighting to end a drought, and one is dying to bring home the Commissioner’s Trophy for the first time ever. The way these series are playing out, this could pan out to be a remastered David v. Goliath story.

National League Championship Series (NLCS)
Dodgers vs. Brewers

For the Dodgers, this year’s NLCS wasn’t just a victory. It was a demolition. Coming into the postseason, they were burdened with expectation, but not without skepticism. The Brewers finished with the best record in the National League and swept the Dodgers during the regular season, six games to none. The Dodgers had slowed down toward the end of the season and appeared to be in a slump. Yet when the lights flicked on in October, Los Angeles flipped the script with authority. Blake Snell set the tone in game one, spinning eight shutout innings and striking out ten in a performance that reminded everyone why he was a former Cy Young winner. Yoshinobu Yamamoto followed it up with a complete-game gem in game two, allowing just one run and proving he could be every bit the ace the Dodgers hoped for when they brought him over from Japan. Game three saw Tyler Glasnow and the bullpen take care of business once more, and then game four came, where Shohei Ohtani had arguably the best single game performance by a baseball player of all time, a two-way performance for the ages that featured three home runs at the plate and six innings of shutout baseball. By the time the dust settled, the Dodgers had swept the top seed in the National League without blinking and look to repay Kershaw with a stress-free ring to cap off his career.

What went right for Los Angeles? Everything. Pitching was phenomenal, with eight pitchers combining for an ERA of one, at-bats were strategic and disciplined, and they looked all the part of what one would think of when the phrase “postseason poised” comes to mind. Ohtani further solidified himself generational talent operating at full power, despite his injury history. Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, and Teoscar Hernández all delivered in key moments, while the bullpen held the line with quiet efficiency. Most impressively, the Dodgers exuded calm, never appearing rattled by the Brewers’ regular-season dominance. It was the mark of a team that not only knows how to win but knows they WILL win.

For Milwaukee, the outcome was harder to swallow. The Brewers’ offense that was so productive all year, dissipated in the face of the Dodgers’ pitching staff and rotation. They hit just .183 for the series and went an anemic 3-for-21 with runners in scoring position. Their normally airtight bullpen cracked under pressure, and the loss of rookie sensation Jackson Chourio in game three to a leg injury further deflated the lineup’s waning spark. What made Milwaukee’s defeat sting most was how much it mirrored the fate they suffered in the 2024 season against the Mets: great pitching, wasted opportunities, and an inability to finish rallies when it mattered most. They were a model of consistency throughout the long, at times draining regular season, but October never fails to expose the difference between “good” and “great.”

As the Dodgers prepare for yet another World Series, any questions or concerns about a slump have eviscerated. This is a team chasing history as they are on a mission to become the first repeat champion in twenty-five years. Their whole team, which is already extremely difficult to find any holes in, will now have three additional days of rest in comparison to the winner of the American League Championship Series. The biggest risk for Los Angeles might simply be complacency. Sweeping a 97-win team can make a club feel untouchable, and too many days of rest can quickly become too many days of celebration, as a baseball team can never fully indulge in their victory in the month of October. However, it is very hard to imagine anyone stopping this version of the Dodgers.

American League Championship Series (ALCS)
Mariners vs. Blue Jays

On the other hand, the ALCS has yet to finish, and even a scriptwriter couldn’t have made it better. In a series defined by power, emotion, and dramatic swings in momentum, The Mariners and Blue Jays are trading blows: Seattle won two, then Toronto won two; Seattle took the next one, just for Toronto to take the game after.
Seattle struck first, taking games one and two on the road behind clutch hitting and a dangerous offense. Rookie monster, Cal Raleigh, sent balls into orbit at the right time, and Julio Rodríguez’s at-bats ignited the entire lineup. Jorge Polanco and Eugenio Suárez chipped in with critical extra-base hits, and light was beginning to shed on the potential of a club reaching the World Series that never had before. The energy has been electric, and the hunger palpable.

Toronto, however, refused to fold. Seattle got out to an early lead in game three again, but a switch must have clicked that led the Blue Jays to outscore them 13-2 after the initial two runs were scored. In game four, veteran Max Scherzer turned back the clock in a vintage performance, holding Seattle’s lineup in check while Andrés Giménez provided the jolts the Jays needed with a home run and four run batted ins (RBIs). The Blue Jays reminded everyone that they were not just going to sit back and become the supporting act of Seattle’s story without a contest. Game five, however, was stolen by the Mariners, as Raleigh tied it up with another blast and Suárez crushed a grand slam that sent T-Mobile Park spiraling. That win pushed Seattle to within one game of their first-ever World Series appearance, a moment that feels decades overdue for a franchise and fan base that has waited since 1977 for this breakthrough.

For Toronto, this is the moment of truth. They had to respond to the early hole, and they did. They faced elimination in game six, and they survived. Now, they are no longer just playing survivor but are entering a sudden death showdown. After tying it up, they carry into the decisive game seven not only with the series momentum and home field advantage, but with an intensified sense of villainousness.

Looking at the Mariners now though, what’s most striking about them is not their talent, it’s their collective belief. They have played loose, fearless baseball, trusting each other even when the pitching wobbles. Their bullpen has been gritty, their lineup opportunistic, and their chemistry undeniable. The concern for them is their consistency: Logan Gilbert and George Kirby have both had very uneven outings, and against a team like the Dodgers, that kind of volatility is not an option. Still, momentum in October can be worth more than experience, something Seattle has plenty of right now.

The Blue Jays, on the other hand, are still very much alive. They’ve proven capable of adjusting mid-series, and if their offense catches fire at the same time as their pitching stabilizes, they could easily push this to seven games. Toronto is a team built on talent and streakiness — when they’re hot, they can hang crooked numbers quickly. The question is whether they can sustain that against a Mariners club playing its best baseball of the year.

Looking Ahead: What to Expect in the World Series

Seattle, for its part, must guard against letting the slip happen. Early success has put them in position to make history, but letting a lead erode or a surge from the opponent gain life could turn this into a painful missed opportunity. Their depth and offense remain formidable, but October is as much about managing pressure and shifts in momentum as it is about raw talent. If they finish the job, the World Series matchup would be pure cinema. The Dodgers, a juggernaut of modern baseball, against the Mariners, a team that has nothing to prove and everything to gain. It would be a clash of dynastic power versus underdog destiny. The Dodgers bring pedigree, star power, and precision. The Mariners bring emotion, belief, and the promise of something new. If, somehow, the Blue Jays rally and make it instead, the narrative shifts again — two star-studded rosters built on offense and flair, trading punches in what could be an explosive series.

Either way, the Dodgers will enter the World Series as heavy favorites, but the American League “survivor” will have something they do not: playoff momentum born in the midst of adversity. Los Angeles has cruised; Seattle and Toronto are in a gauntlet. Sometimes, in October, battle scars matter more than polish.

So as the champagne dries in the Dodgers’ clubhouse and the ALCS continues to rage on, baseball fans are staring down a Fall Classic that feels rich with possibility. Will it be the Dodgers cementing a dynasty by winning their third in six years, a first-time champion rising from the Pacific Northwest, or a foreign city that with a victory that would be sweetened simply by the fact that it would spoil history for the other two?

Contact Justin at loretzju@shu.edu