rewrite this title How underdog Blue Jays can pull upset against Dodgers in WS

The stage has been set after the ALCS went to seven games. It was the Toronto Blue Jays who came out victorious, defeating the Seattle Mariners 4-3 on Monday night to head to the World Series. 

It’s the Blue Jays’ first time back since their back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993. Their opponents have a bit more experience in this stage, as the Los Angeles Dodgers are searching for their own back-to-back championships. 

The Dodgers took the regular-season series, 2-1. According to FanDuel, the Dodgers have -220 odds to win the World Series, leaving Toronto as the +184 underdogs. 

Although the series underdogs, the Blue Jays have been one of the most dominant offensive teams in MLB. If Toronto is going to take home its first World Series in 32 years, here are a couple of things it must do.

Keep the hot bats hot

In its playoff run, the Toronto offense has been hot. Not just Vladimir Guerrero Jr. or George Springer, but the entire lineup. As a team this postseason, the Blue Jays are hitting .296, 40 points higher than the next closest team. 

Along with a lead in average, Toronto leads the postseason in slugging (.523), home runs (20) and runs scored (71). The Blue Jay offense has especially shone in two situations: Early in the game and early in the inning. 

In the first five innings, the Blue Jays have scored 46 times, 64 percent of their postseason runs. That can be attributed to how they hit with nobody out. 

Toronto batters are hitting .360 when leading off innings this postseason. 32 total lead-off hits with 20 of them for extra bases. Along with leading off innings, Toronto is hitting .350 with no outs. What’s worked so far is getting runners on base quickly and driving them in just as fast before the other team can record an out.  

Keep Dodgers at bay

The main concern for this team is its pitching staff. Third-highest team ERA in the postseason, second-most runs allowed (47) and most home runs allowed (18). The pitching staff has not been doing great, but up until this point, it has been doing just enough to support this offense. 

Compared to the Dodgers rotation, which has a playoff ERA of 1.40, the Blue Jays starters have an ERA of 3.33. Nothing terrible, but not great when paired with a bullpen ERA of 5.52. 

Through 10 playoff games, it’s not that the Dodgers offense is not playing well; it’s just not playing up to its standard, scoring 4.6 runs in the postseason. A drop of half a run, the Dodger offense is capable of more. 

What the Blue Jays cannot allow is the Dodger offense to start operating at full power. Even if they maintain how they are playing, the Dodgers still have a powerful lineup down the order. 

For the Blue Jays to win the World Series, they cannot let themselves be beaten by L.A.’s big hitters. How that’s done is by limiting the number of situations they come up with runners on. Their big hitters will hit home runs; the Blue Jays need to do their best to make sure those happen when runners aren’t on base. 

It’s obviously easier said than done, but this is a dangerous Los Angeles lineup. Regardless, Toronto is capable of upsetting this Dodger dynasty and winning the franchise’s third World Series.