![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/indicator-big.gif\")
<\/p>\n\u201cThey\u2019ve got Hall of Famers at the top of their lineup and they\u2019ve got really, really good starting pitching and really good relievers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
Schneider added: \u201cI truly think that the best two teams are left standing for a variety of different reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Los Angeles is spending about US$509.5 million on players this season, with a $341.5 million payroll plus $168 million in projected luxury tax. That nearly doubles the Blue Jays\u2019 $252.7 million payroll with a projected $13.4 million in tax.<\/p>\n
Tyler Glasnow\u2019s $32.5 million deal is the largest slice of Los Angeles\u2019s payroll pie, followed by Mookie Betts ($30.4M), Blake Snell ($28.44M), Shohei Ohtani ($28.22M), and Freddie Freeman ($27M). Twelve Dodgers are earning more than $10 million in 2025. <\/p>\n
Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts leaned into his team\u2019s reputation as a big spender after the Dodgers swept the small-market Milwaukee Brewers in four games to win the National League pennant on Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell you that before this season started they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball,\u201d Roberts said on the field at Dodgers Stadium. \u201cLet\u2019s get four more wins and really ruin baseball. Let\u2019s go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is currently on a one-year deal worth $28.5 million that will go up to $40.2 million a season as he begins a 14-year contract designed to keep him in Toronto for his whole career. George Springer ($24.17M), Kevin Gausman ($23M), Chris Bassitt ($22M) and Jose Berrios ($18.71M) round out the Blue Jays\u2019 top five largest contracts with a total of 10 players earning above $10 million in 2025.<\/p>\n
Guerrero was asked about squaring off with the Dodgers and their massive payroll on Monday night after being named the American League Championship Series MVP. He didn\u2019t give L.A.\u2019s reputation much attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, for me, every game is a challenge, every series is a challenge,\u201d said Guerrero through interpreter Hector Lebron. \u201cI know they have great players. So do we. But on the field it\u2019s when everything matters.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s another difference between the two clubs.<\/p>\n
The Dodgers were second to only the New York Yankees in home runs hit during the regular season, with a total of 244 round-trippers. Toronto was tied with the Baltimore Orioles and Minnesota Twins with 191 homers in the regular season, good for 11th in MLB.<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s team batting average was .265 in the regular season, a full seven points ahead of the second-best Philadelphia Phillies. Big-swinging Los Angeles was sixth with a .253 average. Indeed, the Blue Jays\u2019 overall batting average was better than all but the top 49 hitters in MLB.<\/p>\n
Toronto also had the best on-base percentage in baseball, a point ahead of the Milwaukee Brewers at .333. L.A. was fifth in OBP at .327.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll never count my guys out of any series. It\u2019s going to be fun,\u201d said Schneider on facing the Dodgers. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be up for it. There\u2019s going to be some big swings and ebbs and flows in it, I\u2019m sure.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just thrilled for the guys that they get the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2025.<\/p>\n
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThey\u2019ve got Hall of Famers at the top of their lineup and they\u2019ve got really, really good starting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":230272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,462,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82],"class_list":["post-230271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-mlb","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}