By Edward G. Robinson III
AFRO Sports Editor
The Los Angeles Dodgers will face off against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1 of 2025 Major League Baseball World Series Finals, taking place Friday Oct. 24 at 8 p.m.
There are several players to watch, but we’ll break it down to three.
Mookie Betts, the powerful short stop for the Los Angeles Dodgers will certainly be one to keep your eye on.
The Nashville, Tenn., native is once again a Golden Glove finalist after moving from outfield to short stop last season. He’s won the award six times for his adeptness on defense. He’s been a consistent figure in the middle of the infield this season and has found his swing at the plate. The three-time World Series Winner and 2018 American League MVP has exceeded expectations.
On Oct.23 he was announced as winner of the 2025 Fielding Bible Award at the shortstop position, according to information released by the Dodgers, who report that he has “won five Fielding Bible Awards as a right fielder and one in 2023 as the “multi-position” award winner.”
In an article published by MLB.com, Brewers manager Pat Murphy said “If you’re talking about a player that really was valuable to this team this year, I’m saying Mookie Betts is No. 1. … Imagine Steph Curry just saying, ‘OK, he’s going to go play power forward and guard the other team’s best player.’ That’s what it’s like. So he’s going to guard the other team’s best player, who’s bigger, whatever. Never done it and he does it, and they win still. And he puts up his 30-plus a game.”
A second player to watch is definitely Vladimir Guerrero Jr., who covers first base for the Toronto Blue Jays.
He was born in Montreal, Canada into a baseball family. He is the son of former MLB Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, of the Dominican Republic, who starred for Montreal. The younger Guerrero has 29 home runs this season, including six in the postseason. Look for his bat to make a difference in this final series.
Though Betts and Guerrero are sure to keep the World Series interesting, there is one more star that is sure to shine.
Think about Major League Baseball’s greatest postseason moments. Conjure the images in your mind.
Smile at the majesty of those accomplishments since the first World Series in 1903. No hitters. Multiple home runs. Stolen basebases. Walkoff home runs.
List your top five. Who comes to mind among those long ago legends featured in black and white photos or sepia-toned TV footage.
Perhaps these names: Willie Mays, Reggie Jackson, Don Larsen, Kirk Gibson, Kirby Puckett, Kenny Lofton, Derek Jeter.
To name only a few.
Now add Shohei Ohtani to that list.
Stack it on top – the wunderkind from Japan who joined Major League Baseball in 2017 and has since collected records and awards like Michael Jackson at the Grammys.
They call him “Shotani” because he’s an artiste.
With one classic outing, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ superstar designated hitter and pitcher painted a masterpiece that will be etched in baseball lore for a long time. It’s already being called the greatest postgame performance in baseball history.
Here’s why: In Game 4 of the NLCS playoffs on Oct. 17, Ohtani carried the Dodgers to a 5-1 home victory over the Milwaukee Brewers, becoming the first Major League Baseball player to launch three homers in a game and post 10 strikeouts.
Hitting and pitching like a Dance Machine, this guy was more entertaining than a M.J. concert.
Ohtani mowed down batters with a force that seemed to lift him off the mound with each pitch – the stadium gun registering 97, 98, 99 and 100 m.p.h. He threw a bevy of fastballs and cutters that bedeviled opponents through six scoreless innings.
He started out the game with three strike outs to end the first inning for the Brewers. Then he walked up to the batter’s box as the leadoff hitter and blasted a homer off Brewers’ pitcher Jose Quintana.
Ohtani made a lot of noise from the batter’s box – the ball jumping off his bat with a thwack heard in Japan.
His second homer of the night – his longest – came later in the fourth inning. This time, he waited … found a pitch inside and then in one smooth motion powered a shot 469 feet clear over the roof at Dodger Stadium.
And for an encore, Ohtani blasted another one – D.J. Khaled-style – into the adorning crowd.
Dodger fans stood on their feet and cheered. His teammates hooted and hollered, high-fiving each other in the dug out.
“That was probably the greatest postseason performance of all time,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “And there have been a lot of postseason games. There’s a reason why he’s the greatest player on the planet. … He created a lot of memories for a lot of people.”
Remarkable.
Ohtani’s efforts now send the Dodgers back to the World Series where they captured the 2024 championship.
The showdown between the Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, winners of the ALCS, comes about after The Blue Jays knocked off the Seattle Mariners with a late-game home run.
Guerrero Jr. was swinging the bat like an industrial turbine and his six post-season home runs have helped carry the Blue Jays to their first World Series since 1993.
But it is Ohtani who is must-stream TV. Who’d pick against the Dodgers – a team replete with future Hall of Famers – when Ohtani is penciled in as leadoff and ace pitcher?
He is certainly a formidable pitcher at 6-foot-3, 210 pounds. Yet it’s his casual versatility as a two-way player that makes him scary.
Playoff Ohtani is a beast.
Last year, there was an incredible performance against the Florida Marlins in Miami where he collected two stolen bases, three homers and 10 RBIs, becoming the first player to hit 50 or more homers and steal 50 or more bases in a single season.
This guy.
We are lucky – especially during these turbulent times – to witness Ohtani’s brilliance. Baseball is one of those sports where you are led to believe that the most incredible feats, the most treasured moments occurred during an era before you were born.
One day Ohtani’s spectacular October night will become ancient history, an anniversary to celebrate, but for now it remains a present for us to admire – and on YouTube for us to rewatch.
He is not the best player of all time – at least not yet. That distinction arguably remains with Ruth.
But for now … let him cook.
