We are two games into both 2025 league championship series, and it’s time for our initial impressions based on what we have seen on the field.
In the NLCS, the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers have jumped out to a 2-0 road advantage of their own against the Milwaukee Brewers.
What has stood out most so far — and what’s next for the World Series hopefuls? Our MLB experts weigh in.
Jeff Passan: The lack of competitive at-bats from the Blue Jays. Yes, the Mariners’ pitching is very good. But the Blue Jays — whose high-quality, work-the-count, spoil-pitches approach all season helped deliver them an AL East championship — were practically tweaking to swing at Miller’s pitches in Game 1 and weren’t much better in Game 2. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is hitless. As are Daulton Varsho, Andres Gimenez and Davis Schneider.
Four runs in two games is not going to do it against a lineup as deep as the Mariners’ and with a pitching staff as susceptible as the Blue Jays’ has proved this postseason.
Passan: Do not treat this as a coronation. Too much has happened in Mariners’ history to ever doubt that something can go very wrong. They have existed 49 years and never so much as made a World Series.
Castillo: It starts with scoring more runs. The Mariners’ pitching staff, tired and all, has silenced an offense that demolished Yankees pitching last week. The Blue Jays tallied only four runs in the two games in Toronto. All were scored in the first two innings. In Game 2, the Blue Jays went 1-for-28 with three walks after the second inning.
Jesse Rogers: Dodgers starting pitching went from iffy to dominant in a blink of an eye. Part of the reason Milwaukee went 6-0 against L.A. during the regular season is that they faced a team piecing together their starting staff. Dave Roberts even admitted to “slow playing” Snell just to have him ready for this moment.
Bradford Doolittle: They need traffic on the bases, especially early in the games. They haven’t been able to showcase their athleticism against the Dodgers because no one has been getting on base. Get on base, hope to unnerve Glasnow and Ohtani and get into that L.A. bullpen by the fourth or fifth inning. The formula isn’t complicated, but the way the Dodgers are going, executing very much is a problem.
Jesse Rogers: Putting up a crooked number would help. Somewhere along the line, they need one of those Brewers innings — the kind that forces the defense into mistakes while utilizing their speed and ability on the basepaths to create havoc. Easier said than done against this Dodgers starting staff, but if they can get into the underbelly of L.A.’s bullpen, they have a chance. That’s the path forward for the Brewers.
Passan: Just look at Game 1 of the NLCS. The Dodgers’ offense is struggling, and it really doesn’t matter because Blake Snell threw eight of the most brilliant innings you’ll ever see. And even though Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer, the Blue Jays’ starters in Game 3 and Game 4, are not near Snell’s caliber today, they are both former Cy Young winners who have pitched in huge games. Seattle’s pitching is too good for Toronto to win this series via slugfests. So the Blue Jays are simply going to have to beat the Mariners at their own game: solid starting pitching and enough relief to backfill.
What can the Blue Jays do to get this series back to Toronto?
What do the Brewers need to get this series back to Milwaukee?
Josh Naylor pads lead with a 2-run HR for Mariners (1:01)Josh Naylor’s 2-run homer extends the Mariners’ advantage to 9-3 over the Blue Jays. (1:01)