It seems like only yesterday when the Dodgers won the World Series by winning the final two games on the road at Rogers Centre in Toronto, including coming back from down two runs in the eighth inning in Game 7, setting of a string of improbable highlights that beat the Blue Jays and brought a second straight championship to Los Angeles.
In actuality, it was 156 days ago that the Dodgers mobbed World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound at Rogers Centre. Now the Dodgers are back in Toronto for a series between two clubs well-equipped to potentially meet again in October.
Interleague play began in 1997, and in the early years it was mostly limited to playing only one interleague division each season. So it hasn’t always been possible for the two World Series to meet again during the next regular season.
This is the 18th time the two World Series teams played each other in the next season, and Dodgers vs. Blue Jays is the second-earliest such matchup on the calendar.
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Date |
Score |
|---|---|
|
Apr 3, 2016 |
Royals 4, Mets 3 |
|
Apr 6, 2026 |
Dodgers at Blue Jays |
|
Apr 28, 2023 |
Phillies 3, Astros 1 |
|
May 18, 2007 |
Tigers 14, Cardinals 4 |
|
May 28, 2024 |
Rangers 4, D-backs 2 |
|
May 30, 2025 |
Dodgers 8, Yankees 5 |
|
Jun 2, 2000 |
Yankees 5, Braves 2 |
|
Jun 6, 2005 |
Cardinals 7, Red Sox 1 |
|
Jun 10, 2002 |
Yankees 7, D-backs 5 |
|
Jun 15, 2001 |
Yankees 5, Mets 4 |
|
Jun 15, 2010 |
Yankees 8, Phillies 3 |
|
Jun 23, 2009 |
Phillies 10, Rays 1 |
|
Jun 30, 1997 |
Yankees 1, Braves 0 (10) |
|
Jul 12, 2019 |
Red Sox 8, Dodgers 1 |
|
Jul 23, 2006 |
White Sox 7, Astros 4 |
|
Aug 3, 2018 |
Astros 2, Dodgers 1 |
|
Aug 5, 2014 |
Cardinals 3, Red Sox 2 |
|
Aug 19, 2022 |
Braves 6, Astros 2 |
The only World Series rematch earlier than this was in 2016, when the Kansas City Royals beat the New York Mets 4-3 on April 3. But that opening day game was at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, in front of a celebratory crowd still basking in the glow of winning the 2015 World Series.
A different reception is expected this week in Toronto, where the Dodgers won the final two games of the World Series and celebrated on that very field.
The Dodgers are used to playing in front of big crowds, and not just because they drew over four million fans to Dodger Stadium last season. They’ve also led MLB in road attendance in four of the last five seasons, including in each of the last two years.
“Being that road team, having a lot of hostile crowds,” manager Dave Roberts said last Wednesday. “Certainly, Toronto is going to be kind of crazy.”
Yamamoto won Games 2, 6, and 7 of the Fall Classic, the only player ever to win three road games in one World Series. He’s not starting on Monday, but will pitch later in the series, to see if he can keep that streak going.
Monday game info
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Teams: Dodgers at Blue Jays
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Ballpark: Rogers Centre, Toronto
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Radio: AM 570 (English), KTNQ 1020 AM (Spanish)
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