The lights are blinding. The grass is that impossible shade of green. You can practically smell the overpriced beer and the nervous sweat of 50,000 people. When the manager walks up to the dugout wall and tapes that piece of paper to the brick, everything changes. That paper? That's the World Series starting lineup.
It’s not just a list of names. Honestly, it’s a manifesto. It is a declaration of how a team intends to kill you. And in the 2025 Fall Classic, we saw the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays turn that simple list into a chess match that lasted eighteen innings in a single game. You heard me. Eighteen.
Most fans look at the names and check for their favorites. Oh, Shohei’s leading off? Cool. But the real magic is in the "why." Why did Dave Roberts move Will Smith to the two-hole in Game 5? Why did the Blue Jays trust a rookie like Addison Barger in the biggest moments?
The Anatomy of the 2025 World Series Starting Lineup
If you looked at the Dodgers' card for Game 1, it felt like a cheat code. You had Shohei Ohtani at DH, followed by Mookie Betts—who, by the way, spent the whole year proving he’s actually a natural shortstop—and then Freddie Freeman. That's three MVPs. In a row.
But baseball is weird. You can have the greatest top of the order in history and still get blown out 11-4 in the opener, which is exactly what happened to LA. The Blue Jays countered with a lineup that was basically a buzzsaw of contact and high-IQ baserunning.
Take a look at how the Dodgers typically structured things:
- Shohei Ohtani (DH): The unicorn.
- Mookie Betts (SS): The spark plug.
- Freddie Freeman (1B): The machine.
- Will Smith (C): The most underrated bat in the league.
- Teoscar Hernández (RF): Pure power.
- Max Muncy (3B): The walk specialist who occasionally hits it to the moon.
- Kiké Hernández (CF): The October legend.
- Tommy Edman (2B): The utility king.
- Andy Pages / Alex Call (LF): The bridge back to the top.
It looks perfect on paper. But by Game 5, Roberts was sweating. He flipped the script. He moved Will Smith up to second. Mookie dropped to third. Why? Because the Blue Jays were pitching around the stars, and Smith was the only one consistently seeing strikes.
When the Bottom of the Order Wins Rings
Everyone talks about the superstars, but World Series history is littered with "random" guys who became gods for a week. Remember Steve Pearce? David Eckstein? In 2025, it was guys like Alex Call and Addison Barger.
Barger hit a pinch-hit grand slam in Game 1. A rookie. Coming off the bench to replace a starter in the World Series starting lineup and changing the entire trajectory of the series. That’s the stuff that makes managers look like geniuses or goats.
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The Blue Jays' lineup was built differently. They had Vladimir Guerrero Jr. at the heart of it, putting up an OPS of 1.440. That's basically video game numbers. But they surrounded him with "pest" hitters. Ernie Clement. Isiah Kiner-Falefa. These are guys who don't strike out. They put the ball in play, they move runners, and they make the pitcher throw six pitches instead of three.
The Pitching Equation
You can’t talk about the lineup without talking about the guy standing sixty feet, six inches away. The starting pitcher is the sun that the rest of the lineup orbits around.
In 2025, the Dodgers flipped their identity. In '24, they won with a "bullpen game" approach. In '25? They went with the horses. Blake Snell. Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Tyler Glasnow. When you have a World Series starting lineup backed by a guy like Snell—who had a 0.88 ERA in the playoffs leading up to the final—you play the game with a lead in your head before the first pitch is even thrown.
But then there's the Yamamoto factor. He ended up being the MVP for a reason. He didn't just start; he came out of the pen in Game 7. That’s the kind of flexibility that modern lineups require. You aren't just "the right fielder" anymore. You’re a piece of a machine that might need to shift to center in the 4th inning because of a double switch.
The Numbers That Actually Matter
If you're looking for an edge in predicting who wins based on the lineup, stop looking at batting average. It’s useless. Look at OPS+ and wRC+.
For example, Max Muncy’s batting average usually looks like something you’d see in a Sunday morning slow-pitch league—around .230 or .240. But his OPS? Usually north of .800. Why? Because the dude refuses to swing at garbage. In a World Series, where pitchers are amped and throwing 101 mph with tailing action, a guy who won't chase is worth his weight in gold.
- Plate Discipline: Teams that walk more than they strike out in the Fall Classic win the series 74% of the time.
- Left/Right Splits: If a manager can force a pitching change in the 5th inning just by pinch-hitting, he's won the tactical battle.
- Defensive Versatility: Having Mookie Betts at short means you can carry an extra bat on the bench instead of a backup infielder.
The 18-Inning Nightmare
Game 3 of the 2025 series was a case study in lineup exhaustion. When a game goes eighteen innings, your World Series starting lineup is long gone. You're using pitchers as pinch runners. You're praying your backup catcher can play third base.
The Dodgers won that game 6-5, but it gutted both rosters. It’s the reason why depth is the only thing that matters in October. You don't win with nine guys. You win with twenty-six.
Honestly, the Blue Jays almost had them. Toronto’s lineup was younger and arguably more athletic. But the Dodgers had "Playoff Kiké." There is no statistical explanation for why Kiké Hernández becomes Willie Mays every October, but he does. He was hitting .179 in the regular season and then suddenly he’s the most dangerous man on the planet.
Real Talk: What People Get Wrong
The biggest misconception? That the "best" hitters should always go 1-2-3.
If you put your three best hitters at the top, and they all go down in order in the first inning, your pitcher has to go back out there with zero rest. Sometimes, you stagger the power. You put a "high-contact" guy like Tommy Edman in the 7th spot to make sure the pitcher has to work before getting back to Ohtani.
Strategy is about flow. It's about making sure the opposing pitcher never gets a "breather" inning.
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Actionable Insights for the Next Season
If you’re a die-hard fan or just someone trying to win a bar argument, here is how you should actually evaluate a lineup when the World Series rolls around:
- Check the "Turnover": See how many times the No. 9 hitter gets on base. If the 9-hole is a black hole, the leadoff hitter is wasted.
- Watch the First Two Innings: Don't look at the hits. Look at the pitch counts. If a starter is at 45 pitches after two innings, that lineup has already won, regardless of the score.
- The "Lefty" Trap: Notice if a team stacks three lefties in a row. If they do, they are begging the opponent to bring in a left-handed specialist to kill the rally.
- Identify the "Sacrifice": Sometimes a manager puts a struggling hitter in the lineup just for his glove. In 2025, Andy Pages struggled at the plate, but his arm in center field saved at least two runs. Those runs are just as valuable as a home run.
The World Series starting lineup is a living breathing thing. It changes with every injury, every scouting report, and every cold streak. In 2025, the Dodgers proved that while talent gets you to the dance, it's the tactical flexibility of the roster that actually gets you the trophy. They became the first back-to-back champs since the 2000 Yankees because they weren't afraid to move their "unmovable" stars around the scorecard.
Next time you see that lineup posted on social media two hours before first pitch, don't just look at the names. Look at the order. Look at the matchups. Because that little slip of paper is usually where the game is won or lost.