Major League Baseball

2025 World Series Best Bet: Back Blue Jays After First Five Innings

31 Oct 2025, 16:10 · FOX Sports

On Friday night, we will either crown one of the more improbable World Series champions in recent memory, or we will be looking ahead to the first World Series Game 7 since 2019.

The Toronto Blue Jays were pegged as a last-place team prior to the season, with an Over/Under win total around 78.5 games at most sportsbooks.

That's right: The question for Toronto back in March was, "Can the Blue Jays win 79 games?" Now, they just need to win one, and they get two chances to do it.

The Blue Jays recovered from losing an epic, 18-inning Game 3 by winning the next two games in Los Angeles to bring a 3-2 series lead back to Toronto.

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Game 6 will be a rematch of Game 2, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto going for the Dodgers and the Jays countering with Kevin Gausman. Game 2 was a 1-1 pitcher’s duel into the seventh inning, before a Will Smith solo homer gave the Dodgers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Yamamoto has been nothing short of brilliant in the postseason, not only keeping opposing offenses off the board, but providing a reprieve to a beleaguered Dodgers’ bullpen.

As far as tonight, I expect a similar game to the one we saw the last time these pitchers faced off. Yamamoto’s dominance is hard to ignore, but can he really sustain that level? I’m taking the Blue Jays +0.5 runs in the first five innings, meaning if the game is tied, or if the Jays have a lead after five, this bet is a winner.

Gausman unraveled in the seventh inning of his first World Series start, but prior to that had only surrendered four earned runs in 24 innings this postseason.

Getting a half-run here is enough to nudge me towards the Jays.

PICK: Blue Jays +0.5 runs (-120) in the first five innings

Will Hill, a contributor on the Bear Bets Podcast, has been betting on sports for over a decade. He is a betting analyst who has been a host on VSiN, as well as the Goldboys Network.

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