Blue Jays Crush Dodgers 11-4 in Game 1 Behind Historic Grand Slam

As they say in Tinseltown: Ouch, babe.

The Toronto Blue Jays thrashed the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night, getting everyone's attention in an 11-4 romp at Rogers Centre.

It was a beautiful night (not to mention a loud one) in Mr. Rogers neighborhood, which was hosting a World Series game for the first time since 1993, when the Jays capped off back-to-back championships, the most recent time in Major League Baseball that it happened.

Many likely figured that Game 1 would be the next step for the Dodgers to make themselves repeat World Series winners. While they won "only" 93 games in the regular season and needed to go through an extra round of the playoffs to get here, L.A. seemed to get its juggernaut self in order in the National League Championship Series, sweeping the Milwaukee Brewers and allowing just four runs in four games.

Hold for the Blue Jays, please.

Toronto trailed the Dodgers early, tied the score on a two-run home run by Daulton Varsho in the fourth inning, and stamped nine runs on the board in the deciding sixth. Ernie Clement put them ahead with an RBI single, and Addison Barger skewed everything by hitting the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history. Alejandro Kirk capped off the eruption with a two-run dinger.

It was all so one-sided, only in Canada's favo(u)r.

Jays fans even got a chance to rub it in against Dodgers two-timing star Shohei Ohtani by chanting "We don't need him!" late in the game, with Ohtani's team down seven runs. When he was a free agent two offseasons ago, Ohtani at least wore the pretense of being interested in signing with Toronto before the Dodgers locked him up with that $700 million in deferments.

Remember the airplane everyone was following on Flight Tracker to Toronto, having thought Ohtani had boarded it, and it turned out to be the dude from "Shark Tank"? Ohtani really was on a flight headed out of town, the plane filled with Blue Jays swag that he had collected and given to his dog. Boy, we all get Decoyed on that one.

OK, fine. Here's what else they have to be saying on the L.A. side: It's only one game, it's only 0-1, it's still a best-of-seven Series. And it's all true. Going down 2-0? Now that could be something to worry about. And even then, 10 teams in history have fallen behind two games in the Series and still come back to win. Three times, it was the Dodgers (in 1955, 1965 and 1981).

And even the Jays offense going to 11 isn't too worrisome. The last time an opposing team hung 11 runs on the Dodgers in Game 1 of a World Series, they didn't sweat it much. In 1959, the Chicago White Sox dropped the Dodgers 11-0 at Comiskey Park in Game 1 of the World Series. L.A. won the next three games and, despite Sandy Koufax losing 1-0 in Game 5, finished off the Sox in six games to win their first title as Californians.

But (or, as they say up North, "Boot"): The Blue Jays still might be a real problem for the favored Dodgers for more than one or two games. Jays hitters troubled left-hander Blake Snell for 100 laborious pitches, and overall the lineup swung 48 times and missed only 10. None of the misses came against the Dodgers bullpen, which was back to being bad news for the Dodgers. L.A.'s offense also missed multiple early opportunities to knock out right-hander Trey Yesavage.

This Series does have some 1990 vibes, when the Cincinnati Reds swept the Oakland Athletics, much to our collective surprise. Kirk has made zero outs so far, which is about what Billy Hatcher did back in '90. They're kind of shaped alike too.

Game 2 is Saturday night! Yoshinobu Yamamoto vs. Kevin Gausman. If Gausman suddenly starts to resemble Jose Rijo...