Five players with legacies on the line in DodgersBlue Jays World Series Game 7 Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY November 1, 2025 at 6:45 PM 1 Five players with legacies on the line in DodgersBlue Jays World Series Game 7USA TODAY Sports has live coverage of Dodgers vs. Blue Jays in World Series Game 7. For better or worse, Game 7 of this World Series won't just be about determining a champion between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays. It will also determine, for better or worse, right or wrong, the legacies of the participants.
- - Five players with legacies on the line in Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series Game 7
Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY November 1, 2025 at 6:45 PM
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Five players with legacies on the line in Dodgers-Blue Jays World Series Game 7USA TODAY Sports has live coverage of Dodgers vs. Blue Jays in World Series Game 7.
For better or worse, Game 7 of this World Series won't just be about determining a champion between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays.
It will also determine, for better or worse, right or wrong, the legacies of the participants.
Certainly, this isn't the NBA, where perhaps three players can have a significantly disproportionate impact on the outcome. Nor the NFL, increasingly the quarterbacks' domain, a team's success largely determined by its signal-caller.
Alas, today's ring culture can make perception reality. With that, here are five players whose reps may be burnished or burned a bit once the first champagne cork hits the floor:
1 / 42025 World Series: All the best moments from Dodgers vs. Blue Jays Game 6Former Toronto Blue Jays star Devon White throws out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 6.Shohei Ohtani, Dodgers
Honestly, what more do you want from this guy? After all, he drove the Dodgers to a championship in 2024 in his first season north of La Mirada, with a 50-50 campaign. This year, he added pitching to the mix, produced another MVP-caliber season and not just one but two Greatest Games Ever this postseason.
But the ball always seems to find him, doesn't it? And guess who's going to start Game 7 on the mound, pitching on three days' rest? Ohtani was the starter and loser in Game 4, but has reached base 15 of 30 times in this Series, with three home runs.
A loss won't dash Ohtani's near-mythic status. But starting the game on the mound - perhaps even sticking around long enough to win it - while contributing at the plate? There would be no city block in L.A. large enough to paint a mural appropriate enough to capture the man's legacy.
Max Scherzer, Blue Jays
He has already made history as the first pitcher to appear in a World Series for four teams. Now, he can win a title with his third.
At 41, Mad Max's dominance doesn't necessarily match the mound-stomping persona. He's four years removed from receiving his most recent Cy Young Award vote. Yet he's still at the head of the class in being a first-class pain in the butt (respectfully).
Just listen to good friend Chris Bassitt dissect recruiting Scherzer to Toronto, where he's pitching on a one-year, $15 million deal.
"I think there's a lot of teams that don't like Max Scherzer, just because he questions everything," says Bassitt. "Like, he wants to know every little detail from outfield positioning to why you're throwing this pitch to who is playing here to how we controls off-days, and so many organizations, I feel, don't like to answer questions. They like you to be a robot and say, 'Yes, sir,' and go about your business.
"But that's not how Max is. So in knowing that, I thought this is kind of exactly what this organization needs. A veteran player that questions everything."
Beyond that, there's a crucial generational tie that will be broken Sunday evening. Scherzer, the Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and Justin Verlander are widely considered the three best pitchers of their generation (Verlander debuted in 2006, Scherzer and Kershaw in 2008). The World Series championships for each guy?
Scherzer: Two.
Kershaw: Two.
Verlander: Two.
One of those first two guys will break the tie. Kershaw is for sure retiring after this game, leaving Scherzer and Verlander to vie for myriad career milestones, probably until they need a walker to help them climb the mound.
Toronto Blue Jays first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. says he'll give his World Series ring to his father if he wins one.Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The tattoo on Vladito's left forearm is impossible to miss: Family.
The message is accompanied by Polaroid-like artwork of his daughters and a map of the Dominican Republic. The collection of ink dovetails with his stated and oft-reiterated desire should he win a World Series ring: He's going to give it to his father.
"One hundred percent," he told USA TODAY Sports as this World Series began.
Vlad Sr. made the Hall of Fame, but his only World Series appearance came in his penultimate season of 2010, when the Texas Rangers lost in five games to the San Francisco Giants.
A Blue Jays win, and Guerrero can fulfill the dreams of his father. And while he might be down some jewelry, there's a really good chance that should Toronto prevail, Vladdy - batting .360 with a 1.140 OPS and two crucial home runs - still walks away with a nice little trinket: World Series MVP.
Mookie Betts, Dodgers
Want a nice illustration for how absurd ring culture is, especially in baseball? Well, a Game 7 win would give Betts his fourth World Series title, breaking a tie with ... Jeremy Affeldt, San Francisco Giants reliever.
Hey, no knock on Affeldt, an incredibly clutch reliever whose role in The Madison Bumgarner Game in 2014 can't be overstated. There's a ton of three-time Giants champions from their run more than a decade ago. Betts would tie two more of them - reliever Javier Lopez, who also won with the 2013 Red Sox, and Pablo Sandoval, who played in 69 games, plus three in the playoffs with the 2021 Braves - for the most rings won entirely in this century.
And let's be honest: Betts is the lone full-time player in that group, and certainly the only one who'd win a title as both a right fielder and shortstop. Though he racked up a Gold Glove nomination at short, Betts had an uneven year. He was 3-for-22 coming into Game 6 before his two-run single provided the winning margin.
Now, a fourth ring would make Betts the undisputed king of 21st century champions, including a title run in a season - 2018, Boston - in which he also won AL MVP. Next up: Derek Jeter and the seven other members of Yankees championship teams who won five titles.
Trey Yesavage, Blue Jays
We've never seen a rookie pitcher make a postseason run quite like Yesavage's. If he gets into Game 7 on two days' rest, he'll have pitched in twice as many playoff games - six - than regular season games when he debuted in September and made three starts.
But a run like this can go from "Oh, that's cool!" to legendary if it is backed up by a championship. Not that Yesavage's 39-strikeout, six-start romp through the playoffs will be forgotten; simply, it'll be elevated significantly with a Game 7 triumph. The young man's life will never be the same.
Even though he's just 22, Yesavage seems to grasp this as well as anyone.
"Saying you deserve it is kind of tricky," Yesavage said after Game 6. "To deserve something, you have to finish the job."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: World Series Game 7 to cement legacy for 5 Dodgers, Blue Jays players
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Published: November 02, 2025 at 12:27AM on Source: VOXI MAG
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