Dodgers vs Toronto Blue Jays Timeline: Complete Head-to-Head History

For most of their existence, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays were strangers. Different leagues, different countries, no rivalry to speak of. Then October 2025 happened, and a quiet interleague footnote turned into one of the most talked-about World Series matchups in a generation.

This Dodgers vs Toronto Blue Jays Timeline traces every series, every defining moment, and every superstar who left a mark on this cross-border matchup — from a Roy Halladay complete game in 2002 to an 11-inning Game 7 thriller that may go down as the greatest World Series game ever played. Below is a complete chronological journey through the series record, the year-by-year results, and the moments that turned a once-obscure interleague pairing into a genuine baseball story. Dodgers vs Toronto Blue Jays Timeline

Key takeaways:

• The Dodgers and Blue Jays first met on June 18, 2002, and have built a lopsided but increasingly dramatic head-to-head history that culminated in the 2025 World Series.
• Los Angeles holds a commanding all-time edge, including a 4-3 World Series win in 2025 — the Dodgers’ first repeat title since the franchise’s 1981 win and MLB’s first back-to-back champion since the 2000 Yankees.
• Stars from Roy Halladay and Clayton Kershaw to Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Bo Bichette have defined the head-to-head chronology, with Game 7 of the 2025 Fall Classic standing as the signature event.
• Below you’ll find the full series record, a year-by-year timeline, the most memorable individual games, and what’s ahead now that the two clubs are an annual interleague fixture.

All-Time Head-to-Head Record

As of the teams’ early-April 2026 series in Toronto, the Dodgers vs Toronto Blue Jays Timeline hold a wide edge in this Los Angeles-Toronto history: roughly 21-12 in the regular season and about 25-15 overall once the 2025 World Series is folded in. The two clubs did not meet at all until interleague play was well established, and for most of that history the games were a minor scheduling curiosity rather than a rivalry — until last fall.

These regular-season figures vary slightly across stat sites depending on whether a given source counts the 2025 World Series in the “all-time” total, so treat the win totals as directionally accurate rather than exact to the decimal — the postseason record and individual game scores below are independently verified and firm.

The First Matchup — 2002 Sets the Stage

Interleague play began in 1997, but the Dodgers vs Toronto Blue Jays Timeline didn’t cross paths until June 18, 2002, at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers hold the all-time edge, 19-11, and the franchises did not meet until June 18, 2002, with the Blue Jays winning that initial encounter behind a Roy Halladay complete game. The pitching matchup wasn’t the only oddity of the day.

Leading off for Los Angeles was Dave Roberts — now the Dodgers’ manager — while Chris Woodward, now the Dodgers’ first-base coach, hit leadoff for Toronto. Halladay, who would go on to win two Cy Young Awards and reach the Hall of Fame, shut the Dodgers down in a tidy 2-1 win. Los Angeles answered two days later, winning 2-1 on June 20 at Dodger Stadium to even the inaugural series.

Complete Year-by-Year Dodgers vs Toronto Blue Jays Timeline

The Dodgers and Blue Jays don’t share a division, so for most of baseball’s interleague era they only met when the schedule-makers paired them — typically every few years, plus the occasional rivalry-bridging trade or free-agent signing. Here’s how the documented series have unfolded.

2002 — Dodger Stadium — First Series

The clubs’ debut series went to Los Angeles, with the Blue Jays taking the opener behind Halladay and the Dodgers answering on June 20. It was a routine three-game set with no postseason stakes, but it set the all-time record in motion.

2007 — Interleague Doubling Up

2007 was unusual: the Dodgers played two AL West-area teams plus Toronto that year as part of an interleague scheduling quirk. The Dodgers played both the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Angels for extra interleague games that season. The series produced the largest blowout in Toronto’s favor in series history — an 12-1 rout on June 20, 2007 at Rogers Centre, still the Blue Jays’ biggest win in the matchup.

2013 — A Road Sweep for L.A.

The Dodgers and Blue Jays met again in 2013, with Los Angeles sweeping the set. It was a quiet series by the standards of what was to come, but it extended the Dodgers’ growing series advantage.

2015-2016 — Interleague Play Intensifies

Toronto and Los Angeles squared off again as the Blue Jays’ core of Josh Donaldson, José Bautista, and Edwin Encarnación was peaking. The all-time head-to-head record entering a May 2016 series stood at Dodgers 9-6, with Los Angeles holding a 6-3 edge in games played in Toronto. Clayton Kershaw started one of the games against knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, a pitching-style mismatch that became a hallmark of these interleague clashes.

2019 — The Biggest Blowout in Series History

On August 20, 2019, the Dodgers throttled the Blue Jays 16-3 at Dodger Stadium. Clayton Kershaw passed Sandy Koufax for the most wins by a Dodgers left-hander, and Will Smith hit a go-ahead two-run homer as Los Angeles routed Toronto in what remains the largest margin of victory either side has produced in this matchup. The Dodgers also extended what became a five-game winning streak in the series, a run that stretched from May 2016 into this 2019 set.

2025 — Three Regular-Season Games, Then a World Series

Los Angeles and Toronto met for a brief three-game interleague series during the 2025 regular season, with the Dodgers taking two of three. Few could have predicted what came next: both clubs won their respective pennants and met again in October — this time with a championship on the line.

2026 — A World Series Rematch to Open the Season

Fittingly, the schedule-makers wasted no time bringing the two teams back together. From April 6-8, 2026, the Dodgers and Blue Jays opened a heavily promoted “World Series rematch” series in Toronto. Dalton Rushing hit two solo home runs in his first career multi-homer game as the Dodgers routed the Blue Jays 14-2 in the series opener on April 6.

Los Angeles took the second game 4-1 on the strength of a strong Yoshinobu Yamamoto start, before Davis Schneider scored the tiebreaking run on a Will Smith throwing error in the eighth inning, lifting Toronto to a 4-3 win in the finale on April 8 — the Blue Jays’ first win of any kind against the Dodgers since the World Series ended, snapping a six-game losing streak to their new rivals.

Memorable Games & Defining Moments

This is where the Dodgers vs Blue Jays head-to-head chronology turns from a footnote into a genuine story, almost entirely because of one October.

Game 1, 2025 World Series (Oct. 24, Toronto) — Blue Jays 11, Dodgers 4. Toronto announced itself as a legitimate threat, routing the defending champions in the series opener at Rogers Centre.

Game 3, 2025 World Series (Oct. 27, Los Angeles) — Dodgers 6, Blue Jays 5, 18 innings. The longest game in World Series history by innings played turned into a personal showcase for Shohei Ohtani. Freddie Freeman homered to lead off the bottom of the 18th, and Ohtani went deep twice in a record-setting performance as the Dodgers outlasted Toronto to win a marathon that pushed both bullpens to their limits.

Games 4 and 5 (Oct. 28-29, Los Angeles) — Blue Jays win both. Toronto seized control of the series with back-to-back wins at Dodger Stadium, pushing Los Angeles to the brink of elimination and setting up a tense final two games back in Canada.

Game 6, 2025 World Series (Oct. 31, Toronto) — Dodgers 3, Blue Jays 1. With the Dodgers’ season on the line, Kiké Hernández turned what looked like a tying two-run single into the first game-ending left field-to-second base double play in postseason history, preserving the win and forcing a deciding Game 7 instead of handing Toronto its first title since 1993.

Game 7, 2025 World Series (Nov. 1, Toronto) — Dodgers 5, Blue Jays 4, 11 innings. The signature game of this entire rivalry. Toronto built an early lead behind George Springer, Trey Yesavage’s rookie heroics, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s defense, before Miguel Rojas delivered a game-tying home run in the ninth inning and then made a game-saving defensive play in the bottom of the ninth.

Mookie Betts turned a double play on Addison Barger’s slide into second base to end the game, sealing a 5-4 win that made the Dodgers the first repeat World Series champion in a quarter-century. ESPN called it the best baseball game ever played, and the broadcast drew nearly 26 million viewers — the most-watched World Series game since 2017.

August 20, 2019 (Los Angeles) — Dodgers 16, Blue Jays 3. The largest regular-season blowout in the series, anchored by a Kershaw milestone start and a five-homer Dodgers attack.

June 20, 2007 (Toronto) — Blue Jays 12, Dodgers 1. Toronto’s most lopsided win in the matchup, and still the high-water mark for the Blue Jays’ offense against Los Angeles.

Star Performers: Who Has Shined Brightest?

Because the Dodgers and Blue Jays played so few regular-season games against each other before 2025, there isn’t a deep, decades-long leaderboard the way there is for, say, Dodgers-Giants. The matchup’s “notable performers” instead skew toward singular moments rather than career-spanning head-to-head stat lines:

On the pitching side, Halladay and Kershaw bookend the matchup’s history as its two most decorated starters, while Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s relief work to close out Game 7 — after already winning World Series MVP — added another layer to the Dodgers’ side of the ledger.

Connections Between the Franchises

Beyond the games themselves, a number of players, coaches, and executives have worn both uniforms, threading the two organizations together long before October 2025 made them famous as opponents:

• Don Mattingly — managed the Dodgers from 2011-2015, later joined the Blue Jays as bench coach for their 2025 pennant run.
• Russell Martin — caught for the Dodgers (2006-2010), later played for Toronto, then returned to the Dodgers organization.
• Justin Turner — a Dodgers third baseman from 2014-2022, signed with the Blue Jays in 2024.
• Paul Quantrill — pitched for Toronto in the late 1990s before joining the Dodgers in 2002-2003.
• Fred McGriff — a Blue Jays first baseman in the late 1980s, finished his career with a brief Dodgers stint in 2003.
• Devon White — an outfielder for Toronto’s early-1990s championship teams, later played for the Dodgers.
• Ted Lilly and Brandon League — both pitched for the Blue Jays in the 2000s and later for the Dodgers in the early 2010s.
• Max Scherzer — not a shared-team connection, but his Dodgers tenure (acquired in 2021) and 3,000th career strikeout milestone are frequently cited alongside this matchup’s history.

These cross-franchise threads add texture to a rivalry that, statistically, is still young.

Context & Benchmarks: How This Rivalry Compares

By the standards of the Dodgers’ true rivalries — the Giants, the Yankees, even the Astros after 2017 and 2020 — the Blue Jays series remains a relative newcomer. The two sides simply haven’t played enough regular-season games to build the kind of grudge that decades of division play produces.

What changes the calculus is the postseason: a single World Series, especially one as dramatic as 2025’s, can do more to define a matchup than twenty years of June interleague series. The 2025 Dodgers-Blue Jays game was truly historic because it was the 45th Game 7 in World Series history and only the 41st winner-take-all game in the Fall Classic. company alongside 1991, 1997, and 2001.

The shift to a fully balanced schedule with annual interleague play — in effect since 2023 — also means the Dodgers and Blue Jays are now guaranteed to cross paths most seasons, rather than waiting years between meetings as they did for most of the 2000s and 2010s. Combined with last October’s result, that makes this one of the faster-developing modern interleague series in baseball, even if its all-time numbers remain modest compared with division rivalries.

Future Outlook

With the 2026 season already producing a “World Series rematch” series in early April — won 2-1 by the Dodgers — both front offices have an obvious incentive to keep building on the matchup’s new visibility. Toronto’s young core (Bichette, Guerrero Jr., Springer, and emerging arms like Yesavage) gives the Blue Jays a foundation to challenge for another pennant, while the Dodgers’ push for a third consecutive title keeps the possibility of a World Series rematch alive for 2026 as well.

Whether or not these two meet again on the sport’s biggest stage, the annual interleague series itself now carries far more weight than it did before October 2025.

Conclusion

The Dodgers vs Blue Jays timeline spent two decades as a sleepy interleague footnote — three-game series every few years, the occasional blowout, a handful of crossover players. Then the 2025 World Series turned it into one of the most replayed series in recent memory, anchored by an 18-inning marathon and a Game 7 that may stand as the best World Series game ever played.

From Roy Halladay’s 2002 complete game to Mookie Betts’ series-ending double play, this is a head-to-head chronology that rewards a closer look. For more franchise deep-dives, check out our complete Dodgers World Series history and Blue Jays championship runs pages.

Frequently Asked Questions

When did the Dodgers first play the Toronto Blue Jays?

The Dodgers and Blue Jays first met on June 18, 2002, at Dodger Stadium, with Toronto winning 2-1 behind a Roy Halladay complete game. It was the first meeting between the two franchises in MLB history.

What is the all-time head-to-head record between the Dodgers vs Toronto Blue Jays Timeline?

The Dodgers hold a wide all-time edge, sitting at roughly 21-12 in regular-season play and about 25-15 overall once the 2025 World Series is included, as of their April 2026 series.

Have the Dodgers and Blue Jays ever met in the postseason?

Yes — exactly once. The two teams met in the 2025 World Series, which the Dodgers won in seven games, capped by an 11-inning, 5-4 victory that secured back-to-back titles for Los Angeles.