Massive Nights for the Backstops Via the First Two Video games of the World Collection

Cal Raleigh’s large season ended with the elimination of the Mariners from the ALCS, however that hasn’t meant the disappearance of high-impact hitting from catchers throughout the postseason. To this point within the World Collection, each the Blue Jays’ Alejandro Kirk and the Dodgers’ Will Smith have been central to their groups’ respective offensive assaults, constructing on their stellar contributions throughout the common season.

Neither Kirk nor Smith had seasons on the extent of Raleigh, however the identical is true for practically each different catcher in AL/NL historical past. That stated, the 2 beginning backstops on this World Collection every made their respective All-Star groups and ranked second and third within the majors in catcher WAR behind Raleigh’s 9.1. The 26-year-old Kirk hit .282/.348/.421 (116 wRC+) whereas clubbing a career-high 15 house runs, and he additionally posted the majors’ second-highest marks in Statcast Fielding Run Worth (21) and our personal framing metric (11.3 runs), with the latter fueling his career-high 4.7 WAR. The 30-year-old Smith spent a lot of the season vying for the NL batting title, ending at .296/.404/.497 with 17 homers and a 153 wRC+, his highest over a full season and the second-best mark on the group behind Shohei Ohtani. Regardless of subpar protection (-8 FRV and -6.8 FRM) and simply 10 plate appearances in September, he produced a strong 4.1 WAR.

The Dodgers couldn’t get Kirk out on Friday night time in Toronto, as he not solely went 3-for-3 but in addition drew a first-inning stroll that helped set the tone for the Blue Jays, despite the fact that it didn’t result in a run. Going through Blake Snell with two outs and runners on the corners, Kirk obtained forward 3-1, then fouled off 4 straight pitches earlier than lastly shedding a curveball within the filth. His tenacious plate look lasted 9 pitches; by the point Snell retired Daulton Varsho on a fly ball to finish the risk, the two-time Cy Younger winner had thrown 29 pitches.

With the Blue Jays trailing 2-0, Kirk led off the fourth inning by battling Snell for an additional eight pitches, this time falling behind 0-2 after which fouling 4 pitches off. Lastly, he reached out and poked a 97.9-mph, 334-foot drive into the correct area nook for a really lengthy single capped by an entertaining scramble again to first base, as if he instantly remembered his second-percentile dash pace. Snell adopted by leaving his subsequent pitch, a 96-mph four-seamer, in the course of the zone, and Varsho crushed it for a game-tying house run.

Kirk batted twice throughout the Blue Jays’ nine-run sixth inning. He adopted Bo Bichette’s leadoff stroll with a pointy 99-mph single to proper area towards Snell, then scored when reliever Emmet Sheehan walked Nathan Lukes with the bases loaded. After seven runs had scored — 4 on Addison Barger’s pinch-hit grand slam — and with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. on first, Kirk launched a two-run, 403-foot homer off Anthony Banda to cap Toronto’s scoring.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto saved Kirk in examine in Sport 2, however the catcher made his presence felt regardless of going 0-for-3. He plated what turned out to be the Blue Jays’ solely run of the sport, bringing house George Springer on a sacrifice fly that tied the sport at 1-1 within the third inning. That fly out started the string of 20 straight batters set down by Yamamoto to safe his second consecutive full recreation, however between that ball and the one he lined out within the ninth, Kirk might declare to be the one Toronto hitter with a number of drives of at the least 100 mph off the Dodgers ace.

Certainly Kirk has been pounding the ball recently, simply as he did throughout the common season. Like many different Blue Jays, he swung more durable in 2025 than earlier than; his common bat pace jumped from 70.1 mph in 2023 and ’24 to 72.5 on this one, along with his fast-swing price greater than doubling, from 12.2% to twenty-eight.5%. Not solely did he managed to do all this by trimming his strikeout price (from 13.2% to 11.7%), however the more durable swings paid off with higher contact. After two seasons of barely subpar manufacturing, that includes a slugging proportion slightly below .360 and a wRC+ within the mid-90s, Kirk added practically two miles per hour to his common exit velocity, boosting his xSLG by 99 factors:

As you would possibly surmise from these rising launch angles, Kirk has lowered his groundball price, from 50.2% in 2023 to 45.3% in ’24 to 44.2% in ’25; throughout the postseason, it’s at 31.8%. He did fall 70 factors in need of his anticipated slugging proportion throughout the common season, at the least partly as a result of when he hit the ball within the air, he tended to hit it to middle area. This postseason, he’s sprayed these hard-hit fly balls across the outfield extra, and in consequence, his SLG and xSLG are lower than 10 factors aside.

Kirk has been a giant a part of the Blue Jays offense from the outset of the postseason. He homered twice of their 10-1 win over the Yankees in the Division Collection opener, first towards Luis Gil within the second inning after which Paul Blackburn within the eighth. He singled, scored, and drove in a run in Sport 2, and doubled and scored in Sport 4. He collected hits in six out of seven video games within the ALCS, with a three-run shot off Caleb Ferguson in Sport 3 his largest blast. Total, he’s batting .255/.316/.529 (130 wRC+) whereas catching all however one inning of Toronto’s 13 postseason video games up to now.

As for Smith, when the postseason opened, his availability to catch was doubtful. On September 3 towards the Pirates, he took a foul tip off his proper hand and made an early exit. X-rays, a CT scan, and an MRI got here again clear, yielding a analysis of a bone bruise however nothing extra severe. After sitting for 5 days, Smith returned to the lineup and went 1-for-4 with a double, however following a pair extra days of relaxation, he was in sufficient discomfort that the Dodgers scratched him quarter-hour earlier than first pitch on September 13. They positioned him on the 10-day injured record, and shortly despatched him for extra imaging.

On September 20, the Dodgers revealed that Smith had suffered a hairline fracture that had beforehand gone undetected attributable to irritation. The belated analysis put his standing for the playoffs in jeopardy. It was a bitter irony given the extent to which the group managed his workload with a watch towards preserving him more energizing for October than final yr, when he hit simply .143/.246/.321 whereas catching all however two postseason innings throughout the Dodgers’ championship run.

Whereas the Dodgers included Smith on the roster for his or her Wild Card Collection towards the Reds, he didn’t seem in both recreation. As a substitute, Ben Rortvedt — who’d performed simply 18 video games for the group after being acquired from the Rays on the July 31 deadline, and who had by no means performed a postseason recreation — caught each video games whereas Smith and rookie Daulton Speeding waited within the wings. Rortvedt additionally began the primary two video games of the Division Collection towards the Phillies, however batted simply as soon as every time earlier than being pinch-hit for by Smith, who caught the remainder of every recreation. Smith’s first hit of October was a big one, a bases-loaded two-run single off Orion Kerkering within the seventh inning of Sport 2, increasing the Dodgers’ result in 3-0.

Smith has caught each inning of each Dodgers recreation since Sport 3 of the NLDS, amassing at the least one hit in all however one (NLDS Sport 4). He went 6-for-15 with a pair of walks throughout the NLCS towards the Brewers, scoring three runs — together with the go-ahead run within the sixth-inning of Sport 3, after notching the group’s second hit off Jacob Misiorowski in 4 2/3 innings to that time. He additionally singled and scored towards Jose Quintana throughout the Dodgers’ three-run first inning in Sport 4, earlier than Ohtani’s fireworks overshadowed all the things else.

Via the NLCS, Smith had hit simply .286/.375/.286 with 10 strikeouts throughout 32 postseason plate appearances — barely higher than final season, however nonetheless subpar. Whereas he pulled 5 of his 18 balls in play to that time, solely two of these had been within the air: the singles off Kerkering (15-degree launch angle, 89.3 mph) and Misiorowski (10-degree launch angle, 108.1 mph).

In Sport 1 towards the Blue Jays, Smith led off the second inning by drawing a stroll towards Trey Yesavage; he was erased by a forceout in that one, however the Dodgers did rating. Smith adopted back-to-back walks by singling off Yesavage within the third inning, driving in a run to extend the result in 2-0, however from there it was all Toronto.

The following night time, in Sport 2, Smith once more obtained going early, following Freddie Freeman’s two-out first-inning double off Kevin Gausman with an RBI single up the center to place the Dodgers up 1-0. From there, Gausman retired the following 17 batters, and after Kirk’s sac fly, the 2 starters matched zeroes as the 2 groups remained deadlocked. With one out within the seventh, Smith confronted a weight loss program of four-seamers from Gausman, and when the 34-year-old righty left one up over the inside third of the zone, the Los Angeles catcher hammered it 107.5 mph and 404 ft to left area for solo shot and a 2-1 lead. Gausman’s spell was damaged; two batters later Max Muncy homered off him as properly.

Smith got here to bat as soon as extra, with the bases loaded within the eighth inning towards Jeff Hoffman. He hit a gradual chopper to the drawn-in shortstop Andrés Giménez, who tried to start out a double play at second as a substitute of throwing house for the forceout. His prolonged underhand toss to Bichette offered simply sufficient lag time for Smith — who runs properly… for a catcher, with Forty sixth-percentile dash pace — to beat it out and prolong the result in 5-1.

One bit value noting concerning that house run: Smith’s swing averaged a modest 69.8 mph throughout the common season, and he has principally maintained that within the postseason. His house run swing, although, was measured at 74.6 mph, tied for the quickest of any of his swings since June 29, and it produced his first barrel since September 2.

Afterward, supervisor Dave Roberts drew a connection between Smith’s house run and the Dodgers’ day off between the NLCS and the World Collection, saying, “That week off, I feel, obtained him over the hump. It was the primary time shortly he’s pulled a ball like that. I feel that’s a part of the therapeutic course of.”

For as tempting as it’s to credit score Smith’s return to the lineup with sparking the Dodgers’ current run of robust begins, the full-strength rotation did jell throughout his absence in September, and it’s not as if his steering has sprinkled magic pixie mud on the shaky bullpen. That stated, Roberts cited the catcher’s calm method, each on the plate and behind it, as he shepherded Yamamoto via a Blue Jays lineup that had averaged 6.83 runs per recreation via Sport 1 of the World Collection. “I feel the sport calling, the connection with the pitchers has continued to get higher,” stated the supervisor. “He’s at all times had the bat-to-ball, the flexibility to hit to all fields… He understands when to select his spots. He does his homework. I feel on the finish of the day, he’s a man that simply doesn’t panic. He’s actually obtained a flat-line heartbeat, and within the postseason, that’s what you want.”

With the Dodgers hitting simply .185/.284/.338 via the primary two video games, their offense wants all the assistance it could get towards the Blue Jays. We’ll see if Smith’s huge night time is an indicator that he’s able to reclaim his spot among the many group’s heavy hitters and assist Los Angeles to its second consecutive title. As for Kirk, he’s already one in all Toronto’s most impactful bats; he’ll want to take care of that manufacturing for the Blue Jays to win their first World Collection in three a long time.