Former Blue Jays Pitcher Gives Blunt Assessment of Losing World Series to the Dodgers

Oct 29, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Chris Bassitt (40) speaks in a press conference before game five of the 2025 MLB World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers played one of the most memorable World Series in MLB history, but that perception certainly is easier for the victors to recognize.

After going from worst to first in the American League East, the Blue Jays eliminated the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners in order to reach their third World Series in franchise history. They won back-to-back titles from 1992-93 and were on the doorstep of a third championship last year.

But the Dodgers instead came away with exhilarating wins at Rogers Centre in Games 6 and 7 to become MLB's first repeat champions since the 1998-2000 Yankees.

The sting of defeat still sits with Chris Bassitt, who views the Blue Jays as having failed, via the Baltimore Banner.

"I'm not over it. I think the only way I can possibly get over it is to win one. I don't think I'll ever get over that. Still have a lot of pain from it, for sure. So it's for sure unfinished business.

"But yeah, being so close and yet still so far away, it sucks. I mean, anything in baseball or anything really in life, the failures teach you everything. We failed.

"A lot of people will say, 'Yeah, you didn't really fail. There wasn't really a loser in that World Series.' We lost, we failed. We did things the wrong way, and I think the only way to learn and to really get through things is to fail. And then it's like, all right. Some people say injuries and all that. If you can just sit back and kind of learn from it, you can be a better person and better player for it.

"So it's just more so guiding people of like, 'Hey, this is the right way to go about this. This is the wrong way to go about this.' So yeah, to answer your question, I'm not over it."

Bassitt's comments are similar to those made by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, another member of the 2024 Blue Jays roster who is no longer with the team. Kiner-Falefa was the subject of a controversial baserunning play in the ninth inning of Game 7, and as part of explaining the sequence, remarked that the only way to overcome the disappointment would be by winning a World Series.

Bassitt allowed just one run in six innings pitched across five appearances against the Dodgers in the World Series. The lone run the right-hander allowed to the Dodgers came via a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning of Game 7.

Bassitt had been with the Blue Jays since signing a three-year, $63 million contract in December 2022. Now the soon-to-be 37-year-old is a member of the Baltimore Orioles after signing a one-year, $18.5 million deal.

Blue Jays vs. Dodgers World Series TV ratings

The 2025 World Series averaged 34 million viewers across the United States, Canada and Japan. It amounted to the largest Fall Classic TV audience since 1992 and a 19% increase compared to the matchup between the Dodgers and Yankees.

For the U..S and Canda, the entire World Series drew a combined audience of 24.3 million viewers.

Game 7 alone averaged 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada and Japan. It was the most-watched MLB broadcast since Game 7 of the 1991 World Series.