A handful of Blue Jays played in at least a game with the World Series champions.
In a game that featured a spectacular meltdown inning by the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Dodgers came back from a 5-0 deficit to win game five of the 2024 World Series 7-6 and their second World Series title since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Former Blue Jay Teoscar Hernández figured largely in this game, ripping a double in the fifth inning to tie the game 5-5, but he isn’t the only one who had played for Toronto who will get a World Series ring.
Ultimately the Dodgers get to choose who will receive a ring for their contribution to the team’s run this season, but assuming they follow the convention of gifting a ring to every player who had played at least a game this season, seven players with links to the Blue Jays would get one.
LHP Anthony Banda, 31
The bespectacled reliever pitched 6.1 innings over 7 games with the 2022 Blue Jays before being designated for assignment in August. The Dodgers acquired Banda in a minor league deal in May this year and he ended up pitching just shy of 50 innings over 48 regular season games. He pitched in 10 postseason games, including making 4 appearances in the World Series.
IF/OF Cavan Biggio, 29
Biggio played with the Blue Jays between 2019 and 2024 before he was traded to the Dodgers for minor leaguer Braydon Fisher. He made 88 plate appearances in 30 games for the 2024 Dodgers before getting released in early August. He moved on to the Giants then was traded to Atlanta, making 4 appearances for them. He was not placed on Atlanta’s Wild Card series roster.
OF Teoscar Hernández, 32
The man who throws seeds signed a $23.5 million pillow contract with the Dodgers this past offseason and now enters free agency as an All-Star who hit 33 home runs. Teo spent 6 seasons with Toronto, arriving along with Nori Aoki in July 2017 in a trade for Francisco Liriano. He left the Blue Jays in 2022 in a trade with the Mariners for Erik Swanson and Adam Macko. Hernández played in 16 postseason games and had an excellent NLDS and World Series with a quiet NLCS in between.
RHP Daniel Hudson, 37
Hudson made 45 appearances with the 2019 Blue Jays, finishing his stint in Toronto with a 3.00 ERA before being traded to the Nationals. He signed with the Dodgers prior to the 2022 season but tore his ACL in June that year. He was plagued with injuries again in 2023 with ankle tendinitis and an MCL strain leading to just 3 games pitched. He came back with a vengeance in 2024 again recording a 3.00 ERA, this year over 65 regular season innings. He made 7 appearances in the postseason, including 2 World Series games.
OF Kevin Kiermaier, 34
Kiermaier ended his MLB career with a World Series win after joining the Dodgers from the Blue Jays at the trade deadline, in a swap for Ryan Yarbrough. He played a season and a half for Toronto and was embraced for his spectacular defense in centre field and spectacular face on his head. KK played in 4 games of the NLCS as a defensive replacement but did not reach base in his two plate appearances. He did not play in the NLDS or the World Series.
LHP Zach Logue, 28
Zach Logue never pitched for the Toronto Blue Jays, but he was drafted by the Jays and spent 2017-2021 with Bluefield, Vancouver, Lansing, Dunedin, New Hampshire, and Buffalo. Logue was part of the package sent to the late Oakland Athletics for Matt Chapman in spring training 2022. He elected free agency after Atlanta outrighted him and signed with the Dodgers on September 12 this year. He pitched 2 regular season games for the Dodgers and did not make an appearance in the postseason. Will he get a ring? We’ll have to check back.
LHP Ryan Yarbrough, 32
The player who went the other way in the Biggio trade spent parts of 2023 and 2024 with the Dodgers. He ended his 2024 season with the Blue Jays, so he did not play in the postseason.