'Once in a lifetime': Blue Jays fans prepare for first Toronto World Series game in decades

Baseball fans, rejoice — the World Series is here, and the Toronto Blue Jays are front and centre on the sport’s biggest stage for the first time in over three decades. 

The Jays are facing off against the powerhouse Los Angeles Dodgers at Rogers Centre starting at 8 p.m. ET Friday.

While 1993 is a lot more recent than 1967, it's still a long time ago for a whole generation of Torontonians who never got to witness the Blue Jays' back-to-back championships, the franchise's only two World Series appearances.

"I'm pretty nervous. I've never [seen] the Jays get anywhere near here in my life," a High Park Little Leaguer named Tobin told CBC Radio's Metro Morning outside Rogers Centre Friday. His teammate, Gia, said seeing them in the World Series feels like a "once in a lifetime opportunity."

Heck, even for people who were around for their last championship, like Raja Oosiar, the wait has been excruciating.

"I think I was three years old the last time they went to the Series, my dad carrying me on his shoulders down these halls," Oosiar said at Rogers Centre after Monday's pennant-clinching win against Seattle. "So seeing it as a [grown] man is pretty special."

With so many years of anticipation, expect the dome and the rest of the city to be rocking at first pitch.

Los Angeles, in stark contrast, has seen plenty of World Series action in the past decade.

The Dodgers are playing in their fifth Fall Classic in nine seasons, and will be gunning for their own repeat after easily dispatching the New York Yankees in five games last year to become the undisputed kings — or, to most baseball fans, evil emperors — of the big leagues.

Led by multi-talented, cannot-be-overhyped phenom Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers have an almost God-like batting lineup and starting rotation.

The National League champs have lost only one game in three series this post-season, most recently making this season's winningest team, the Milwaukee Brewers, look like a speed bump on their flat, paved road to the World Series.

But the Blue Jays didn't get here by luck.

Their bats have been on fire this October, and they won one more game than LA during the regular season. That gives Toronto home-field advantage for the series’ first two games, as well as Games 6 and 7, if necessary. Against a juggernaut like the Dodgers, that small edge could be massive.

So the Dodgers (with a payroll nearly $100 million higher than Toronto's) are a formidable opponent, but Blue Jays manager John Schneider hasn't appeared intimidated this week, saying his club has what it takes to win.