The 2025 Blue Jays sure look like this iconic Cardinals World Series winning team

While watching Game 4 of the 2025 World Series, I finally said out loud a thought that I've had brewing about this year's Toronto Blue Jays team.

"They remind me a lot of the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals."

I left that thought out there for a bit, but it kept gnawing at me. It felt like a silly proclamation, but I couldn't shake it. Fully anticipating that my comparison would look extremely flawed, I began to dive into the numbers...

And well, I came away feeling even better about that comparison I've been sensing during the Blue Jays' postseason run.

The 2025 Toronto Blue Jays look a lot like the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals

No two baseball teams are exactly the same. You can easily poke holes in any comparison, including this one, but the numbers that the 2025 Blue Jays have put up so far are very similar to what the 2011 Cardinals put up during their championship run. I shared a bunch of those in a thread I posted on X that I'll link below.

Doing a quick side by side of their regular season comparisons, they actually lined up surprisingly well, as you can see below or in that thread:

Regular Season Team Batting Comparison
‘25 TOR:
.265 AVG (1st), .333 OBP (1st), .427 SLG (7th), 112 wRC+ (4th), 798 R (4th), 17.8 K% (1st), 8.7 BB% (8th)

‘11 STL:
.273 AVG (5th), .341 OBP (3rd), .425 SLG (6th), 112 wRC+ (3rd), 762 R (5th), 15.7 K% (2nd), 8.4 BB% (13th)

Regular Season Team Pitching Comparison:
‘25 TOR SPs/RPs:
11.7 fWAR (21st), 103 ERA- (19th), 4.19 ERA (19th), 3.95 SIERA (7th), 1.27 WHIP (16th)

‘11 STL SPs/RPs:
12.0 fWAR (19th), 102 ERA- (19th), 3.79 ERA (12th), 3.79 SIERA (10th), 1.31 WHIP (15th)

From an individual production standpoint, the similarities continued. The 2025 Blue Jays had five bats post a 120 wRC+ or better in at least 200 plate appearances; the 2011 Cardinals had six. Both lineups had a strong mix of impact bats that were brought up through their own farm systems (Vlad Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Davis Schneider, and Alejandro Kirk for Toronto, while St. Louis had Albert Pujols, Allen Craig, Yadier Molina, and David Freese), while also having major outfield bats who they brought in via trades or free agency (George Springer and Daulton Varsho for the Blue Jays and then Matt Holliday and Lance Berkman for the Cardinals).

Both rotations were led by a trio of veteran starters (Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt, and Shane Bieber vs. Chris Carpenter, Jake Westbrook, and Kyle Lohse) while they also had phenom young arms like Trey Yesavage and Jamie Garcia. Both bullpens relied on a mix of veteran and youthful arms, and their pitching staffs did enough to let their offenses shine.

While the 2011 Cardinals entered the playoffs as a Cinderella Wild Card team and the 2025 Blue Jays had the best record in the American League, both were doubted by many in the postseason, and have continuously fought back to overcome deficits and continue to advance. Both had star power, but both needed their scrappy nature to get by their opponents.

Entering the postseason, the 2025 Blue Jays had 11% odds of winning the World Series according to Vegas, while the 2011 Cardinals had 6.25% odds.

The 2011 Cardinals came back from down two games to one to beat the World Series favorites, the Philadelphia Phillies, in the NLDS, while the 2025 Blue Jays came back from down two games to none and three games to two in order to win the ALCS over the Seattle Mariners.

Both teams split the first two games of the World Series at home and then split the first two series on the road against a team that had been in the World Series the year prior, although the Rangers lost the year prior, while the Dodgers won. And both series have already had all-time classic games, although the Blue Jays lost that game while the Cardinals won theirs.

Ultimately, what led me to that comparison before I even dove into the numbers was the never-back-down mentality that the Blue Jays have displayed in their postseason run that the Cardinals embodied in 2011. Toronto is a scrappy team that knows how to score runs when they need to, whether it is by slugging or by small ball, and the 2011 Cardinals were cut from the same cloth.

Now, how Games 5, 6, and 7 play out will play a significant role in this comparison, but I thought I would go ahead and share the similarities I've seen as we are midway through the Fall Classic. I'm having a blast watching this World Series, much like I did in 2011, and here's to hoping the Blue Jays can slay the mighty Dodgers after tying up the series at two apiece.