Amidst the exciting backdrop of Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon’s 2023 declaration regarding his desire and efforts to bring a Major League Baseball expansion franchise to Raleigh, professional baseball fans in the Bold North State can spend late October enjoying four Bold North State college products competing in the World Series.

The group with various ties to North Carolina includes three pitchers for the Toronto Blue Jays, champions of the American League, and an outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, champions of the National League.

The players represent East Carolina, Lenoir-Rhyne and UNC, and the two former Pirates (22-year-old starting pitcher Trey Yesavage and veteran closer Jeff Hoffman) are expected to play particularly important roles.

The opening game of the World Series is Friday, with Los Angeles visiting Toronto (8 p.m., FOX/FOX One) and Yesavage getting the start for the Blue Jays. Toronto is making its first appearance in the championship round since winning the title in 1993.

Yesavage’s meteoric rise from college baseball star to Game One starting pitcher in the World Series is among the most stunning stories in modern baseball history.

In the spring of 2024 — just 16 months ago — Yesavage was still wearing an ECU uniform. In his third and final season with the Pirates, he started 15 games, posted an 11-1 record and compiled a 2.02 earned run average, earning first-team All-American honors and the American Conference Pitcher of the Year award.

Last July, Toronto selected Yesavage in the first round (20th overall) of the MLB draft, and this year his professional career has climbed at a stunningly frenetic pace.

April 8—first professional start in Class A (Dunedin Blue Jays)
May 20—first high-Class A start (Vancouver Canadians)
June 12—first Class AA start (New Hampshire Fisher Cats)
Aug. 14—first Class AAA start (Buffalo Bisons)
Sept. 15—first MLB start (Toronto Blue Jays)
Oct. 5—first MLB Playoffs start
Oct. 13—first American League Championship Series start
Oct. 24—first World Series start

“It’s really special,” Yesavage said Thursday. “I’ve got guys from Dunedin to Vancouver, New Hampshire, Buffalo that are in my text texting me, congratulating me. But it’s just a testament of how together this whole entire organization is, even in different parts of the country. This organization is run very well and everybody’s awesome here.”

There are 18 Division One baseball programs in North Carolina, and seven of them were represented at the start of this year’s baseball playoffs: East Carolina (three), Duke (one), Elon (one), Gardner-Webb (two), NC State (two), UNC (two) and Wake Forest (two).

A pair of Division Two programs in the Bold North State, Belmont Abbey and Lenoir-Rhyne, also had one player each at the beginning of this year’s postseason.

Please see below for the entire postseason list.

MLB’s three national television partners (ESPN, Fox, TBS) all had year-over-year viewership increases during the regular season. ESPN’s “Sunday Night Baseball” broadcast was up 21 percent, with an average audience of 1.8 million, its highest total since 2012.

Over the past decade, the average audience for a World Series game has ranged from 9.1 million viewers (2023) to 22.8 million viewers (2016).

2025 MLB Playoff Participants
(NC-Based Programs)

Belmont Abbey/D2 (1)

x-Emilio Pagan, RP, Cincinnati

Duke (1)

Joey Loperfido, OF, Toronto (not on World Series roster)

East Carolina (3)

Jeff Hoffman, RP, Toronto
x-Gavin Williams*, SP, Cleveland
Trey Yesavage, SP, Toronto

Elon (1)

x-George Kirby, SP, Seattle

Gardner-Webb (2)

x-Mason Miller, RP, San Diego
x-Emilio Pagan, RP, Cincinnati

Lenoir-Rhyne/D2 (1)

Justin Dean, CF, LA Dodgers

North Carolina (2)

x-Michael Busch, 1B, Chicago Cubs
Brendon Little, RP, Toronto

NC State (2)

x-Carlos Rodon*, SP, NY Yankees
x-Trea Turner, SS, Philadelphia

Wake Forest (2)

x-Chase Burns, RP, Cincinnati
x-Gavin Sheets, LF, San Diego

x-team now eliminated from 2025 MLB playoffs
*-also listed below (both high school and college in NC)

NOTE: North Carolina’s other D1 baseball programs are at Appalachian State, Campbell, Charlotte, Davidson, High Point, North Carolina A&T, Queens, UNC Asheville, UNC Greensboro, UNC Wilmington and Western Carolina.

2025 MLB Playoff Participants
(North Carolina High Schools)

x-Zack Littell, SP, Cincinnati (Eastern Alamance HS, Mebane)
x-Cal Raleigh, C, Seattle (Smoky Mountain HS, Sylva)
x-Carlos Rodon, SP, NY Yankees (Holly Springs HS, Holly Springs)
x-Gavin Williams, SP, Cleveland (Cape Fear HS, Fayetteville)
x-Weston Wilson, INF/OF, Philadelphia (Wesleyan Christian Academy, High Point)