Dodgers snatch historic title in 11-inning thriller

TORONTO — In a World Series for the ages, catcher Will Smith delivered the biggest swing of all for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Smith connected in the 11th for the first extra-inning homer in a winner-takes-all title game, and Miguel Rojas became the first player to hit a tying home run in the ninth inning of a Game 7.

On a roller coaster night of swinging emotions, the Dodgers outlasted the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 Saturday to become the first repeat champion in a quarter of a century.

"You dream of those moments," Smith said after the four-hour, seven-minute thriller. "I'll remember that forever."

In the type of back-and-forth Game 7 that kids dream about in backyards, the Blue Jays led 3-0 on Bo Bichette's third-inning homer off Shohei Ohtani, and 4-2 before Max Muncy's eighth-inning solo homer off rookie Trey Yesavage.

Toronto was two outs from its first title since 1993 when Rojas, inserted into the slumping Dodgers lineup in Game 6 to provide some energy, homered on a full-count slider from Jeff Hoffman, stunning the Rogers Centre crowd of 44,713 into silence.

"I've lost everybody in here a World Series ring," a shattered Hoffman said afterward.

Rojas hadn't hit a home run since Sept 19.

"I had a conversation with my wife," Rojas said. "She told me something big was waiting for me."

Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half of the ninth, and Toronto fought its way out of similar trouble in the 10th.

Smith, who hit a go-ahead homer in Game 2, sent a 2-0 slider from Shane Bieber into Toronto's bullpen in left field, where it bounced into the seats and gave the Dodgers their first lead of the night. Running between first and second, Smith raised his arms in triumph.

"He hung a slider," Smith said. "I banged it."

Bieber, a former Cy Young Award winner, was making his first relief appearance since 2019.

Of course, there had to be even more drama in just the sixth winner-take-all Series game to go to extra innings. At 11 innings, it matched the Marlins' 3-2 win over Cleveland in 1997 as the second-longest Game 7, behind only the Washington Senators' 4-3, 12th-inning victory against the New York Giants in 1924.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr doubled leading off the bottom of the 11th and was sacrificed to third. Addison Barger walked and Alejandro Kirk hit a broken-bat grounder to shortstop Mookie Betts, who started a title-winning 6-6-3 double play. It was only the second double play to end a Series after the Yankees in 1947 against the Dodgers.

"I thought we had chances to sweep them," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. "Going back to the beginning of the series, when people were calling it David vs Goliath, it's not even close."

One for the record books

Smith set a Series record by catching 73 innings. Betts earned his fourth title in the finale of baseball's 150th major league season, the first to begin and end outside the United States.

In the Dodgers bullpen for the last game of his illustrious 18-year career, Clayton Kershaw lost track of the outs.

"When he hit the double play, I thought the run scored and it was tied," he said. "I thought I had the next batter."

Los Angeles and its $500 million roster overcame a 3-2 Series deficit on the road. The Dodgers become the first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees, and the first from the National League to do it since the Cincinnati Reds in 1975 and '76.

With a ninth championship, and third in six years, the Dodgers made an argument for their 2020s teams to be considered a dynasty. Dave Roberts, their manager since 2016, boosted the likelihood that he will gain induction to the Hall of Fame.

"To do what we've done in this span of time is pretty remarkable," Roberts said.

"Let the pundits and all the fans talk about if it's a dynasty or not."

After throwing 96 pitches in the Dodgers' win Friday, Yamamoto tossed 43 more over two innings and two-thirds for his third win of the Series. He finished the postseason 5-1 with a 1.45 ERA.

"Before I went in, to be honest, I was not really sure if I could pitch up there to my best ability," Yamamoto said through a translator. "But as I started getting warmed up ... I started making a little bit of an adjustment, and then I started thinking I can go in and do my job."

This Series produced the World Series' first pinch-hit grand slam, its first complete game in a decade, an 18-inning Game 3, Freddie Freeman becoming the first to hit two walk-off homers, the first back-to-back homers to open a game, Yesavage posting a rookie strike-out record with 12, just six weeks after his debut, and the first game-ending double play in which an outfielder had a putout or assist.

"That game had every single thing you could possibly have," Freeman said. "Just an absolutely incredible game, incredible Series."

While the Dodgers were sprayed with silver confetti, the Blue Jays were left to ponder how close they came. Eyes were red and voices cracked amid the sobbing.

"I've been crying for, like, probably for an hour," infielder Ernie Clement said long after the final out. "I thought I was done with the tears." His 30 postseason hits set a new record, but that is unlikely to bring him any comfort right now.

In the midst of the celebration, Freeman was already looking ahead to 2026: "The Yankees are three-time back-to-back," he said, "so we get to use that same narrative next year."

Agencies via Xinhua