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TORONTO, ON – NOVEMBER 01: Will Smith #16 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates after hitting a go-ahead solo home run in the 11th inning during Game Seven of the 2025 World Series presented by Capital One between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on Saturday, November 1, 2025 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
What a finish.
Every February, when pitchers and catchers report, baseball hands us a blank page. The story will twist and lurch, heroes will stumble and the unexpected will take center stage.
We never know how it will read. We only know the ending is better when it includes a Game 7 of the World Series—a night that squeezes every ounce of adrenaline, fear, sweat and dread from the sport.
By the end, so much is poured out that we all feel it. Weâ€re spent.
The Dodgers†5-4 11th-inning thrilling win was exceptional in so many ways. We had the most unexpected of tying home runs. We had a play at the plate in the bottom of the ninth, and then yet another one in the top of the 10th. We had Fridayâ€s starting pitcher jogging in from the bullpen. We had a go-ahead homer in the 11th, and then the tying run standing at third base in the bottom of the 11th.
Many World Series have fewer dramatic moments than were crammed into Game 7.
Yes, if you’re a Blue Jays fan, it was one of the beautiful agonies that will torment for decades (or at least until the Blue Jays win another World Series).
If youâ€re a Dodgers fan, it is the best title of the dynasty. Itâ€s the first repeat World Series champion of the 21st century, and it had the level of drama and key moments that provide
If you love baseball, this was perfection. Games donâ€t need to be flawless to be timeless. Itâ€s the tension, the chaos, the small collisions of luck and nerve that make you fall for the sport all over again—and leave you yearning for spring training before the last out even lands in a glove.
A Game To Make New Fans
This game had so many perfect moments. Itâ€s the kind of game that mints another generation of baseball fans, like 1975, 1991, 2001 and 2016. There are undoubtedly children who watched this series who will still be talking about decades from now.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto may win Cy Youngs in his future. Heâ€s already one of the gameâ€s aces. But his legacy is already assured. Like Orel Hershiser nearly 40 years ago, he figured out how to go beyond the logical limits of human endurance to get back-to-back wins in Game 6 and Game 7.
This series had an 18-inning game. It had Shohei Ohtani hitting three home runs in a game. It had Vladimir Guerrero Jr. providing heroics at the plate and at first base defensively.
But all of that was merely the appetizer for one of the greatest Game 7s the sport has ever seen. You can stack it beside the Cubs†drought-breaker in 2016, or even Bill Mazeroskiâ€s walk-off in 1960, and still make a case that this one surpassed them both. It had more twists, more turns, more chaos packed into every pitch.
This Game 7 tied for the second-longest in World Series history, a fitting stage for a night when the Dodgers never led until the 11th inning, when they finally claimed a title that felt impossible, right up until it wasnâ€t.
Too Many Amazing Moments
Unforgettable moments? Where do we start?
There were game-saving force outs at the plate in the bottom of the ninth and top of the 10th. Andy Pages knocked Enrique Hernandez into next week to catch the final out of the bottom of the ninth.
While everyone eyed Shohei Ohtani on deck, Miguel Rojas, who has never hit more than 11 home runs in any season of his MLB career, hit the absurdly unexpected game-tying homer in the top of the ninth.
Heroes? Too many to count. For both teams.
George Springer somehow had three hits just days after he exited with an oblique injury. Bo Bichette limped around the bases, but he still managed to hit a go-ahead three-run home run. Ernie Clement, twice designated for assignment, was 3-for-5 and finished the World Series hitting .411. Louis Varland threw another .2 innings of scoreless relief. The Blue Jays played 18 games this postseason, he pitched in 15 of them.
Of course there was Rojas. Max Muncyâ€s eighth-inning homer gave Rojas a chance to tie it with his homer. This is Muncyâ€s seventh MLB postseason with the Dodgers, heâ€s hit exactly three home runs in five different postseasons.
Will Smith finally gave the Dodgers their first lead with his 11th-inning homer. The Dodgers played 142 postseason innings in winning the 2024 World Series, Smith caught 140 of them.. This year, Smith only had to catch 136 of the Dodgers 162 postseason innings, but he caught every inning of the NLCS and all 73 innings of the World Series.
It all ended with Yamamoto rightfully behind handed the MVP trophy. He threw the complete game victory in Game 2. He threw six innings on Friday night to help ensure there would be a Game 7. And then somehow he managed to dominate for 2.2 innings on Saturday.
Yamamoto got just two swings and misses on Saturday (he had 12 in each of his two starts). He didnâ€t have his best stuff, but he pitched, battled and stayed ahead of hitters.
Baseball has rarely felt more alive. Ballparks were full again in 2025, pulsing with noise and nostalgia. Television audiences followed suit, delivering record postseason numbers—even before factoring in the millions watching north of the border. Everywhere you looked, the sportâ€s heartbeat was steady and strong.
The 2025 season ended perfectly. A season of comebacks and chaos gave way to a Game 7 for the ages, the kind that reminds us why baseball endures—because when it delivers, nothing else in sports compares.
All thatâ€s left now is to hope that when October 2026 arrives, the game has something just as spectacular up its sleeve.
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