Game Seven Classic: Dodgers outlast Blue Jays in an unforgettable World Series
Photo courtesy of All-Pro Reels/Wikimedia Commons
After an unforgettable Game Seven thriller, Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers captured their second straight World Series title, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 5–4 in 11 innings in what may go down as one of the greatest Fall Classics in baseball history.
In my last article, I ranked the greatest World Series matchups of the last decade. While I was writing, I mentioned how this year's World Series matchup between the Dodgers and Blue Jays has the chance to be an all-time classic. Now, after Los Angeles triumphed over the Blue Jays 5-4 in Game Seven in 11 innings, I can confidently say that this might just have been the greatest World Series, not just in the last decade, but of all time.
Game Seven started rather inconspicuously. Max Scherzer, who started for Toronto, relied on his veteran experience and hellacious assortment of breaking balls to keep the Dodgers lineup at bay. On the other side, the extraordinary Shohei Ohtani, who was balancing pitching and hitting duties in this game, had a more arduous outing. It started with a bases-loaded jam in the second— the Blue Jays smelled blood in the water, and in the third inning, shortstop Bo Bichette sent an entire country into a frenzy with a three-run blast against Ohtani. Toronto was in control early, but the Dodgers were far from willing to hand them the championship.
Los Angeles wasted no time responding to the Blue Jays’ early statement. After loading the bases in the fourth inning, outfielder Teoscar Hernandez was able to bring Will Smith home on a sacrifice fly. With Ohtani out of the game, fellow starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow was put in the game. The hard-throwing right-hander was able to strand two runners in the fourth, furthering the Dodgers’ momentum. The sixth inning boosted the Dodgers’ comeback bid as Tommy Edman knocked in another run with a sac-fly. Now, just a 3-2 game, the Blue Jays were looking to stamp out this ferocious comeback.
Postseason hero Ernie Clement got the sixth inning started with a single, then proceeded to steal second. Gimenez capitalized on Clement’s crafty baserunning by lacing a double to right-center, pushing their lead to 4-2. Knowing that the Dodgers needed an offensive spark, who better to bring in than rookie phenom, Trey Yesavage, coming off a masterful performance in Game Five? Yesavage was able to escape a jam in the seventh, but the following inning, Dodgers third baseman Max Munchy launched a hanging splitter off Yesavage that cleared the right field wall. Los Angeles was back within a run, but it might have been too late because Blue Jays star closer Jeff Hoffman needed just four outs to be a hero for an entire nation.
After getting the first out of the ninth inning, Hoffman was to battle shortstop Miguel Rojas, who is in the game solely for his defensive capabilities rather than offensive prowess. Sometimes, though, October baseball defies logic; Hoffman threw a hanging slider right over the heart of the plate and Rojas obliterated the pitch to left field for a game-tying home run. Hoffman was able to get out of the ninth without surrendering the lead, but the damage had been done— Rojas had saved the Dodgers’ season.
After that improbable home run, it would have been easy for Toronto to go out quietly in the ninth inning, but that was not in their DNA. Bo Bichette got the inning rolling with a single off of Dodgers starter Blake Snell. Addison Barger then worked a walk after a phenomenal at-bat, and Snell then proceeded to hit Alejandro Kirk with a pitch, loading the bases for the Blue Jays. All Toronto needed was just one run to walk off the World Series in Game Seven , something that has not been done since 1960. Yet the Dodgers still had one more trick up their sleeve: superstar pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had just pitched six innings of shutout ball in the Dodgers’ Game Six victory on Friday night. It did not matter, though, as all bets were off in a win-or-go-home situation, and the Dodgers were turning to their best pitcher to deliver a miracle.
With Daulton Varsho up at the plate, all the Jays needed was a fly ball to win the whole thing. Unfortunately for an entire country, the Blue Jays hit a groundball straight to Rojas, who delivered a perfect strike to gun down Isiah Kiner-Falefa at home to keep the game tied. Clement bashed a ball that was seemingly over Kike Hernandez's head, until centerfield Andy Pages came flying in to send this classic to the 10th inning.
After a scoreless 10th inning from the Blue Jays, Dodgers catcher Will Smith broke the tie with a towering drive into the left field seats. In a shocking turn of events, the Dodgers had their first lead of the game at 5-4. In the 11th, Toronto was set up with runners on first and third with only one out as catcher Alejandro Kirk stepped up to the plate. But as beautiful of a game as baseball is, it can also be a cruel one. On just the third pitch of the at-bat against Yamamoto, Kirk lined one straight to Mookie Betts, who stepped on second for one out and threw out Kirk at first. Double play, game over, World Series over. The Dodgers had repeated as champs in one what could go down as the best World Series that the baseball world has ever seen.