World Series Game Seven: And Still

Game Seven. The two sweetest words in the English language. They get even sweeter when it's the final round. Everything gets magnified. The 2025 MLB season would end in (at least) nine innings.

Notice I said "at least." We'll get to that.

The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays battled it out one last time in Toronto's Rogers Centre, and it was Shohei Ohtani on the mound against Max Scherzer. Ohtani pitched because Tyler Glasnow, who was the Dodgers' originally planned Game Seven starter, ended pitching in relief in the end of Game Six. It was no score after two innings, but the third saw Bo Bichette hit a three run shot to make it 3-0 for the Blue Jays--the second and last time they would score first. The Dodgers chipped away, sac flies in the 4th and 6th innings made it a one run game, but Andres Gimenez made it 4-2 later on.

So the Dodgers entered the eighth inning six outs away from being dethroned. With one out in the frame, Max Muncy homered, cutting their deficit to one run again. Even so, the eighth ended with the Dodgers still down one. Ninth inning. Three outs away. Became two when Enrique Hernandez was taken down. Miguel Rojas, who hadn't had a hit in a month, came up to bat, with the big man, Shohei Ohtani, on deck. It looked like Rojas would be out #2, and Ohtani could possibly face being the final out that could clinch it for the Jays.

But a funny thing happened. Miguel Rojas homered.

It was a towering shot to left, and all of a sudden, the game was tied! The other two outs came, but now the Jays had to bat hoping to walk-off to a championship. Blake Snell was out of gas, so in came Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who won Games Two and Six starting. He kinda made the jam a bit more dicey, as the bases were loaded with one out. Oh boy. Ground ball, throw to the plate barely gets Isiah Kiner-Falefa out, and then there's this:

A fly ball hit deep looked like would go over Enrique Hernandez's head, but what happens? Andy Pages runs over, and runs over Hernandez to make the catch. Extra innings. I had never seen anything so wild and uninhibited, but as the legendary John Sterling says, "That's baseball, Suzyn." So for the first time in nine years, and only the third time in nearly three decades, we have extra innings in the seventh game of the World Series. Dodgers had the bags full in the 10th, but nothing. Jays couldn't win it either, so we go to the 11th. Shane Bieber entered the game, and he got the first two outs in just three pitches. It looked like the Dodgers would go down 1-2-3 easily.

Then, Will Smith happened.

Quicker than you can say, "Gettin' Jiggy With It," Will Smith's swing gave the Dodgers their first lead of the game. Now they were just three short outs away from repeating, but it would not be easy. Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. led off the 11th with a double. Isiah Kiner-Falefa bunted Vlad to third, and Barger walked. Runners at the corners, one out, and Alejandro Kirk was up. Yamamoto was ahead two strikes, and the next pitch was grounded right to Mookie Betts. Betts touched 2nd for one, and one throw to first later, the Dodgers did it again!

The Los Angeles Dodgers won Game Seven of the World Series, 5-4, in 11 innings, clinching their second straight championship on November 1, 2025--eight years to the day after they were officially cheated out of a championship by the Astros. To the surprise of absolutely no one, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was named World Series MVP, having pitched 18 innings in the series, only surrendering two earned runs, and winning three of the Dodgers' four games--two as a starter, and one in relief. This was a comeback win, trailing 3-0 and later 4-2 with one out in the eighth inning. The bats came through, with solo homers in the eighth, ninth, and eleventh innings.

The Dodgers won their ninth World Championship, their eighth since moving to LA from Brooklyn, and most importantly, their second straight. They became the first to win back-to-back championships since the New York Yankees' three-peat from 1998-2000. Let's look at the individual accolades here. For Dave Roberts, this is his third championship as manager. Freddie Freeman also has three rings, picking them up in five years (his first came with the Braves in 2021). Shohei Ohtani's won back-to-back now. A lot of the Dodgers who were there for the long haul have at least three, and that includes Clayton Kershaw, who will officially call it a career. And then there's Mookie Betts. Mookie is now a four-time champion; prior to the three rings with the Dodgers, he was part of the 2018 Red Sox squad that beat the Dodgers.

As for the Toronto Blue Jays, they really had one hell of a season. Best record in the American League, narrowly won the division, but went on a tear in October. After dismantling the Yankees, the Jays survived a seven-game thriller with the Mariners to get to the World Series, and they really put the Dodgers on the brink of being dethroned. The Jays really turned heads this year, and it should be interesting to see what happens with them in 2026 and beyond.

And so ends a wild and insane baseball season. The World Series, alone, was insane. There were 74 total innings played, so really, this was an eight-game Series. Ohtani and Vlad showed out for their respective teams, the pitching was absolutely stellar, and the moments were epic! Even so, this year ended in the same fashion that last year did, with the Dodgers on top. The Dodgers became the latest string of back-to-back champions in sports; a string that includes--among other teams--the Florida Panthers, the back-to-back defending Stanley Cup Champions. The Dodgers had never won back-to-back until now. Is a three-peat on the horizon? We will definitely see in 2026. For now, the Dodgers remain on top for another year.