Dodgers win Game 7 in extra-inning thriller to claim second straight World Series title

Alejandro Kirk grounds into a double play as shortstop Mookie Betts tagged second and threw to first to end it! What a game!

Shortstop Mookie Betts of the Los Angeles Dodgers turns a double play as third baseman Addison Barger of the Toronto Blue Jays slides into second base to end Game 7. Vaughn Ridley / Getty Images

Barger took four straight balls to get runners on first and second with 1 out.

The tying run is now on third base with one out as Isiah Kiner-Falefa laid down a perfect bunt.

The Blue Jays superstar just hit a double to have a runner on second with no outs in the bottom of the 11th inning.

The Dodgers got 1 1/3 scoreless innings out of their Game 5 starter, two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell. They’ve gotten two scoreless innings out of their Game 6 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who certainly deserves to be the World Series MVP if the Dodgers win and probably fits the bill regardless. It’s hard to say if anything quite like this will ever happen again.

Still in reserve is Game 3 hero, Will Klein. He pitched scoreless 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th innings to earn a win on Monday. One imagines we’ll soon get a chance to see if he can do it again.

Will Smith hit a solo shot in the 11th to put the Dodgers up.

Will Smith of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts after hitting a home run during the 11th inning in Toronto. Emilee Chinn / Getty Images

Shane Bieber has entered the game for Toronto and he gets Miguel Rojas to ground out to start the 11th.

Andrés Giménez grounded out while George Springer and Myles Straw both flew out to end the 10th. We're going 11.

With the bases loaded, Andy Pages grounded into a force out at home with one out. Enrique Hernández grounded out at first base on a bang-bang play to end the threat.

We're going to the bottom of the 10th.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has entered the game with runners on first and second in a tied World Series Game 7. He threw 96 pitches only yesterday.

Miguel Rojas hit .246/.310/.314 as a minor leaguer. That came with 22 homers in 810 games. After debuting with the Dodgers at age 25 in 2014, he hit .237/.286/.305 in his first three seasons in the majors. That’s not good. He had an OPS essentially two-thirds of the league average. He should have been out of the league by age 30 and long forgotten for five of six years now.

Instead, Rojas, against all expectations, became a legitimate major league hitter. He had a .736 OPS for the Marlins in 2017. He hit .304 in the short 2020. After a rough first season back with the Dodgers in 2023, he’s hit .273/.328/.404 the last two years, making him a slightly above average hitter while also being a well above average infielder. He’s one of the most valuable part-time players in baseball, and he’s never in his career earned a salary to match the $5.95 million that Luis Rengifo made this year.

That it was Rojas, not Shohei Ohtani, who hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series was a huge surprise. But maybe it shouldn’t have been. He’s been doing the unexpected for nearly a decade now.

Ernie Clement lead off with a leadoff double but was stranded there after Andrés Giménez, George Springer and Davis Schneider all got out. We got to top of the ninth. This is it for the Dodgers.

The Dodgers and Blue Jays have combined to hit 15 balls at least 100 mph tonight. It’d probably surprise most to hear that the Dodgers have been responsible for 10 of those. They also got a 99.9-mph grounder from Kiké Hernández in the sixth.

Of course, while hitting the ball hard is what every hitter wants, placement also very much matters. The Blue Jays are outhitting the Dodgers 11-8, and Statcast says that’s the way it should be, giving the Blue Jays a .382 expected batting average and putting the Dodgers at .290. More of Toronto’s balls in play have been liners, whereas the Dodgers have hit a bunch of fairly deep-but-ultimately routine flyballs.

Ernie Clement just doubled with no outs and Blake Snell is set to check in for the Dodgers with the season on the line.

After the Muncy home run, Teoscar Hernández and Tommy Edman both grounded out to end the inning.

4-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth.

The Dodgers are now down just one run in the eighth inning after Max Muncy's home run.

Bo Bichette struck out to lead off the inning and Addison Barger grounded out moments later. Alejandro Kirk got on with a single to right field but Daulton Varsho.

Using presumed Game 7 starter Tyler Glasnow to close out Game 6 paid immediate dividends last night, and it turned out that Glasnow had something left in the tank for Game 7, though he did give up a run in the sixth.

Glasnow, who replaced Justin Wrobleski with two outs in the fourth, has allowed just the one run while getting seven outs against the Blue Jays. He probably wouldn’t have surrendered that one on Andrés Giménez’s double if the Dodgers had a rangier right fielder than Teoscar Hernández.

One imagines Glasnow is done now, as the Dodgers had Emmet Sheehan warming up behind him in the sixth. He certainly did his part. If the Dodgers fail to come back, it’ll be the first time in six postseason outings that they’ve lost a game in which he’s pitched. They won his final four regular-season starts, too.

With Shohei Ohtani at first base and one out, Freddie Freeman grounded into a double play. First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. snagged a bouncer and thew to shortstop Andrés Giménez, who then threw back to first base to end the inning.

Louis Varland retired two of the three batters he faced Saturday while settling a record by making his 15th pitching appearance in a single postseason. The last guy to make 14 was a 32-year-old Brandon Morrow for the Dodgers in 2017. He threw 30 2/3 innings the following season and never pitched again.

The 27-year-old Varland probably won’t suffer the same fate, but he has put his arm on the line while making the major league minimum this season, Of course, pitchers are often used in non-traditional ways this late in the postseason, but most of them are veterans making good money and often in the middle of guaranteed contracts. Varland, who won’t even be eligible for arbitration for the first time until 2027, has no such protection. Hopefully, the Jays reward him by offering him a multiyear deal this winter.

Andrés Giménez doubled to center field, driving in Ernie Clement who was on second base after a steal.

Bo Bichette lined out to open the inning, followed by Addison Barger striking out. Alejandro Kirk singled to center but Daulton Varsho grounded out to second.

Remains 3-1 in the top of the sixth.

Miguel Rojas and Shohei Ohtani both singled but Enrique Hernandez struck out and both Will Smith and Freddie Freeman flew out, leaving two on.

It's 3-1 heading to the bottom of the fifth.

After giving up a single with one out in the fifth, Max Scherzer didn’t get a chance to face Shohei Ohtani for a third time. Now the Jays will begin their quest to get 14 outs from the bullpen.

Louis Varland, making his record 15th postseason appearance, will try for at least the first two of those. Almost certainly to be asked to get some of the remainder are Jeff Hofffman and Chris Bassitt. Mason Fluharty still might face Ohtani later. The fun thing to see will be if the Jays try to squeeze an inning out of Trey Yesavage on two days’ rest after his excellent Game 5 performance.

Mason Fluharty replaces Max Scherzer after Scherzer gave up a line drive single to Miguel Rojas.

Scherzer was great on Saturday, throwing 4.1 innings and allowing just four hits and one earned run.

After the benches cleared in the fourth inning of Game 7, things got even a little less sensible, as the umpires decided to issue warning to both dugouts as a result of Andrés Giménez getting hit by a Justin Wrobleski pitch and the subsequent hijinks.

Make no mistake, there’s no reason for warnings to ever be issued. If the umpires judge a pitcher intentionally threw at a hitter, they can eject him with or without any previous warning. If, after warnings are issued, the umpires are uncertain whether a pitcher is throwing at a hitter, they don’t have to eject anyone. Warnings don’t really serve any purpose, except to rile up the managers who simply don’t want to deal with them, and should have stopped being a thing decades ago.

After Gimenez took first after being hit by a pitch, George Springer hit a ball right at Wrobleski that bounced off his leg and to catcher Will Smith. Unable to make a play, the Blue Jays had first and second with no one out.

Unfortunately for Toronto, Nathan Lukes struck out and Vladimir Guerrero, after the pitching change, flew out.

3-1 Blue Jays into the fifth.

Tyler Glasnow replaces Justin Wrobleski in the fourth with runners on first and second and two outs.

After Toronto's Andrés Giménez was hit by a pitch by Justin Wrobleski, the two exchanged words and the benches cleared.

The Dodgers got one back in the fourth inning. Will Smith opened with a double and Freddie Freeman singled to put runners on first and third. Mookie Betts struck out but Max Muncy walked to load the bases. Teoscar Hernandez’s line drive to center field was caught on a diving play but Smith tagged home. 

Tommy Edman’s lineout to first base ended the inning but not after damage was done. 

3-1 Blue Jays. 

Shohei Ohtani was not at his best tonight. That he got through the second without a run scoring was the result of luck and Bo Bichette only being able to run at 50%. There was a case for letting Ohtani open the third, but it was clearly a bad idea to have him in there facing Vladimir Guerrero Jr. (intentionally walked after a wild pitch) and Bichette again after George Springer reached to begin the inning.

That’s not hindsight, either. His secondary pitches weren’t working. His command was shaky at best. That Ohtani came out and gave the Dodgers two scoreless frames while pitching on short rest for the first time in his career was quite the blessing. That Dave Roberts stuck with him after that might have cost his team the World Series.

Since giving up a leadoff single to Shohei Ohtani in the first, Max Scherzer, whose velocity is up 1-2 mph on all of his offerings, has retired nine batters in a row, and he’s thrown just 28 pitches through three.

The contact against Scherzer has been hard, but like it’s typically gone for the Dodgers of late, it’s not resulting in hits. Four of the seven balls in play have been hit in excess of 100 mph, but only Ohtani’s drive in the first has fallen in. As is, Scherzer seems very well position to get through at least five.

The Blue Jays are on the board! George Springer led off with a single and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Nathan Lukes. A wild pitch by Shohei Ohtani advanced Springer to third and the Dodgers elected to intentionally walk Vladimir Guerrero. 

Bo Bichette came to the plate and immediately delivered a 442-foot homer. 

3-0 Blue Jays in the third.

Shohei Ohtani has his velocity tonight, but he hasn’t had much luck locating his secondary pitches, which helps explain why four batters reached against him in the first two innings. With him having thrown 43 pitches through two, the Dodgers probably ought to start thinking about a batter-to-batter approach with him pitching on three days’ rest for the first time.

Letting him face Vladimir Guerrero Jr. again if one of the first two batters reaches in the third would seem to be particularly dangerous.

Scherzer retired all three batters he faced in the third, getting Enrique Hernández and Shohei Ohtani to fly out and striking out Miguel Rojas.

'Mad Max' has allowed just one hit so far.

Bo Bichette led off with a walk and Addison Barger hit a bloop single to shallow right field with no outs for runners on first and second. Unfortunately for Toronto, Alejandro Kirk popped out in foul territory and was followed by a flyout from Daulton Varsho. Ernie Clement’s single to right field moved all runners to load the bases but Bichette’s knee injury didn’t allow him to go home.

Andrés Giménez came up with the bases juiced and two outs but struck out. 

We remain scoreless heading into the third. 

We already had the most bizarre pickoff of the season earlier in the World Series when Bo Bichette was caught off first base thinking a strike was ball four. Something maybe similar happened to end the top of the first with George Springer “taking off” from first on a 3-2 pitch to Vladimir Guerrero Jr with one out in the first.

The pitch, a 99.6-mph fastball from Shohei Ohtani, was pretty obviously a called strike three for the second out of the inning, but Springer appeared to slow up on the basepath, perhaps either because he thought it was ball four or just knew he was a dead duck if it wasn’t. Then again, even if Springer had been in position to make it, he might have been sent back to first base since Guerrero, who seemed to have no idea Springer was going, very obviously got in the way of Will Smith’s throwing motion while crossing the plate on the strikeout.

Max Scherzer has now retired six straight batters after striking out Max Muncy and getting Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman to fly out. We head to the bottom of the second scoreless. 

Especially given that the MVP is making his first ever start on three days’ rest, an eyebrow was raised when Shohei Ohtani’s first fastball tonight to George Springer came in at just 96.6 mph. However, that was an isolated incident. The next was 98.8 mph, and his three fastballs in his strikeout of Vladimir Guerrero Jr. came in at 99.8, 100.2 and 99.6. Those were all better than his season average of 98.4 mph.

George Springer led off with a hard-hit single to center field. Ohtani rebounded by striking out both Nathan Lukes and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. On the latter, Springer took off trying to steal and was out at second to end the inning. 

0-0 after 1 inning. 

Shohei Ohtani led off with a line drive single to center field and moved to second after Will Smith grounded out. Ohtani advanced to third on a tag from second after a flyout from Freddie Freeman but Mookie Betts grounded out to short for the third out. 

Scoreless after half of one inning. 

Ohtani, batting for L.A., just took a ball high.

Roberts has led the Dodgers to the World Series for the fifth time since becoming manager in 2016. He is the 12th manager to appear in at least five World Series regardless of club, joining Hall of Famers Casey Stengel (10); Joe McCarthy (9); John McGraw (9); Connie Mack (8); Walter Alston (7); Miller Huggins (6); Tony LaRussa (6); Joe Torre (6); Bobby Cox (5); and Sparky Anderson (5), as well as Bruce Bochy (5). 

Roberts is the ninth manager to lead a single club to the World Series at least five times.

The Dodgers are the first defending World Series Champions to return to the World Series since the Phillies in 2009. Los Angeles is seeking to become the first club to win consecutive World Series championships since the Yankees won three straight titles from 1998 to 2000.

Game 7 of the 2025 World Series marks the 45th Game 7 in World Series history and the 41st winner-take-all game in the Fall Classic. The last was in 2019 when the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros.

The Dodgers are 5-5 all time in Game 7 of a postseason series, including 5-4 in Game 7 of a best-of-seven series overall, and 2-5 in Game 7 of the World Series.

The Blue Jays are 1-1 all time in Game 7 of a postseason series, winning the 2025 ALCS over the Mariners and losing the 1985 ALCS to the Royals.