The Los Angeles Dodgers became baseball’s first repeat champions since 2000 after rallying from a 3-0 deficit to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in 11 innings Saturday night in one of the most wild World Series Game 7s ever. The win at Rogers Centre marked the fourth time that a game lasted longer than eight innings in the series, and the first to end on a double play. The Dodgers won despite missing two of their top starters, and came away with the title after a series full of memorable moments.
In the first inning, Freddie Freeman ripped a three-run homer off Yoshinobu Yamamoto, which was the earliest any hitter has homered in a World Series game. Then, a few innings later, Smith drilled a 2-0 slider from Shane Bieber into the left field bullpen to tie the game and set up the potential winning run on base for Alejandro Kirk. Then, he grounded into a double play to preserve the victory.
Max Muncy and Miguel Rojas also hit solo homers to give the Dodgers a late lead, and the latter’s one-out effort off Jeff Hoffman was the first tying homer in the ninth or later of a World Series Game 7. But the biggest moment may have come from the most unassuming player on the field.
For much of the postseason, the highlight reel has revolved around two of the most popular and compelling players in baseball. Ohtani and Guerrero have starred in an epic rivalry that has helped define this era of the sport, and it was climaxed in Game 4 when the two two-way superstars squared off against each other for the first time as members of the same team.