The Los Angeles Dodgers are champions of baseball for the second straight year. Meanwhile, the team that plays its games southeast of L.A are champions in a bad way. Champions of dysfunction, as a scathing trial against the team in holding over a horrid tragedy that occurred to one of its players six years ago and holding the franchise responsible for not intervening and preventing the death of the painkiller-taking pitcher. Along with a lot of other scandals off the field and close to it, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Calif have gone from being a solid organization in the first 15 years of this century to a sick joke of a sports franchise in the past 10 years. From an opposing clubhouse manager messing around with baseballs for opposing pitchers to use to the failed stadium sale deal due to a mayor’s financial corruption; from lawsuits filed by fans for not having good enough extended netting at the stadium so that a kid doesn’t get hit by a baseball thrown or hit at a fast speed to a former team employee seen publicly with the biggest free agent star signed by the Angels(and since gone on to greener pastures in Los Angeles proper) being a sports gambling addict who stole money under his best friend’s nose and being caught red-handed after being employed by another team, the chaotic off-field incidents that the Halos find themselves in has no end in sight. But a reckoning could be coming later this month, as the Tyler Skaggs wrongful death lawsuit reaches its conclusion and a jury must render whether Angels Baseball as an entity is guilty of not making a sincere attempt to address Skaggs’ painkiller addiction. If found guilty, a massive sum of financial restitution must be paid to the family of the deceased southpaw pitcher who asphyxiated on his vomit in a Texas hotel in July 2019. And this trial’s early parts ironically occurred while the Dodgers ran the gauntlet from being in the Wild Card Round and winning the pennant in the National League, then competing in one of the wildest World Series ever seen in the history of the game. Spoiler alert(I have already given it), the Dodgers somehow won the series in spite of getting beaten twice on their home field. Back-to-back titles for the first time in their franchise’s long fabled history and for the first time in MLB since the turn of the century(and millennium).

The Angels and their fans had to watch as the last couple of years have shown a franchise that has hit rock bottom but failed to admit it in public. From seeing Shohei Ohtani be a grand two-way star for the past three seasons only to field teams that couldn’t have fully healthy rosters with key players such as Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and others getting hurt and dropping like flies. Making one last gamble with Ohtani and falling well short of the playoffs in the 2023 season, the Halos were killed yet again by a familiar culprit. That being the dog days of summer, where the great teams make their push into the playoffs while the other teams get chopped down by the summer heat and the endless grind of playing the back end of a 162-game regular season schedule. No other sport has such a daily grind like baseball has and having an almost full week of stoppage due to an All-Star Game is beyond stupendous. Not to make excuses, but baseball has always had a flawed schedule and with those flaws mediocre teams fall into irrelevancy. That’s the Angels in a nutshell since 2016. Ohtani joined the team up the road at Chavez Ravine and a massive wave of free-agent signings followed. From Teoscar Hernández to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2024 to star pitching commodities acquired in trades or via free agency such as Tyler Glasnow(acquired in the trade deadline in 2024) and Blake Snell, the Dodgers have used their massive payroll to invest in their roster and use the little ex-minor league prospects that they had left to their benefit after letting a lot of their homegrown players go their separate ways. Winning 98 games in 2024, Los Angeles had the best record in all of the league. But they were challenged by a strong Wild Card in the San Diego Padres, who pushed the Dodgers to the brink and looked to win their second playoff series over their rivals up the I-5. But the Dodgers used their strong bullpen and clutch relief pitcher performances to bolt past San Diego, then defeat a New York Mets team on a “Cinderella run” since late May of last year in the NLCS. In the World Series, the Dodgers faced a familiar foe in the New York Yankees, who they had faced in a load of World Series in a forty year period from 1941-81. The Yankees had won every World Series matchup besides three of them against their former borough rivals in Brooklyn and then relocated to the second-largest city in the United States(or as it stands today). The Dodgers would prevail as a classic walk-off grand slam by Freddie Freeman in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series set the tone for the entire series, as a 2-0 series lead was taken to the Bronx and morphed into a near sweep that was wrapped up in Game 5 with a choke job by the Yankees that had L.A win its first World Series after a full 162-game season since 1988(they won the 2020 World Series played at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Tex after a shortened 60-game regular season). Ohtani had won his first World Series ring a year after leaving the Angels and won an MVP for the third time in four seasons, joining an ultra-rare club of players to win MVP awards in both “leagues”. Being only a hitter due to reconstructive surgery on his pitching arm, Ohtani had 54 home runs and 90 stolen bases in his first season in Dodger Blue. Being the third head of a three-headed offensive monster along with Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, Shohei was living his best life as he also married a former basketball player from his native Japan and also became a father earlier this year to a young baby girl(whose name has not been revealed yet). Everything is great for Ohtani San and the team that he currently plays for.

Meanwhile, the Angels fell into destitute territory as they hired Ron Washington to replace Phil Nevin, who was not given a fair shake due to injuries to key players and the rapid rise of good young prospects from the minor leagues such as Logan O’Hoppe, Zach Neto and Nolan Schanuel. Washington was hired as an outsider, but also as an actual connection to Perry Minasian, who was the assistant general manager for the Atlanta Braves(where Wash was the third base coach from 2017-23) before becoming the GM of the Halos in 2021. Unfortunately, Washington’s first season was a disaster as Mike Trout suffered an early meniscus tear that ended his season in early April and the team stumbled as they had bad pitching and inconsistent hitting plunge them to the worst record in franchise history at 63 wins and 99 losses. Having a bad record at home and being mediocre on the road, the Angels kept Washington as their manager on the two-year deal he signed with a potential third-year option available if the front office believed he did well enough leading the team. No major coaching changes were made by the team entering 2025, as veteran free agents were acquired. Pitchers such as Kyle Hendricks, Yusei Kikuchi and Kenley Jansen were picked up to bring experience to a youthful pitching staff. Offensively, Jorge Soler was acquired as a potential offensive boon in right field and designated hitter where he would platoon with Trout in that role, while Travis d’Arnaud was picked up to be a good backup veteran catchup behind O’Hoppe. Trout announced before spring training competition began that he would no longer play in center field and instead shifted out to right field so that his health could be protected long-term. In a division dominated by the Houston Astros and with a couple of other good teams that were playoff contenders or recent champions, the Angels needed to make progress in the AL West after finishing in last place for the first time in nearly 25 years and also for the first time since it became a five-team division with the arrival of Houston in 2013.

The 2025 season had its ups and downs, with plenty of improvement on the offensive end and pitching staff. But it wasn’t good enough as the team fell after the All-Star Break and the August and September stretches produced a record of 19-34 over the final 53 games. The Angels finished with a record of 72-90, which is closer to their ceiling than many realize, and in last place in the AL West again. Ron Washington only managed for half of the season as he had to undergo a multiple bypass surgery on his heart and Ray Montgomery was the interim manager the rest of the way. Montgomery did his best to lead a team with a more-healthy Trout(resigned to being a full-time DH due to a knee injury that placed him on the injured list for a month) and some budding veterans such as Taylor Ward and Jo Adell who were having some career-high marks in home runs, RBIs and runs. Along with the continued offensive efficiency from Neto and Schanuel paired with the debuts of Christian Moore and Denzer Guzman, the Halos have a blueprint to at least build a roster with the prospects they have called up and look to stay at the big-league level long-term. As for the pitching, young arms such as Caden Dana, Sam Aldegheri, Mitch Farris and the yet-to-debut George Klassen can serve as future arms to use. But before all of that optimism begins, changes had to be made(again) at the managerial level. Choosing not to retain Washington or promote Montgomery, the front office sought to hire an in-house candidate such as Albert Pujols(who has spent time as an instructor in spring training) or Torii Hunter. But they had to settle for Kurt Suzuki, who has spent time as an assistant to Minasian these past few seasons after retiring as a player in Halo Red. A first-time manager and his contract is only for one year. Wow. That’s so unique from Arte Moreno, who wasn’t willing to commit long-term to a managerial choice. At least over the course of a few years. Catchers usually turn out to be good managers and the Angels have had opposite extremes when it comes to managers who were former major league catchers. Mike Scioscia was manager of the team for 19 seasons as he was hired by The Walt Disney Company when they owned the team and maintained for 15-plus years under Moreno’s ownership. But Brad Ausmus only lasted one year as Scioscia’s successor, so it’s a mixed bag. For now, the only major addition to the coaching staff under Suzuki is Mike Maddux, who has plenty of experience as a pitching coach and everywhere he has gone success for the teams and pitching staffs he coaches usually follows. For the Halos, that might be an exception especially if Maddux isn’t retained after just one year.

The on-field and roster changes are the least of the Angels’ concerns right now, as they are finally about to fact potential justice for the tragic death of Tyler Skaggs and how they could have prevented it if they had simply fired(at a sooner date) communications director Eric Kay, who was charged in a Texas district court in 2022 with providing the pills that Skaggs took which eventually killed the 27-year old lefty pitcher. Currently serving a 22-year sentence at a federal prison, Kay has been a main focus of the wrongful death lawsuit filed against the franchise by the Skaggs family seeking more than $100 million in damages that equates to the potential money that Tyler could have earned as a free agent pitcher had he lived to play his whole career. During the first parts of this trial, different testimonies have been given by important witnesses such as Tim Mead, Mike Trout and Camela Kay. Discussing issues such as Eric Kay’s drug addiction, potential drug bags found inside his home back in 2017 and also reckless team activities that Kay participated in, this trial has been a whirlwind so far for the organization. Some of the stuff in terms of extracurricular stuff is disgusting, so I won’t write about it. But one thing that I will mention is Camela Kay’s testimony that she saw players passed out on the team plane and she saw pills passed on the plane as well during a road trip that she was a part of the traveling party. That’s very troubling to know about and whether those drugs were authorized drugs for players to use. That testimony occurred last week as the Los Angeles Dodgers were playing home World Series games, including one that was a classic that went all night(literally).

As the Halos bask in a tragic dumpster fire in Orange County, the Dodgers are continuing to bask in glory as they ended up winning another division title but they had to be the number 3 seed in the National League due to the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers having better overall records than them. They had to face some hardships during the back end of the season, including a near choke job of the NL West with the Padres, San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks hot on their tails, losing a game where Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw eight and a half innings of no-hit ball only to see one of their relievers give up a walk-off home run to the Baltimore Orioles, and bad bullpen outings by arms such as Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates that they picked up in free agency. In spite of those flaws, the Dodgers ended up being powered by their stars, including Shohei Ohtani, who had returned to the pitching mound in mid-June after ramping up his recovery from the surgery he had that kept him from being a two-way star. For the first time, fans in Dodger Blue were going to see the fully unlocked version of two-way Shohei. Ohtani made some starts that had short outings of one, two, three and four innings. He finally was allowed to go into the fifth inning in a game that he started against his old team in the Angels, who defeated Ohtani and the Dodgers in a Freeway Series sweep in 2025. Winning all six games, the Halos and their fans felt good. The Dodgers and their fans couldn’t care less about losing the Freeway Series, seeing it as just another regular-season series and not an indicator of how they would fare in the postseason. However, they did lose in the division round the last time they lost the Freeway Series in 2019 to the eventual World Series champions in the Washington Nationals. As the lower division winner in the NL, how would the Dodgers fare in running the gauntlet from the Wild Card Round and not having a few days to watch and wait for who their opponent would be?

Well, the bats were alive for the Dodgers in their best-of-three Wild Card series hosted at Dodger Stadium against the Cincinnati Reds. They won Game 1 10-5 and Game 2 by a score of 8-4 to double up Cincinnati in advancing to the NLDS, where they faced the Philadelphia Phillies in being the team without home-field advantage. Ohtani was the starting pitching in Game 1 in making his first-ever postseason start in his MLB career, with him throwing six solid innings while giving up three runs to the Phillies. Ohtani was aided by some big hits by his teammates with both “Hernández brothers” coming through with big hits as Enrique “Kike” Hernández had a two-run double in the sixth inning while Teoscar Hernández hit a huge three-run shot with two outs in the top of the 7th. The Dodgers bullpen utilized a new format with young star pitcher Rōki Sasaki closing out the game for L.A in going up 1-0 on Philadelphia. After an off-day, the Dodgers had a good Game 2 as a pitchers duel between Blake Snell and Jesús Luzardo would turn more offensive late as four runs in the top of the seventh were scored. A couple of rallies by the Phillies made things tight late, but a good defensive play by Freddie Freeman was made to end the game and have the Dodgers up 2-0 heading back home to Los Angeles. In Game 3, the Phillies teed off against Yamamoto, who gave up a solo shot to Kyle Schwarber and also a couple of more runs in the fourth and he was done after that inning. In one of his final career appearances, Clayton Kershaw(who announced that he was retiring from pitching in late September) gave up home runs in the eight inning to J.T Realmuto and Schwarber along with a two-run single to former teammate Trea Turner. The only runs of the night for Los Angeles came off the bat of Tommy Edman and the Phillies kept their season alive at least for one more day as they won 8-2. Game 4 was another pitcher’s duel between Cristopher Sánchez and Tyler Glasnow, who both pitched into the seventh inning as they gave up their only respective runs of the game. An RBI double by Nick Castellanos and an RBI walk with the bases loaded were the only runs scored in regulation innings. That bases-loaded walk was huge as it occurred with Mookie Betts up after Phillies manager Rob Thomson decided to intentionally walk Ohtani with two runners in scoring position and two outs. The game went to extra innings and there were no hits or baserunners by either team in the 8th, 9th or 10th innings. In the top of the 11th, Philadelphia had a chance to score after Bryce Harper walked and advanced to second base on a wild pitch by Dodgers reliever Alex Vesia. But Harrison Bader with his bad knee couldn’t make contact and struck out to end the inning. In the bottom of the 11th, Luzardo came in to pitch as the sun was setting in SoCal. He struck out Freeman, then gave up a single to Edman with one out. International free agent signing from South Korea Hyeseong Kim was brought in to pinch-run for Edman. Will Smith was up next and he lined out to center field for the second out of the inning. Max Muncy came up to try and keep the inning going, as he got a single off Luzardo and Kim advanced to third base in being 90 feet away from winning. Thomson took his lefty ace out of the game and brought in reliever Orion Kerkering to try and end this inning to force a 12th frame in this game. Kerkering walked Kike Hernández and the bases were now loaded. Center fielder Andy Pages came up to bat in trying to be the hero for L.A and on the second pitch Pages hit a slow bouncer to Kerkering, who struggled to field the ball. Instead of throwing the ball to first base for the easier out, Kerkering launched the ball at home plate, where Kim was sprinting across. The ball went wide and Kim scored and the series was over. The Dodgers had walked off the Phillies on a throwing error and miscalculation by a Phillies pitcher. An unbelievable way to win a series and advance to the NLCS for the seventh time under Dave Roberts’ management. This happened as the Skaggs trial was getting started for the Angels by the way. Not saying that the Dodgers could have choked this series, but if they did it would be prophetically fitting.

Instead, the NLCS occurred and the Dodgers had an extra few days to rest up and see who their opponent was going to be in that series. It turned out the other NLDS was pretty tight, as the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewers duked it out as division rivals. The Brewers won Games 1 and 2 in their retractable-roof ballpark while the Cubs won a tight Game 3 and a more dominant Game 4 to force a series-deciding game back up the I-94. The Brewers clinched the series and hung the L flags in victory over their North Side rivals. On short rest, Milwaukee prepared to host the defending champion Dodgers, who had their starting rotation all lined up for this NLCS. Snell started Game 1 and threw a gem, with a solo home run by Freeman giving the star southpaw all the run support he needed. Milwaukee countered with a bullpen game where they used Quinn Priester as the “bulk guy”. But that strategy didn’t quite work out as in spite of turning a bizarre double play on the Dodgers in the fourth inning(which could have been a series-changing play) the bats for the Brewers couldn’t do anything against Snell. Another bases-loaded walk to Betts following another intentional walk towards Ohtani gave Los Angeles a huge add-on run. In the bottom of the ninth, Milwaukee finally put up a rally with a walk and ground-rule double leading to a sacrifice fly hit by Jackson Chourio off Sasaki, who was taken out of the game after walking Christian Yelich with two outs. Blake Trienen came in to get the last out with the game-tying run at third base and the game-winning run on base. A walk drawn by William Contreras spelled potential doom, but Trienen struck out Brice Turang to end the game and the Dodgers once again had a big 1-0 series lead on the road. In Game 2, Yoshinobu Yamamoto had a career-best outing as he flummoxed the Brewers’ lineup with incredible efficiency. In spite of giving up a first-inning homer to Chourio, Yamamoto did well as he got immediate run support from a home run hit by Teoscar Hernández and an RBI double by Andy Pages. Three more Dodger runs added to the deficit for Milwaukee, which could only muster up three hits against Yamamoto. In the end, the 27-year old Japanese right-hander threw a complete game against the Brewers, becoming the first pitcher to achieve such a feat in the postseason since Justin Verlander in 2017 for the Houston Astros, who won the World Series that year over the Dodgers in a rather inadequate fashion due to a trashcan-banging, sign-stealing technique used to steal signs from opposing pitchers. But just like the NLDS, the Dodgers were going back home to L.A with a 2-0 series lead. And this time, they had three straight home games and just needed to win two of them in order to clinch the pennant in the National League. In Game 3, a couple of sixth inning runs were all the Dodgers needed to defeat the Brewers, whose offense looked dead in the water in this series. In Game 4, Shohei Ohtani made another start in the postseason, this time on the home soil at Chavez Ravine. A historic feat was attempted and achieved by Ohtani, who put up one of the best performances in playoff history for any sport. Shohei had a clean first inning on the mound and then proceeded to hit a leadoff home run against his pitching opponent Jose Quintana, who was rotation mates with Shohei in 2021 with the Angels. A couple of more runs were scored in the bottom of the first to give number 17 some more run support to work with and he proceeded to dominate the Milwaukee lineup with his offspeed pitches. In the end, Ohtani racked up 10 strikeouts on the mound while giving up just two hits. Speaking of hitting, Shohei decided to blast two more balls into the evening sky in Southern California as he had a second solo shot in the bottom of the fourth inning and a cherry-on-top third home run in the game in the bottom of the seventh after being removed from the game as a pitcher. An incredible performance by Ohtani, who saw the bullpen reel in a solid victory in only giving up one run to the Brewers on a fielders choice. The Dodgers won the NL pennant for the second straight year, making them the first team to appear in consecutive World Series since themselves in 2017-18, losing both of those Series. The only other team in the last 20 seasons to achieve the feat of at least making it back to the Fall Classic the year after winning it were the Philadelphia Phillies in 2009, when they were beaten by the Yankees after winning the championship in 2008. Not surprisingly, Ohtani was named MVP of this four-game NLCS sweep due to his amazing Game 4 performance. Adding to his list of accolades(which is certainly going to involve a fourth MVP award in the last five seasons), Shohei is continuing to add to his personal trophy case. Another World Series ring was now the focus for Ohtani and the Dodgers, who would have to wait for one week before Game 1 of the Fall Classic to commence.

Their opponent happened to be the Toronto Blue Jays, who came back from down 2-0 and 3-2 to defeat the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS. The Jays had gone from a “last-place” team in 2024 to a division winner of the AL East as they surged past and held off the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox for the division crown. Toronto also had home-field advantage in the American League with a record of 94-68 and that record proved to be critical due to them being one game better than the Dodgers. Because of that difference(due to the Blue Jays winning a huge Sunday finale game in their three-game series at Dodger Stadium from Aug 8-10), the first two games and last two games(if necessary) of the World Series would be happening at the Rogers Center(formerly known as the SkyDome) in downtown Toronto. The Jays have won two World Series titles in their short 50-year history, as they won back-to-back titles in 1992 and 1993. The Dodgers were looking to be the first repeat champions since the Yankees won three consecutive World Series in 1998, 1999 and 2000, and seeking to be the first repeat-champion out of the National League since the 1975-76 Cincinnati Reds. But Toronto had a tough roster lined up to try and take down the defending champs, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr having a postseason for the ages after signing a massive contract to be a Blue Jay for life in the 2024 offseason. Other younger bats such as Ernie Clement, Addison Barger and Daulton Varsho along with key veterans such as Alejandro Kirk, George Springer and Bo Bichette were available on the active roster. Toronto also had solid pitchers in their rotation such as a guy at or near the top in active leaders in career strikeouts, wins and playoff wins in Max Scherzer, a young prospect who only made his big-league debut in mid-September in Trey Yesavage and a grizzled ace in Kevin Gausman along with Shane Bieber back from Tommy John surgery and acquired from the Cleveland Guardians in the trade deadline. This would definitely be a World Series worth watching and competing in, so let’s get to it.

Game 1 was started by Snell on Fri, Oct 24 for Los Angeles and Yesavage took the ball for the home-team Blue Jays. The Dodgers jumped on Yesavage early with a couple of runs on RBI singles, but they could have gotten more runs if not for good defense by Toronto. In the bottom of the 4th, the Jays answered back with a two-run shot by Daulton Varsho that tied the game up. In the bottom of the sixth, Toronto finally got to Snell, who left the game with the bases loaded and Emmett Sheehan came in and gave up three runs. Only recording one out, Sheehan was taken out and left-hander Anthony Banda entered to pitch against an announced pinch-hitter in Addison Barger, who was hitting from the left side. Barger stayed in and hit a massive grand slam against Banda to break the game open. Another home run happened on a two-out, two-run shot by Alejandro Kirk and the Jays had scored nine runs to take an 11-2 lead. A two-run home run hit by Ohtani in the top of the 8th lessened the deficit, but the Dodgers were still beaten bad by a final score of 11-4. Down 1-0 for the first time in this postseason run, L.A needed a bounce back performance to at least have the series tied up before it went out west.

In Game 2, Yamamoto took the ball for the first time since having that historic complete game performance in Milwaukee in Game 2 of the NLCS. Toronto countered with Gausman and the game started with an immediate score by the Dodgers, who had Will Smith hit an RBI single that scored Freddie Freeman. The Jays scored in the bottom of the third with a sac fly hit by Kirk that scored Springer, who got hit by a pitch and advanced to third on a double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Yamamoto and Gausman kept dueling in not giving up any runs until the 7th inning, when Gausman gave up home runs to Smith and Max Muncy. Up 3-1, the Dodgers gave Yamamoto all the run support he would need as he did not give up a single base runner in the latter six innings of the game. Los Angeles scored two more runs and won Game 2 by a final score of 5-1, as Yamamoto threw another complete game to have him be the first pitcher since Curt Schilling to throw consecutive complete games in a single postseason. With the series tied all up at 1, the Dodgers now had “home-field advantage” going forward as the next three games would be played at their stadium, which has hosted a lot of World Series games among modern major league ballparks. Toronto needed to win at least one game to guarantee the series was heading back to their home dome, and vice versa for the Dodgers, who did not fare well the last time they had Games 3-5 of the World Series on their home field in 2018.

Game 3 was on Mon., Oct 27 and the Blue Jays started Max Scherzer, who was appearing in the World Series for the fourth time ever and all of them with a different franchise each time(2012 with the Detroit Tigers, 2019 with the Washington Nationals, 2023 with the Texas Rangers and now with Toronto). The Dodgers would have Tyler Glasnow start for them, as he was making his second career appearance in the World Series(2020 with the Tampa Bay Rays was his first). The game started with immediate scoring chances on both sides, with the Dodgers taking advantage of some poorly placed pitches by Scherzer as Teoscar Hernández and Shohei Ohtani hit solo home runs to put their team up 2-0 in the first few innings. A controversial moment occurred which robbed Toronto of a potential rally in the top of the second, when Bo Bichette got picked off after thinking a 3-1 high pitch called by home plate umpire Mark Wegner was called a strike on Daulton Varsho. Due to that miscommunication, the Dodgers got a free out and Varsho proceeded to walk, then advance to third base. But the next two batters were retired and Varsho was unable to score. The 3-1 pitch appeared to be above the strike zone, so an automated ball-strike challenge would have warranted that pitch a ball and at least run would have scored if not more. Why do I mention this instance? It turned out to be a big missed scoring chance in this wild and whacky game. In the top of the 4th, the Blue Jays answered right back as Kirk hit a three-run homer to put them ahead and a couple of singles set up a sac fly hit by Andrés Giménez that scored another run. Up 4-2, Toronto had a clean bottom of the fourth pitched by Scherzer, who got into a jam in the fifth inning after giving up a leadoff single to Kike Hernández. After getting Andy Pages out on a fly out, Scherzer was taken out of the game by John Schneider, who went with one of his two left-handed options in the bullpen in Mason Fluharty for potential matchups with the two dangerous left-handed batters for Los Angeles. Ohtani came up first and hit a ball to left-center field that landed down for a double and Kike scored to put the Dodgers down by one run. After a fly out by Mookie Betts, Fluharty had to face Freeman, who hit a clean ball to right field that scored Ohtani on an RBI single. The game was all tied up at 4 as Louis Varland came in to conclude the fifth inning. After both teams missed opportunities to score in the sixth, the seventh inning came and left-handed reliever for L.A Justin Wrobleski got the first two outs of the inning. But Roberts took him out and brought in Blake Trienen to try and get the last out of the top of the 7th. But a leadoff single by Guerrero led to a big hit down the right-field line by Bo Bichette, who stayed at first base as the ball bounced around and Vladdy Jr raced around third base to try and score. The throw from T. Hernández came in and Guerrero placed his hand down on home plate before Will Smith could tag him. The Jays had scored a big go-ahead run, but Bichette’s lack of speed due to his bum knee came back to haunt them in this game. Isiah Kiner-Falefa came in to pinch-run for Bichette and advanced to second base on an infield single by Varsho. Kirk grounded out to Edman at second base to end the inning, with the Jays up 5-4. That run was immediately matched as Ohtani hit a blast to left-center field off Seranthony Dominguez that tied the game at five. Ohtani had gone 4-for-4 with two home runs in this huge Game 3, which was going to take a long time to finish.

In the top of the eighth, Toronto had a chance to break the tie after a couple of baserunners reached to start the inning, but Rōki Sasaki came in and got out of the jam to keep the score tied. In the top of the ninth, another chance presented itself as Kiner-Falefa walked against Sasaki and Varsho hit a ball on a line drive. The ball deflected off the glove of Freeman at first base, forcing Tommy Edman to go get the ball. With the ball in the outfield, Kiner-Falefa made a break for third base, but Edman threw a dart to Max Muncy and Kiner-Falefa was tagged out while diving for the base. A big second out of the inning, as a two-out walk to Kirk created another jam but Sasaki got Myles Straw to hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning with the score still tied. In the bottom of the ninth, Jeff Hoffman came in to pitch for the Blue Jays and he got Pages to pop out to start the inning. With nobody on base, Ohtani was up next but was intentionally walked by John Schneider, who didn’t want the best two-way player in history to end this game. Instead, he took his chances with Betts, who had a chance to hit Ohtani in to win the game. But Shohei tried to steal second base and got thrown out by Kirk, who threw the ball on a straight line and Kiner-Falefa tagged him out. Betts then fouled out to Barger in right field to end the inning and this game was going to extra innings.

In the top of the 10th, Sheehan came in to pitch for L.A and he got the first two batters out. Then, Ty France came up to hit and he had come in to finish an at-bat started by George Springer, who had to be taken out of the game after suffering a right side injury on a foul ball. France got a single and was pinch-run for by Davis Schneider(no family relationship to the Blue Jays manager), who had potential speed to score the go-ahead run. Nathan Lukes(pronounced Lou-kis) came up to hit and batted a good ball down the right-field line. Teoscar Hernández raced to field the ball while the young Schneider ran around third base to try and score. The ball was thrown by T. Hernández and caught on a relay by Edman, who launched the ball towards Will Smith. Schneider slid in but got tagged well before his hand reached home plate for another huge defensive play made by the Dodgers in the late innings. Hoffman returned to pitch in the bottom of the 10th, where he hit Smith with a pitch with one out and gave up a two-out single to T. Hernández. But Hoffman got Edman to fly out to Guerrero at first base to force an 11th inning in this wild Game 3. Sheehan came back in to pitch for Los Angeles in the top of the 11th and retired all three Toronto batters he saw. Brayden Fisher entered to pitch for the Blue Jays in the bottom of the 11th, as he got the first two batters out before Ohtani was intentionally walked for a second straight time with nobody on base. Betts got a hit this time and there were runners on first and second, as Shohei represented the game-winning run. But Freeman flew out to left field to end the inning and this was another blown opportunity for the Dodgers to walk off this game. The top of the 12th began with Sheehan back out on the mound, but he gave up a leadoff walk to Alejandro Kirk, who was pinch-run for by the backup catcher for Toronto in Tyler Heineman, who happens to be a Los Angeles native in being born in the recently fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades neighborhood earlier this calendar year. Myles Straw tried to advance Heineman to second base on a bunt, but failed to do so as he hit a line drive bunt that was caught easily by Freeman. Ernie Clement came up next and grounded out, advancing Heineman to second base. With a runner in scoring position and two outs, the dangerous Andrés Giménez was coming up to bat as he had displayed great numbers with RISP in this postseason. So, Dave Roberts decided to intentionally walk Giménez and have Sheehan face one last batter as a special somebody was getting warmed up in the bullpen(get to that in a bit). Davis Schneider came up to bat for the first time in this wild game and he hit a soft ground ball that had him advance safely on an infield single. The other two runners were on second and third as the Jays had loaded the bases. Having a chance to break the game open, Toronto would have to wait for Lukes to get a chance to swing the bat as Roberts was coming out of the dugout to take Sheehan off the mound. Coming in to pitch was a legendary lefty who was making what turned out to be the final appearance of his amazing career.

Clayton Kershaw was entering the game to pitch in an intense situation. The bases loaded, two outs, go-ahead run at third base. Kershaw was serenaded by cheers by the Dodger Stadium crowd, among them Sandy Koufax, who made his final pitching appearance in the 1966 World Series that the Dodgers lost to the Baltimore Orioles. Koufax retired promptly after that season, with him being unhappy with the financial situation facing ballplayers in the major leagues at the time. Retiring at the young age of 31 years old, Koufax was now 90 years of age and in attendance with his wife and eldest daughter witnessing the final appearance for the only southpaw pitcher in Los Angeles Dodgers history who is as revered as he is in Kershaw, whose 18-season run in Tinseltown was coming to a close. Kershaw prepared to face Nathan Lukes, who gave the old southpaw a hard at-bat. The count went full and a walk would score the go-ahead run. Kershaw didn’t let that happen as Lukes hit a couple of foul balls off and then hit a low slider that he could have taken for ball four on the field. The ball took a couple of hops and was fielded by Edman, who tossed the ball to Freeman in time to record the final out of the top of the 12th inning in this insane Game 3 of the 2025 World Series. Kershaw was pumped up as he had gotten his team out of serious danger and kept the game tied at five runs apiece.

The Dodgers were unable to end the game in the bottom of the 12th, then the game went into a continual loop of weak resistance by Toronto and missed chances to win it by L.A. Edgardo Henriquez pitched in the top of the 13th and the only error made by him was hitting Varsho with a pitch with two outs. In the top of the 13th, the Dodgers got a leadoff double by Edman off lefty reliever Eric Lauer, with a sacrifice bunt by pinch hitter Miguel Rojas advancing Edman to third base. Alex Call pinch-hit for Pages and he popped out to Giménez at shortstop for the second out of the inning. With two open bases, John Schneider did the unthinkable: he not only intentionally walked Ohtani for a third consecutive time but he also intentionally walked Mookie Betts so that the bases would be loaded and the margin for error was nil for Lauer in a lefty-lefty matchup against Freddie Freeman, who has some history with hitting walk-off grand slams in the World Series(he did it last year in Game 1 against left-handed throwing Nestor Cortes). Freeman hit a ball thrown by Lauer that looked promising, but it died short of the warning track as Varsho caught it to end the inning. A huge missed chance by the Dodgers as the game was going into a 14th inning. After some defensive changes for the home team, the Jays bats didn’t do anything in the top of the 14th while Will Smith nearly ended the game in the bottom of the 14th in hitting a deep ball out to left-center field that looked like it had the distance but the marine layer of the SoCal night sky had the ball land in the glove of Varsho. A walk by Muncy and a single by Teoscar Hernández(who was the only Hernández Bro in the game after Kike was pinch-hit for in the 13th inning) made things a bit stressful for Lauer, who bore down and got Edman and Rojas out to force the game to the 15th inning.

In the top of the 15th, the Dodgers brought in their only reliever left available for this game in Will Klein, who was an add-on to the WS roster for Los Angeles due to a personal situation affecting Alex Vesia’s family. The ginger-bearded right-hander only gave up a two-out infield single to Guerrero and got Kiner-Falefa to strike out to end the inning. Lauer threw a clean bottom of the 15th that featured a fourth consecutive intentional walk to Ohtani with one out. Heading into the 16th, Klein had a 1-2-3 inning in the top half and Lauer kept going as the natural starting pitcher that he was in being able to be stretched out over a long stretch of innings in striking out the first two batters before T. Hernández hit a dangerous ball that was caught by Varsho in center field(Freeman hit a similarly lethal ball that could have scored Ohtani to win the game in the bottom of the 15th that was also caught by Varsho). Into the 17th inning, Klein remained in while a starting ace for the Dodgers got ready in the bullpen to potentially come in if the situation demanded it. Klein had another 1-2-3 inning and entering the game in the bottom of the 17th inning for the Blue Jays was Brendon Little, who was the last arm available for Toronto out of their bullpen. Little got Edman to strike out and Rojas to ground out before giving up a two-out single to Call. With a runner on first, Ohtani came up to bat and John Schneider elected not to intentionally walk him this time. Little faced Ohtani and walked him on four balls instead. With the game-winning run at second base, Betts came up and hit another foul ball that was caught by Vladdy Jr to end the inning. At this point, this World Series Game 3 was almost mimicking another Game 3 that occurred seven years ago at the same exact venue. The Dodgers had gone 18 innings against the Boston Red Sox in the 2018 World Series, winning that game on a walk-off solo shot by Max Muncy after the clock had passed midnight. The bad thing was that L.A lost Games 4 and 5 in having to see Boston clinch the championship on their home field. But this series was tied at one game apiece, so history would definitely not repeat itself if the Dodgers somehow won this all-nighter of a Game 3.

At this late point in the game, the players were being provided with fruit by the nutritional staff at Dodger Stadium and even the FOX Sports broadcast team got in on the fruit-slice action. With no certain end in sight, the game dragged on to its record-tying 18th inning, where Will Klein continued for his fourth straight inning pitched. This one would be the most difficult, as he gave up a walk to Guerrero with one out, then another walk to Varsho with two outs. While facing Tyler Heineman, Klein threw a wild pitch that advanced both runners to second and third base. Warning up in the bullpen for the Dodgers was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was volunteering to pitch if the game was going to go to the 19th inning. Two days after throwing that complete game, Yamamoto was risking putting his team’s pitching plans in flux if he was allowed to enter. But Klein didn’t let that occur in the top of the 18th as he got the biggest out of the night with a nasty curveball for a strikeout on a full count against Heineman. An incredible out there as the Blue Jays missed another opportunity to score. In the bottom of the 18th, Freddie Freeman was due up first against Brendon Little, who threw three straight balls after the first pitch of the at-bat was fouled off. After a good sinker forced the count full, Freeman swung at the exact same pitch at the exact same speed of 92 mph. The ball sailed up in the sky and went over the center field wall for a huge walk-off home run for Freeman. The Dodgers had won an amazing extra-inning thriller in the World Series again and had taken a 2-1 series lead in the most improbable way imaginable. History repeated itself in Los Angeles, except this time the Dodgers had claimed the series lead. Call it the Brad Paisley effect as whenever the star country musician with a guitar performs the National Anthem at a World Series game at Chavez Ravine, the game goes into extras, including the two 18-inning instances. An unbelievable sequence there and the great irony is it occurred on the same night as the 23-year anniversary of the Angels clinching their only World Series championship in franchise history. From Oct 27, 2002 in Anaheim, Calif to Oct 27, 2025 at Chavez Ravine. Can the baseball gods be any more ironic? Probably not.

The series was now altered in an insane way due to the usage of the bullpens from both teams and that Ohtani had nine at-bats where he was intentionally walked. With Game 3 ending at around midnight Pacific Time, Game 4 was only 17 hours away from starting after Game 3 ended. That would have a big impact on Ohtani, who was going to make his first ever World Series start on the mound. The Blue Jays needed to win Game 4 badly after leaving a load of runners on base and having plenty of missed opportunities to score with runners in scoring position. Toronto would have Shane Bieber start in Game 4 to counter Ohtani, who was making his first start since the historic feat in the pennant-clinching Game 4 of the NLCS against the Brewers. After going four-for-four with five walks(four of them intentional), how would two-way Shohei follow up on the next night? In the beginning of the game, Ohtani was under good command with stellar pitching in his first two innings. The Dodgers scored a run on a sac fly hit by Kike Hernández, but in the top of the third, the Jays responded with a two-run shot hit by Vladimir Guerrero Jr for his first ever World Series home run. A solid swing on a fastball thrown by Ohtani, Guerrero had given Toronto their first runs after 13 innings of offensive inaction. With that stretch broken, Bieber had some run support to work with as he had a solid outing of 5 1/3 innings with minimal hits and baserunners given up. Ohtani did well on the mound, but that one mistake he gave up to Vladdy Jr loomed large. In the top of the 7th, Shohei gave up a leadoff single to Daulton Varsho and a double to Ernie Clement after that. Roberts subbed Ohtani out as a pitcher and brought in Anthony Banda, who gave up an RBI single to Andrés Giménez and then got a couple of key outs, but one of them was an RBI groundout to Ty France. After that, there was an open base and Guerrero was coming up again. Roberts elected to intentionally walk the dangerous slugger, which turned out to be a big mistake. Bo Bichette hit an RBI single on the next at-bat that scored Giménez and then Addison Barger brought home Guerrero on an RBI single that made the margin 6-1 in favor of Toronto. The Blue Jays held down L.A for the rest of the night, only giving up one run to the Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth and winning the game 6-2. An incredible bounce-back performance that was fueled by a four-run seventh inning. The series was now tied at two apiece and would be going back to Canada for a Game 6 at the minimum. Game 5 determined who would be one win away from winning the championship.

Trey Yesavage started his second game of the series and the Dodgers countered with Blake Snell. The game started with back-to-back homers on back-to-back pitches thrown by Snell. Davis Schneider hit the first one 373 feet over the left field wall, then Vladimir Guerrero Jr hit a line drive into the Dodgers’ bullpen to make it a 2-0 lead. Yesavage pitched a gem of a game, only giving up one run on a solo shot hit by Kike Hernández and that was followed up by a leadoff triple by Varsho, who was brought in with a sac fly hit by Clement. Yesavage got out of a jam in the bottom of the fourth and coasted from there, having seven solid innings along with a dozen strikeouts. Some extra runs were scored by Toronto, who won the game 6-1 as they now had a 3-2 series lead going back home to Canada and one win away from their third World Series trophy/banner in franchise history. The Dodgers’ offense had gone dead, as it had mostly been since their high-scoring games in the Wild Card series against Cincinnati. Pitching was what got them series wins in the NLDS and NLCS, but now their pitching was being overpowered by the effective bats of the Blue Jays, who scored six runs in each of their two wins at Chavez Ravine. Losing two home games in the World Series is nothing new for Los Angeles, which has suffered similar fates in 2017, 2018 and all the way back to 1977 and 1978 against the Yankees. The Dodgers lost all of those World Series, but they still had a chance in this one. They just needed to win both Game 6 and then a winner-take-all Game 7 in order to win their ninth World Series in franchise history and their eighth as a Los Angeles franchise.

Game 6 occurred on Oct 31 on a Halloween night in Toronto, Ontario, CAN. The Rogers Center was buzzing as the Blue Jays were looking to win their third World Series title, with the previous two being series that concluded with a clinching win in Game 6 in both of those series. It seemed that history was going to repeat itself, but standing in the way of that was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had pitched two consecutive complete games entering this contest. Yamamoto won Game 2 with five runs of support and by a margin of four runs, so the Dodgers wouldn’t need that much to make things comfortable. But Yamamoto would have to face a Toronto lineup that had George Springer back at the helm after missing both Games 4 and 5 with a right side injury. Kevin Gausman was tasked with starting this potential series-clinching game for the Blue Jays. Runs would be at a premium in this game, with a double play in the bottom of the first being helpful to Yamamoto. The top of the third featured a golden chance for L.A as Tommy Edman hit a double with one out and after Miguel Rojas struck out, Ohtani was intentionally walked. But that turned out to be a huge mishap by John Schneider as Will Smith came up as the number two hitter in the Dodgers lineup and he clobbered a ball to left field that ended up being an RBI double that scored Edman for the first run of the game. Freddie Freeman drew an unintentional walk with runners in scoring position and Mookie Betts came up in the cleanup spot, a position he hadn’t batted from in eight years. Betts hit a clutch two-run single that scored Ohtani and Smith to give Yamamoto a 3-0 lead to work with. A huge early smattering of runs was countered with a scoring chance for Toronto, as a leadoff double hit by Addison Barger led to a run with two outs on an RBI single by Springer. But that was the only mistake Yamamoto gave up as he threw a solid six innings that featured some scoring chances for the Blue Jays, who were unable to score on any of them. Having his pitch count be higher than usual, Yamamoto was done after the sixth frame as the score remained where it had been since the third inning. In the bottom of the seventh, Justin Wrobleski prevented a run from scoring in spite of a two-out double by Clement. In the top of the 8th, Los Angeles missed a huge chance to score with an Ohtani double, intentional walk to Smith and a walk to Betts that loaded up the bases leading to nothing on the scoreboard. In the bottom of the eighth, the Blue Jays had a leadoff single by Springer and a walk to Guerrero present them a chance to score with Sasaki in the game. But Sasaki worked out of the jam to keep the Dodgers up by two runs heading into the ninth inning. After a clean top of the 9th pitched by Chris Bassitt, the bottom of the ninth came with Sasaki still in the game to try and close it out. Sasaki hit Alejandro Kirk with a pitch to start the inning and Myles Straw was the pinch-runner for Kirk. The next batter up was Barger and someone was getting ready in the bullpen for L.A, whose intent was to win this game in order to force a Game 7 the next night. Barger hit a ball that bounced into left center field and it appeared that Straw was going to score. But the ball got lodged underneath the wall and center fielder Justin Dean and Kike Hernández both put their hands up to signal to the umpires that the ball was unable to be budged out and the umps ruled it a ground-rule double. Literally being true to the name of the rule, the ruling forced Straw to go back to third base and for Barger to remain at second base. The game-tying run was in scoring position nonetheless and Toronto had a chance to win the game and series on a walk-off home run, similar to how Joe Carter ended the 1993 World Series against the Philadelphia Phillies. But Dave Roberts went to his bullpen and brought in the projected starting pitcher for Game 7 for the Dodgers in Tyler Glasnow, who was now tasked with getting the final three outs without giving up the tying and/or winning runs. Glasnow faced Clement first and got him to pop out to Freeman in foul territory. Andrés Giménez was up next as he looked to continue his success with runners in scoring position. Roberts had previously walked Giménez intentionally, but opted not to do so in this case with the game(and series on the line). On the second pitch thrown by Glasnow, Giménez hit the ball on a line drive towards left field. But Kike Hernández made a running catch and saw a golden opportunity at second base, where Addison Barger was off the bag. Trying to dive back in safely, Barger was caught in a trap as Kike threw the ball to Miguel Rojas, who gloved the ball out of the dirt and Barger’s hands were not on the base. It was a game-ending, series-saving double play for L.A. An unbelievable ending to a tight Game 6 and there would be a Game 7 at the Rogers Center on Sat., Nov 1. Yamamoto and the Dodgers’ relievers used shut down the Jays bats and the three runs scored in the top of the third were just enough for the road team to reel in the win.

This World Series was the first one to go to a Game 7 since 2019, when the Washington Nationals beat the Houston Astros in a series where the visiting team won every game. In winner-take-all World Series games, there was a long stretch where the home teams would mostly win Game 7s from 1960 to 2011. But in the past four instances since, the road team had won the series-deciding game in a World Series. The San Francisco Giants in 2014 against the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium completed their “even-year dynasty” with an incredible performance from Madison Bumgarner. The Chicago Cubs came back from down 3-1 against the Cleveland Indians in 2016 to force a Game 7 that they won in extra innings to win their first World Series title since 1908. The Houston Astros trash-can-banged their way to their first title ever at the expense of the Dodgers in 2017, winning Game 7 at Chavez Ravine. And in 2019, the Nationals won their first title in franchise history by beating the Astros in winning all four games that were played at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Tex. Now, it was a winner-take-all between a team looking to repeat as champions and one looking to deny that repeat attempt in seeking to win their first World Series in 30+ years. Max Scherzer would start his second-ever Game 7 in a World Series, being the starting pitcher in the Game 7 six years ago for Washington. For the Dodgers, it was a change of plans as after they used Glasnow for only three pitches(along with all the warmup tosses he had to throw), they instead had to shift back to Shohei Ohtani on short rest to make the Game 7 start. How fitting this matchup was, one of the best starting pitchers of his era(and the last of an Old Guard that came of age right before the analytics era kicked in and decisions on pitcher maintenance took over due to constant Tommy John surgeries) matched up against the most unique player to grace a baseball field in nearly 100 years. Ohtani vs. Scherzer. Dodgers vs. Blue Jays. In the words of the great hype announcer Michael Buffer, “Let’s get ready to rumblllllllle!”

The pitching strategies for both teams were clear as day, but Dave Roberts expressed his team’s one more clearly. Besides Ohtani, the other three starters for Los Angeles would be available. Snell, Glasnow and even Yamamoto were all potentially going to be used if the situation demanded it. Both starters were on short leashes, and if things got a bit too dicey or the opposing team’s lead was in danger of ballooning too high to overcome, a move to the bullpen would be made, without hesitation. The game started with a single by the leadoff starting pitcher-DH in Ohtani, who had to stay on the basepaths as he saw his teammates get out but he advanced to second and third base. Ultimately, a groundout by Betts ended the inning and Ohtani had to get his batting gear off and put his glove and cap on. The bottom of the first had a delayed start due to the home plate umpire and crew chief giving Ohtani all the time he needed to get ready, something that irked John Schneider a little bit. A leadoff single by Springer was countered with a strikeout by Ohtani on Nathan Lukes and then Vladimir Guerrero Jr came up to bat against Shohei. Guerrero struck out in this rematch and Springer also made a baserunning mistake in getting picked off on a weak steal attempt of second base. Not as bad as the costly strike two call by the home plate umpire in Game 3 on Daulton Varsho that had Bo Bichette confused in thinking it was ball four, but it still had a negative impact early on. After another clean inning thrown by Scherzer in the second, the Jays had another chance to score with a leadoff walk drawn by Bichette and a single by Barger that had two runners on early against Ohtani, who got Kirk to foul out and Varsho to fly out. Ernie Clement kept his historic bid of hitting in the postseason going with a single to right field but Bichette was unable to score due to limited speed from his bum knee. Due to that fact, a big bases loaded at-bat occurred between Giménez and Ohtani. The matchup was won by Shohei, who got Giménez to strike out looking to end the Toronto threat in the second inning. In the top of the third, Mad Max Scherzer got Kike Hernández to fly out, Miguel Rojas to strike out and Ohtani to line out for a clean inning. In the bottom of the third, Shohei was allowed additional time to warm up and that irked Schneider again. But the inning began with a leadoff single by Springer, who advanced to second base on a good sac bunt hit by Lukes. Ohtani then faced Guerrero again and after a wild pitch advanced Springer to third base, Roberts decided to intentionally walk the dangerous slugger. But that turned out to be a massive mistake as Bichette came up and hit the first pitch thrown by Ohtani out deep to center field. The ball went over the wall and the Blue Jays had taken a huge 3-0 lead early in the game. An amazing blast by Bo forced Shohei off the mound early and Justin Wrobleski came in to pitch as the first reliever used by L.A in this game. Barger got a single off Wrobleski, who got Kirk to line out and struck out Varsho to end the third inning. But Toronto had the early edge and some run support for Scherzer to work with. The Dodgers responded in the top of the fourth as Smith hit a leadoff double and Freeman got a single that advanced Smith to third base. A fly out by Betts to right field was unable to bring Smith in on a sac fly, but after a walk to Max Muncy that loaded the bases, Teoscar Hernández came up to bat. Not having a hit yet in this series at the domed stadium where he used to play as a member of the home team, T. Hernández hit a ball well out to center field. But it was caught on a dive by Varsho, who robbed the veteran outfielder from the Dominican Republic(Kike is from Puerto Rico) of a huge bases-clearing hit. Instead, Hernández had to settle for the sac fly that scored Smith and put the Dodgers on the board in this game. A foul out by Edman ended the rally in the top of the fourth and Scherzer had gotten out of some trouble. In the bottom of the fourth, a hit by pitch on Giménez led to an intense benches-clearing incident as Wrobleski had thrown a couple of pitches inside that irked the infielder. After that mess was dealt with by the umpires, an infield single by Springer presented an add-on scoring chance for Toronto. But a strikeout by Lukes and a lineout by Guerrero ended the inning. Scherzer came back out for the top of the 5th, where he struck out K. Hernández and gave up a single to Rojas. With Ohtani coming up, Schneider decided to take the 41-year old calico-eyed legend out of the game and the home crowd gave Scherzer a nice round of applause. In spite of only throwing 54 pitches and giving up just one run, Scherzer’s night was done and Louis Varland entered to pitch for the Blue Jays. Ohtani got a single off Varland, who proceeded to get Smith and Freeman out on fly balls to Varsho to end the inning. Tyler Glasnow then entered to pitch as the projected starter for the Dodgers was instead appearing out of the bullpen for the first time in five years. A two-out single by Kirk was the only threat levied towards Glasnow, who pitched a clean bottom of the fifth to keep the score at 3-1 in favor of Toronto. In the top of the 6th, Chris Bassitt entered to pitch and gave up a leadoff walk to Betts, then surrendered a single to Muncy that had runners on first and second that presented another scoring opportunity for Los Angeles. Teoscar Hernández hit a ball that Bassitt fielded and threw to second base to get the force out. But with runners on the corners, the Dodgers had a big chance to score. Edman came up and hit a solid fly ball to center field, which was caught by Varsho and Betts ran in to score on another sacrifice fly. A single by Kike Hernández with two outs made things tense, but Rojas grounded out to Bassitt to end the inning. The score remained 3-2 in favor of the Jays, who scored against Glasnow in the sixth inning. A leadoff single by Clement led to a stolen base by the third baseman and an RBI double by Giménez, who had gotten a big hit with a runner in scoring position. But Springer, Lukes and Guerrero were retired all in order to end the inning with the score at 4-2 in Toronto’s favor entering the seventh inning.

Trey Yesavage entered to pitch in the top of the seventh as the first starting pitcher to appear out of the bullpen for the Blue Jays. Yesavage walked Ohtani, but got Smith to fly out and a huge double play occurred between Guerrero and Giménez to end the inning. Emmett Sheehan entered to pitch for L.A in the bottom of the seventh and he only gave up a two-out single to Kirk as he got two strikeouts and a groundout stuffed in between them. In the top of the 8th, Yesavage returned to pitch in his second inning, as he looked to smoothly keep this lead at two runs so that Jeff Hoffman could have a good transition to try and close this game out. After getting Betts to ground out, Yesavage faced Max Muncy, who blasted a ball down the right field line for a solo home run that cut the lead down to one run for Toronto. This game was far from over, even though the fans in attendance were starting to “out-count”. But there are loads of fan bases who would tell those Blue Jays fans not to do that because they could potentially jinx their team. After getting Teoscar Hernández to ground out, Yesavage was taken out of the game as Schneider elected to go to his closer for a four-out save situation. Hoffman entered and he got Edman to ground out to end the inning. In the bottom of the eighth, Ernie Clement recorded his 30th hit of the postseason to potentially give his team a chance at getting a two-run lead back. But Roberts went to his bullpen and brought in Blake Snell, who got Giménez to line out to Muncy at third, then got Springer and Davis Schneider(who pinch-hit for Lukes inexplicably) to swing and miss on strikeouts to end the inning. The score remained 4-3 Toronto entering the ninth inning and the Dodgers were down to their last chance in this game.

Jeff Hoffman needed to get three outs in order to win the World Series for the Blue Jays, who were on the verge of knocking out the defending champions and denying L.A a repeat. Hoffman got Kike Hernández to strike out and proceeded to face Miguel Rojas, who was not pinch-hit for as the batter ahead of Ohtani in the lineup. The at-bat went to a full count and on the seventh pitch thrown by Hoffman, Rojas hit a ball high in the dome that traveled all the way over the left field wall and landed in the stands for the game-tying solo home run. An insanely clutch hit by Rojas, who had kept the Dodgers alive in this game. The Toronto crowd was shocked, as Hoffman had blown his first save opportunity in a couple of months. Hoffman thankfully got the next two batters in Ohtani and Smith out to keep the score tied at 4 apiece entering the bottom of the ninth. The Blue Jays still had a chance to win, and the only way they could achieve a Game 7 victory now was on a walk-off hit. Snell returned to pitch to force this game to extra innings, with Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Bo Bichette, and Addison Barger due up. Guerrero was first up, but he hit a 3-0 pitch out to deep center field and the ball was caught by Edman for the first out of the inning. Bichette was next and he made some solid contact on a single to left field. Isiah Kiner-Falefa entered to pinch-run for Bichette, who had a good performance with his three-run homer and concluded his World Series performance with a chance to be a potential MVP of the series. Snell then faced Barger, who was not pinch-hit for(with no logical players available on the bench to use for Toronto) and the right-fielder drew a walk that put the game-winning run at second base. Alejandro Kirk then came up to be the potential hero, but he got hit by a pitch in the back arm. Roberts challenged the play in using one of his two challenges available to him in postseason play. While the umpires and replay center were reviewing that play, Roberts made a strategic move in taking Edman out of the game and putting in Andy Pages at center field. A subtle change, considering that if the hit-by-pitch play stood as called, a sac fly with one out could win the game for the Blue Jays. So could any ball hit into the outfield on a line drive or high and far trajectory along with a wild pitch, walk and hit-by-pitch. The margin was razor thin for Snell and the Dodgers, as the hit-by-pitch ruling on Kirk stood as called. The infield came in as Varsho came up to bat and be the potential World Series winning hero for Toronto. On the fourth pitch of the at-bat, Varsho hit a ball to the right side of the infield, where Rojas fielded the ball in his glove but he had a bit of a hard time getting the ball out of his mitt. Kiner-Falefa was racing home to try and score the game-winning run, but Rojas finally got a grip on the ball and threw it fast to Smith, who gloved the ball right as Kiner-Falefa slid into home plate. Due to the force-out nature of the play, no tag was required from Smith and the umpire called Kiner-Falefa out at home plate. Schneider obviously wanted an extra look at the play as he issued a challenge, with the umpires looking at the big screen to see if Smith’s cleat spike was on the plate before Kiner-Falefa’s foot hit the plate. After review, the call on the field stood and I don’t think it would have been right for a World Series to be determined on a replay review. The last batter to determine whether this game went to extras or ended at nine innings was Ernie Clement, who had passed Randy Arozarena for the most hits recorded in a single postseason with thirty of them. Just a walk, wild pitch or hit would win the game in this case. Being too trigger-happy, Clement swung at the first pitch thrown by Snell and the ball traveled deep to left-center field. Kike Hernández looked to track down the ball and had a tough angle in trying to make the catch in an over-the-shoulder fashion similar to that of Willie Mays in the 1954 World Series. But Andy Pages came galloping in and jumped up to collide with Kike and somehow caught the ball in his mitt to keep this game going into extras. K. Hernández landed down on the warning track below the left-center field wall, but he was alright as this game was going into the tenth inning after a couple of blown chances by the Blue Jays to walk it off. Two extra inning games in a single World Series, how insane is that?

In the top of the 10th, Seranthony Dominguez entered to pitch for Toronto and he got Freeman to fly out to start the inning. But Dominguez walked Betts, then gave up a single to Muncy and walked Teoscar Hernández to load the bases with one out. The Jays’ infield now had to play at a close depth to get a potential force out at home plate and they did that when Pages hit the ball to Giménez, who threw it to Kirk in getting the force out of Betts at home. With the bases still loaded, Kike came up and he hit a slow roller to first base, where Guerrero fielded it and threw it over to Dominguez, who did a good job in covering first base for the out to end the inning. A huge missed chance by L.A to take the lead and in the bottom of the 10th, Toronto had another chance to walk this game off. But entering to pitch was Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the second straight night as Roberts was using his bonafide ace in utilizing all four of his starting pitcher options in this winner-take-all game. Yamamoto got Giménez to ground out, Springer to strike out and Myles Straw to fly out in forcing the game to the 11th inning. Shane Bieber entered to pitch for the Blue Jays as a second starting pitcher came out of the home team’s bullpen. Bieber got the ninth-inning hero Rojas to ground out to Clement to start out the inning and then got Ohtani to ground out to Kiner-Falefa for the first two outs of the inning. Will Smith then came up and hit the third pitch he saw a far enough distance in the hitter-friendly ballpark. The ball landed down in the left-field bullpen as it was a go-ahead solo home run for the Dodgers catcher. An unreal moment as L.A had taken its first lead of the night. The Blue Jays had choked the lead, with Bieber getting Freeman to ground out to end the inning. But with a one-run lead, the Dodgers had a chance to finish this series and be the first repeat champions in 25 years.

After some defensive changes, Yamamoto entered to close out this series, but he had to face the teeth of the Toronto order. Firstly, Vladimir Guerrero Jr hit a double to lead off the inning strong and he represented the game-tying run. Kiner-Falefa then came up and put down a bunt that advanced Guerrero to third base but he was out at first. With one out, the game-tying run could score on a sac fly. Barger came up next and was walked by Yamamoto to be the game-winning run at first base. Alejandro Kirk had another chance to be the hero in this game for the Blue Jays, but on an 0-2 count he hit a shattered batted ball up the middle, where Betts fielded the ball and stepped on second base for one out, then threw the ball to Freeman at first base to get Kirk out to end the game and series. The Dodgers were champions again, for the second straight year. As Joe Davis said “In order to beat them, you have to KNOCK THEM OUT!” The entire team for L.A celebrated on the field in joy and exhilaration. This Game 7 ranks up pretty high with some of the best ones of all time and the Dodgers finally had some Game 7 luck for the first time in sixty years and only the third time in their franchise’s long history of World Series appearances. Joining the 1955 Brooklyn team that finally made “Next Year” happen and the 1965 team that cemented a three-titles in seven years dynasty in the early days of their time in Los Angeles, this Dodgers team is now etched into the echelon of greatness. Without a doubt. Yoshinobu Yamamoto for all of his efforts was named the MVP of the series, making it a second straight World Series where Shohei Ohtani didn’t win the MVP award for the series but one of his powerful teammates did. Yamamoto was deserving of the award, but this Game 7 showed a full team effort to fight and win the series for the Dodgers, who have a few of their players with three rings now. Will Smith, Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw(who went out in style) are Dodgers players with three rings, with Freddie Freeman joining them as he won one World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 2021. Through all the choke jobs and doubts, Dave Roberts is now part of an exclusive club of managers to win at least three World Series championships. Joining Joe Torre, Joe McCarthy, Casey Stengel, and Connie Mack, Roberts is now in Hall of Fame discussion status as a manager after his less than illustrious(except for one big moment) playing career.

So, as an Angels fan, I take this World Series result for the Dodgers with a grain of salt. They looked more dominant in this playoff run than they did in 2024, with near defeat against the Padres in the divisional round occurring. But the Dodgers in 2025 ran the gauntlet and smashed through with amazing extra-inning wins in Games 3 and 7 and the other two wins in this World Series were games started by one of their three star pitchers from Japan in Yoshi Yamamoto, who really looks like an anime character with his auburn red hair but he is a real-life daimyo on the mound. So is Sasaki with his legendary feats at such a young age and going through a growth process in his first year stateside. Ohtani had the same progress with the Angels and I feel envious for him winning now two World Series with the Dodgers, who clearly believed he was a missing piece that they acquired for the top of their lineup and for their pitching staff. Winning an MVP(a second one in a row in Dodger blue is likely to follow) and a World Series title in back-to-back years, Ohtani San is achieving what he never could with the Angels- full success, from an individual standpoint and a team standpoint. Knowing all of the scandals that the Angels have faced as an organization before, during and after(not as many in the past couple of years, more like revelations from the past rearing their ugly head) Shohei’s time, this is definitely rock bottom for the Halos. Can it get any worse than this? I don’t want to answer that question, as the Dodgers are now going to attempt what the last team that was a repeat champion before them did: win three World Series titles in a row. That would really stink for Halos fans, as even though we have cheaper tickets than the Dodgers, a more easily accessible ballpark than our neighbors to the north and a family-friendly environment, none of that really matters. What does matter is results, and no matter how expensive one team’s tickets are or if their ballpark is on top of a hill north of downtown that’s hard to drive in and out from, or their fans can act like a bunch of thugs to opposing/visiting fans(mostly Giants fans as sadly one guy got paralyzed after an incident with unruly Dodger fans postgame), the product on the field and off of it is undeniably better for the team in blue than it it for the team in red. And the Los Angeles Dodgers are knocking it out of the park, figuratively and literally, in both those departments.

Meanwhile, the Halos are in rebuild mode miles southeast and whether they get to the playoffs again in Mike Trout’s career is unknown. What is certain is the inevitable call-ups of prospects who have shown amazing potential at the minor league level and who promise to stay at the big league level due to a lack of depth and investment in waves of free agents. Arte Moreno only knows how to put his money into one or two players at a time while the rest of payroll lags as he acts as if there is a salary cap on the roster(psst, there isn’t, at least not yet). Arbitration hearings usually give low-value contract players more money and that might be capped if the salary cap ever becomes the norm in baseball. In spite of a nasty labor dispute on the horizon in regards to spending limits, MLB is being made relevant and more viewable due to a couple of superstar players and big-market dominance in spending and success. One of those teams is the Dodgers, with the Ohtani effect being a real thing and drawing casual viewers to it like bees towards a high-nectar blossom of flowers. The Angels used to have that nectar, which was used to cover up the rot in their organization caused by off-field scandals. Some plants don’t bear good fruit, and the Halos are in a state of disrepair while the Dodgers are the ultimate tree of winning. Never before have both teams in the same metro area been on such opposite extremes, but here we are. The questions everyone should be asking from this point forward are: How high can the Dodgers’ dynasty lift them and how low can the Halos go in hitting rock bottom? In time, the answers will reveal themselves as one franchise known for success since 1955 is the hottest thing in sports(in an era of repeat champions in every major sports league besides the NBA) while the only thing hot for the Angels is the sun that shines on the old outdated stadium seats from the late-90s during day games where very few people sit due to fear of skin cancer or heat illness. Aydiosmio, indeed!