The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series in a row Saturday, with Will Smith’s home run in the 11th inning the difference in a 5-4 victory in a wild Game 7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. It makes them the first MLB team to repeat as champions in 25 years.
It was the ninth World Series title for the Dodgers franchise, but it wasn’t easy, having to stave off elimination with a win Friday and then coming from behind tonight – both on the road.
Miguel Rojas hit a ninth-inning home run with Toronto two outs from clinching that tied a game the Dodgers had trailed since the third inning after Toronto’s Bo Bichette’s three-run homer against starter Shohei Ohtani. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the third starter coming in for relief after he won Game 6 the night before, then found the strength to hold off the Blue Jays who were looking for their first World Series win since 1993.
Yamomoto pitched a complete game in Game 2 and then six innings Friday to force tonight’s do-or-die game. After Smith’s homer, he got Alejandro Kirk to ground into a game-ending double play to stave off one final Jays rally, and he was named the World Series MVP as part of the post-game celebration on the infield of Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
Bichette’s three-run home run off Dodgers starter Ohtani — going on three days’ rest for only the second time in his career — in the third inning looked for a while to be enough for the Jays, who had been able to put together key hits all series to keep the Dodgers on the ropes.
The Dodgers, led by the remarkable feats of Ohtani, had been favored going into the best-of-7 series as defending champions and looking for their third World Series title since 2017. Toronto, which won back to back titles in 1992 and 1993, hadn’t won a postseason game since 2016.
Toronto, though, showed it was for real from the start, when they blew out the Dodgers in Game 1 11-4, then recovered to win a pair of games in L.A. after falling short in the record-tying 18-inning Game 3 that gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead in the series.
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