PHOENIX — When asked to describe Game 7 of the World Series and his place in it more than three months later, veteran infielder Miguel Rojas did not hesitate with his answer.
“Game 7 of the World Series was unbelievable,” Rojas said at his locker inside the Dodgers’ clubhouse at Camelback Ranch last week. “Because nobody believed that I was able to hit a home run in the ninth inning with one out, and in that spot. No way.”
Rojas worked the count full, and on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman left a slider over the plate, which Rojas rocketed over the left field bullpen, leaving the 44,000 fans on hand at the Rogers Centre — and the 51 million viewers watching — completely stunned.
“That was one of the most shocking World Series home runs I’ve ever seen,” award-winning baseball writer and Fox Sports commentator Tom Verducci said. “Here I was thinking, ‘Well, Ohtani’s on deck, so he doesn’t want to walk him.’ Never in my mind did I ever think that he was going to hit a home run. It was even more shocking to me than the Rajai Davis home run off [Aroldis] Chapman in 2016.”
Davis’ two-run blast in the 2016 World Series tied Game 7 at 6-6, capping a three-run comeback for the then-Cleveland Indians. It however, occurred in the eighth inning, and came in a loss, as the Cubs snapped their 108-year championship drought in extra innings that night in Cleveland.
How does Rojas’ tying homer rank historically? Is it on par with Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit, walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series?
“I think in terms of game leverage, it’s right up there in I want to say the top five [greatest hits in the World Series],” Verducci said. “You’re not going to match Gibby’s for the kind of cinematic quality of it. But, in terms of out-of-the blue, series on the line — not just game on the line. Kirk Gibson was Game 1. Freddie Freeman off [Nestor] Cortes [in 2024] was Game 1. This is down to your last couple of outs in the World Series by a guy who hadn’t hit a home run all year against a right-handed pitcher — he hit one off of a position player right-handed. The shock value and game-leverage situation, it’s got to be top five; I’m talking about any hit in a World Series game.”
Rojas, who turns 37 next week, has not been known for his power. The middle infielder enters his 13th and final big league season with a total of 57 home runs. As Verducci notes, he hit just seven last season — six off left-handed pitchers and the one he hit off of a righty came against San Francisco Giants catcher Logan Porter late in a regular season game in which the Dodgers won, 10-0.
Batting ninth, with Shohei Ohtani on deck, Rojas stepped into the box with the goal of getting to first base. Hoffman started Rojas off with an 86-mph slider off the plate, getting the veteran to chase, putting him behind in the count, 0-1.
“I mean, my mentality was always to get on base,” Rojas said. “I think the first pitch taught me a lot about how the at bat was going to go. I was able to, kind of like, regroup and kind of keep myself in that at-bat and give myself an opportunity to get on base.”
Hoffman proceeded to throw the next two pitches out of the zone, bringing the count to 2-1. He then attacked the strike zone with back-to-back fastballs, both of which Rojas fouled away, into the stands. An up-and-in slider brought the count full.
“Then he hung a slider, and I put a good swing on it,” Rojas said. “I knew a strike was coming. I didn’t know what kind of strike I was gonna see. I was happy to put the barrel on that ball.”
The rest is history. The Dodgers would go on to win in 11 innings, repeating as World Series champions. What came in the immediate aftermath of confetti and champagne, was not something Rojas could have ever expected when he rejoined the Dodgers via trade before the 2023 season.
“It was a little bit more of attention, on the media side, fans and all that,” Rojas said. “It feels like it was overwhelming with the off-the-field stuff, because I was traveling a lot and all that.”
Little did he know, Rojas had unintentionally launched himself to stardom.
“There were definitely a couple things that I didn’t have on my radar, like the Latin Grammys was one of them,” Rojas said. “I went and shot an episode of ‘Wheel of Fortune.’ A couple nice things that you don’t even know that you’re playing this game for. But then you got the opportunity to, kind of like, travel and visit the world and go to places that you never expected to go. Really, it was really cool, overwhelming… but I think it’s something that you don’t have another opportunity to do.”
After enjoying the ride of the unanticipated media tour, Rojas is back at Dodgers camp, itching to win the final game of the season for the third year in a row in what he has said will be the final season of his career.
“Ever since I got traded, I can feel like walking into this clubhouse in spring training, the expectations are the same,” Rojas said. “And they’re always making the team better. It’s kind of like, right now, it feels like you have to win. It’s not like, ‘OK, let’s try to win. Let’s try to do our best.’ It’s like, ‘We have to win.’ It feels the same as last year and the year before and the year before that. The mentality is ‘win.’”
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