James' World 2

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The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second consecutive title in stunning fashion in the early hours of Sunday morning, depriving the Toronto Blue Jays of a first World Series in 32 years in a stomach churning, epic Game 7. Will Smith’s solo home run with two outs at the top of the 11th inning off Shane Bieber gave LA a 5-4 lead before Yoshinobu Yamamoto, pitching in relief just a day after throwing 96 pitches, got Alejandro Kirk to ground out into a World Series-ending double play, bringing a ninth title to the Dodgers organization.

“Man, they’re a special group of guys,” Smith said after the game. “We just never gave up, kept fighting, pitching our asses off, hitting, taking great at-bats. Finally punched through there. Man, that was a fight for seven games. That’s a really good Toronto Blue Jays team. I’m just excited. There’s nothing better than this.”

The Dodgers, heavy favorites to win the Fall Classic against the underdog Jays, won by the skin of their teeth. Their victory came despite their anemic offense, which generated just 17 runs across the series, and was arguably saved by one man: Yamamoto. So the $400m Dodgers get what they came for, yet another World Series title, one that will leave fans north of the US-Canadian border wondering what could have been. They will believe – perhaps correctly – that through seven games, the Jays were the better team.

Toronto were just two outs from glory, ensuring this defeat is all the more excruciating. The beginning of the Jays’ end began in the ninth inning, a frame which brought baseball fans one of the most extraordinary sequences of events in recent World Series memory.

With Toronto leading 4-3, Miguel Rojas, the Dodgers’ No 9 hitter, blasted a game-tying home run off Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman to tie the score at 4-4. It was a blast that ripped the soul out of the home fans in Toronto.

“I was never trying to hit a home run,” said Rojas. “I think this is the first home run against a right-handed pitcher during the whole year, and it came in the biggest part of my life and my career … I can’t really describe right now the emotions that I feel.”

Still, there was hope.

In the bottom of the inning, Yamamoto hit Alejandro Kirk to load the bases with one out. Then Rojas returned for another closeup, scooping up a Daulton Varsho grounder, throwing it home, and barely forcing out Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the plate. The play was so close it was reviewed, and the Blue Jays came within a whisker of winning the World Series on an overturned call. However, the decision was upheld at the Dodgers lived on.

On the very next play, Ernie Clement hit a ball to deep left-field where Andy Pages made a circus catch while colliding with teammate Kiké Hernandez. With Jays fans gasping for air, the 2025 season headed into extra innings.

“[Yamamoto] was the MVP of this series. That was incredible. I talked to him yesterday. I was like, ‘Hey, if you can give us one, we’re going to win.’ He gave us three. That was special,” said Smith. “He’ll have a few months off. I know he is going to need it, but yeah, I’m just happy for him. That was awesome.”

Toronto’s loss ends a dream season on the lowest of notes. A year after the frustrated Jays fan base demanded front office change, they made it to the 11th inning of the World Series without Shohei Ohtani, who they heavily courted after the 2023 season before he joined the Dodgers. And without Roki Sasaki, who they also did everything to sign last winter before he too signed for the Dodgers. They rode the April momentum of re-signing star first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr to a long-term deal, all the way into October, when a 22-year-old hurler with virtually no big league experience, Trey Yesavage, energized their postseason run.

But it wasn’t enough to unseat the majestic Dodgers and the series MVP, Yamamoto, whose manager proclaimed the pitcher “The Goat” in the postgame celebrations.

LA were down 3-0 in the third after Bo Bichette’s three-run blast off Ohtani forced the two-way master, who had a quiet night, into a rare walk of shame to the dugout.

The Dodgers looked to rebound in the fourth, when the 41-year-old Max Scherzer, rock solid through three innings, gave up a double to Smith, a single to Freddie Freeman, and walked Max Muncy, loading the bases. Teoscar Hernandez, loaded with a bat full of October magic, hit a sinking line drive to center, but Varsho made a sliding catch that prevented a possible base-clearing hit and held the Dodgers to a single run. Then Guerrero made a diving catch off a Tommy Edman line drive to retire the side. The Jays defense had rescued Scherzer, and the future Hall-of-Fame had finished four innings, allowing just a single run.

A contentious bottom of the fifth saw Dodgers reliever Justin Wrobleski brush back Andrés Gimenez before hitting him in the hand. The shortstop took issue, and the benches cleared, bringing temporary venom to the evening. Gimenez would exact revenge in the sixth inning with an RBI double off Tyler Glasnow, putting Toronto up 4-2.

Muncy narrowed Toronto’s lead with a solo eighth-inning home run off Yesavage, who was pitching in relief off the back of 17 strikeouts in 11 innings as a starter. That brought LA within a run before Rojas’s home run evened the score.

Three usual starters – Yamamoto, Glasnow, and Blake Snell – emerged from the Dodgers bullpen to hold Toronto to a single run after the third inning, allowing LA to keep the Jays in their sights. Ultimately, it was the Jays’ inability to break LA’s relievers on the night – they were just 3 for 17 with runners in scoring position – which led to their doom.

Now the Dodgers head back to the US with the first back-to-back titles MLB has seen since the 1999 and 2000 New York Yankees, needing just one more ring for the true dynasty.

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Yoshinobu Yamamoto is mobbed by his teammates after securing the World Series for the Dodgers. Photograph: Patrick Smith/Getty Images

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