Dodger Return To Los Angeles
INCIDENT DATE/TIME: 11-2-25, 5 P.M.
LOCATION: LAX
AREA/CITY: LOS ANGELES
DETAILS:
Added Footage – Busses returning with the team, players seen leaving in their personal vehicles as fans cheer!
Will Smith hit a tie-breaking solo home run in the top of the 11th inning and Yoshinobu Yamamoto concluded the game by pitching 2 2/3 innings of shutout relief as the Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4, in Game 7 Saturday night in Toronto.
Smith’s two-out home run was the second go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later in a seventh game of the World Series. The other was by Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski leading off the bottom of the ninth, which gave the Pittsburgh Pirates a 10-9 victory over the New York Yankees in the 1960 Series.
Yamamoto was selected as the Willie Mays World Series MVP after going 3-0 with a 1.02 ERA in the Series. He is the 14th pitcher to win three games in a World Series, the first since Hall of Famer Randy Johnson in 2001 for the Arizona Diamondbacks and first to win three games on the road in a single Fall Classic.
The Dodgers had trailed since Bo Bichette hit a three-run homer in the third off Shohei Ohtani. They tied the score, 4-4, with one out in the top of the ninth on a home run by their No. 9 hitter, Miguel Rojas, off Jeff Hoffman, the fifth of seven Blue Jays’ pitchers.
The Dodgers had an 8.3% chance of winning when Rojas came to the plate, according to ESPN Analytics.
Rojas hit seven home runs in the regular season, two after the all- star break. His only previous postseason home run came on Oct. 6, 2020, while playing for the Miami Marlins in Game 1 of a National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves.
Bichette singled with one out in the bottom of the ninth and was replaced by pinch runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
Addison Barger, the next batter, drew a nine-pitch walk from Blake Snell, prompting manger Dave Roberts to relieve him with Yamamoto, one day after he pitched six innings in the Dodgers’ 3-1 victory in Game 6 and was credited with the victory.
Yamamoto (5-1 in the postseason) hit the first batter he faced, Alejandro Kirk, with his second pitch, loading the bases.
Daulton Varsho hit a ground ball to Rojas, the Dodgers’ second baseman, who threw to Smith, their catcher, who stepped on home plate just ahead of a sliding Kiner-Falefa for the force out. Kiner-Falefa had pinch run for Bichette, who had singled with one out.
Andy Pages, who entered the game to play center field after Kirk was hit by a pitch, caught a fly ball hit by Ernie Clement while colliding with Kiké Hernandez, the Dodgers’ left fielder, to end the inning.
The Dodgers loaded the bases in the 10th with one out when Mookie Betts walked, Max Muncy singled and Teoscar Hernández walked.
Pages grounded to Andrés Gimenez, the Blue Jays’ shortstop, who threw to Kirk, their catcher, for the force on Betts at the plate.
Kiké Hernandez grounded out to end the inning in front of a sell-out crowd at Rogers Centre announced at 44,713.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled leading off Toronto’s half of the 11th and moved to third on Kiner-Falefa’s sacrifice bunt. Barger walked on four pitches before Kirk grounded into a game-ending double play.
“I’m just really elated and really proud of our team, our guys, the way we fought, and we’ve done something that hasn’t been done in decades,” Roberts said, referring to the Dodgers becoming the first team to win back-to- back World Series since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000.
“There was so many pressure points and how that game could have flipped, and we just kept fighting, and guys stepped up big.”
The Dodgers cut the margin to 3-2 with single runs in the fourth and sixth.
Smith doubled off Max Scherzer leading off the fourth and moved to third on Freddie Freeman’s single. After Betts flied out and Max Muncy walked, Smith scored on Teoscar Hernández’s sacrifice fly.
Betts drew a six-pitch walk from Chris Bassitt leading off the sixth, moved to second on Muncy’s single and third when Teoscar Hernández grounded into a force out. Betts scored on Tommy Edman’s sacrifice fly.
The Blue Jays responded in their half of the sixth. Clement led off with a single off Tyler Glasnow, the third Dodgers pitcher, stole second and scored as Andrés Giménez’s double.
Muncy hit a solo home run home run off Trey Yesavage with one out in the eighth, to again bring the Dodgers within a run.
Shane Bieber (2-1), who allowed Smith’s home run, was charged with the loss.
The championship was the Dodgers’ ninth — eight in Los Angeles and one in Brooklyn — tying them for third all-time with the Athletics and Boston Red Sox. The New York Yankees are first with 27 and St. Louis Cardinals second with 11. The Giants are next with eight.
The Dodgers’ victory ended the longest drought without a repeat champion in MLB, NBA and NHL history, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com.
This was the third time the Dodgers had returned to the World Series after winning the title the previous season. They lost to the New York Yankees in seven games in 1956 and were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in 1966.
It was the seventh time the Dodgers have played in a World Series Game 7. Their other wins came in 1955 over the New York Yankees for their only championship in Brooklyn, and in 1965 over the Minnesota Twins.
The road team won five of the seven games of the Series. The Dodgers won three of the four games at Rogers Centre while the Blue Jays won two of three at Dodger Stadium.
Before Saturday, the Dodgers were 2-65 in World Series games they trailed entering the ninth inning, with the most recent victory coming in Game 1 of the 1988 Series on Kirk Gibson’s pinch-hit two-run home run in a 5-4 victory over the Oakland Athletics.
The Dodgers’ comeback from a three-run deficit matched the second- largest in a World Series winner-take-all game, behind only the Pirates, who rallied from a four-run deficit to beat the Washington Senators in 1925.
The 1960 Pirates, 1975 Cincinnati Reds and 1986 New York Mets also overcame three-run deficits.
The team will be honored Monday with an 11 a.m. parade through the streets of downtown Los Angeles, followed by a celebration at Dodger Stadium.
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