The Los Angeles Dodgers secured their second straight World Series championship after a dramatic 5-4 extra-innings win over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 on Saturday night. With the victory, the Dodgers became the first Major League Baseball team in 25 years to repeat as champions, and they did so in one of the most thrilling Fall Classics in recent memory.
The defining moment came in the top of the 11th inning when Dodgers catcher Will Smith launched a go-ahead solo home run off Blue Jays starter Shane Bieber. That blast gave Los Angeles a 5-4 lead. The Blue Jays had led earlier in the game, and the Dodgers looked in serious danger of letting the title slip away until that pivotal swing.
The Blue Jays had carried momentum late into the contest. In the ninth inning, with Toronto leading 4-3 and two outs away from the franchise’s first World Series championship in 32 years, the Dodgers tied the game when utility infielder Miguel Rojas belted a dramatic home run off closer Jeff Hoffman, forcing extra innings. The sequence buckled the Blue Jays' resolve and shifted the turning point in favour of L.A.
Meanwhile, right‐hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered a historically dominant performance and was ultimately named World Series MVP. Despite pitching on short rest, he appeared in relief in Game 7 after starting the previous night and sealed the championship by inducing a game-ending double play with the tying run on base. His postseason line now reads three wins and a minuscule 1.02 ERA, cementing his place in Dodger lore.
From the outset, the series had been a war. The Blue Jays set the tone by thumping the Dodgers 11-4 in Game 1 at home, while the Dodgers responded by taking Game 2 to stay alive. Game 3 turned into an epic 18-inning marathon before the Dodgers finally edged it. Toronto surged to a 3-2 series lead after winning Games 4 and 5, but L.A. refused to relent, winning Game 6 to force the decisive seventh outing. Throughout, both clubs displayed tremendous resilience, deep pitching staffs and relentless hitters.
Game 7 illustrated why this World Series will be remembered for years. Toronto’s early advantage came via a three-run homer by Bo Bichette off L.A. starter Shohei Ohtani in the third inning. But the Dodgers chipped away with sacrifice flies in the fourth and sixth to stay within striking distance. The Blue Jays added to their lead in the sixth, making it 4-2 and raising hopes among their fans.
The Dodgers’ bullpen then took over. A solo homer by Max Muncy in the eighth made it 4-3. Rojas’s ninth inning shot forced extra innings. Yamamoto entered the fray in relief, held the Blue Jays in check, and set the stage for Smith’s heroics. The Blue Jays had one final chance when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled with one out in the bottom of the 11th and the tying run at third. But Yamamoto induced a ground-ball double play to escape and seal the title for L.A.
For Toronto, the defeat stings with historic significance. Despite outhitting Los Angeles over the series and outscoring them, the Blue Jays couldn’t deliver the final blow. They came painfully close — within two outs of the title — but were unable to close it in the biggest game of their lives. Their season will be remembered as remarkable for reaching this stage, but also for what might have been.
As for the Dodgers, the win cements their status as baseball’s most dominant franchise of the moment. With three championships in six seasons, the Dodgers have built what many are already calling a dynasty. Their front office, blending star power (like Ohtani and Betts) with international scouting and development, has assembled a club built to win now and for years to come.
Manager Dave Roberts praised his team’s mentality: “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.” He credited the Blue Jays for their resolve and noted the mental toughness required to win in extra innings in a winner-take-all contest.
Looking ahead, the Dodgers return to Los Angeles as champions, and they will now turn swiftly to the 2026 season with expectation and momentum. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, will retool and regroup with a core that showed it can compete, yet must find the final push to claim the crown. For baseball fans worldwide, this World Series ended in a classic, and the memories will endure.
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