MLB Notebook: World Series Recap

A World Series that turned into a battle for the ages right from the outset ended with what will go down on any short list of the greatest Game 7s ever played, as the Los Angeles Dodgers won a repeat title by winning 5-4 in the 11th inning.

AN INSTANT CLASSIC IN EVERY SENSE

There were so many great moments in last night’s finale and so many could’ve been, would’ve beens. There were the missed opportunities the Blue Jays had early in the game, and they only led 3-1 in a game it felt like they were dominating. There were the missed opportunities Toronto had late in the game—wasting a leadoff double in the bottom of the eighth with a 4-3 lead, preventing them from getting a big insurance run and leaving the door open. And finally, to not cashing in Vladdy Guerrero’s leadoff double in the bottom of the 11th and ultimately falling short.

That’s looking at the world from a Toronto-centric perspective. If you’re a Los Angeles fan, you’ll never forget Miguel Rojas’ stunning ninth-inning blast to tie the game. Or Rojas’ defensive brilliance the last two nights in general and especially in cutting down the winning run at the plate in the ninth inning by a fraction of an inch. There was Andy Pages saving the game one batter later with a leaping catch while colliding with Kiki Hernandez in the outfield. There was Will Smith putting his team in the lead with an 11th-inning home run.

And above all, there was Yoshinobu Yamamoto, already the L.A. frontrunner for Series MVP on the strength of his brilliance in Games 2 & 6, coming out of the pen on zero days’ rest to pitch the final 2.2 innings and seal the deal—both the title and his own MVP award.

Game 7 alone would make this a Series to remember, but what made it even better is that it perfectly encapsulated the last nine days of baseball. Both teams had moments where they seemed in control and moments when it looked ready to slip away.

Was it the best World Series ever? The best Game 7 ever? There’s a lot of preference involved with a verdict like that and it’s best to let it absorb into our consciousness before deciding. However, we can say this—if you were to make a short list of things you would want in the best World Series ever, this one had all of them. The teams were never separated by more than one game. They took turns trading the lead in the Series–Jays up 1-0, Dodgers up 2-1, Jays up 3-2 before the Dodgers get one last turnabout.

In other words, it was great from the start.

These moments from Game 7 will live on. But what can easily be overlooked in looking back on a Series like this is all the moments that led up to the grand finale.

DEFINING PERFORMANCES & MISSED CHANCES

Yamamoto’s heroics came at someone’s expense, and that someone was poor Kevin Gausman. The Blue Jays ace was the opposing pitcher in Games 2 & 6. And Gausman pitched pretty well in both games, working at least six innings and only giving up three runs each time. Against a lineup like the one he was facing, that’s solid work and giving your own team’s potent bats a chance to win. But Yamamoto was too good.

Then there was the 18-inning epic of Game 3. Had anyone ever heard of Will Klein before that game? He was the last arm in the Dodger bullpen. And he was stuck having to pitch the last four innings without any margin of error. Facing a lineup that scored more runs than anyone in baseball this season, Klein calmly put up four zeroes on the scoreboard and got his team a win.

At the start of the Series, if you had told Toronto either of these facts, they would have felt pretty good:

  • That Gausman would pitch well in both his starts and you only needed to win one of them.
  • That even if you didn’t win a Gausman start, you could make up for it by scoring one run in four innings against Will Klein.

Do either one of those, you win the World Series. As stunning and heartbreaking as it was for Blue Jay fans to see Rojas hit his Game 7 home run that tied the game off closer Jeff Hoffman, the missed chances earlier in this series can’t be overlooked.

Of course, every coin has a flip side. Winning soothes all ills, but Los Angeles had their own could’ve beens all lined up. Blake Snell had been completely dominant through the postseason. The two-time Cy Young Award winner was ineffective in his Games 1 & 5 starts, completely outpitched by dynamic Toronto rookie Troy Yesavage.

Or there was Game 4. The Dodgers were playing at home. They had momentum, after the 18-inning epic. A lot of us were assuming that the Blue Jays would have the life sucked out of them. But Los Angeles couldn’t do anything against Shane Bieber, still working his way back into shape after Tommy John surgery.

Failing to win that game—much like the Seattle Mariners failed to put their foot down on Toronto in Game 4 of the ALCS—was looming and ready to haunt the Dodgers. But, like we said, winning cures all ills.

THE NEW ROBERTS LEGACY

It’s not that long ago that Dave Roberts had the “can’t win the big one” tag on his shoulders. People attempted to dismiss his 2020 World Series title on the grounds that it was the strange COVID-19 year, played in empty stadiums at neutral sites. Which overlooks the fact that these very factors stripped normal advantages from the Dodgers (playing at home as the 1-seed, playing in a 16-team tournament). But it was a narrative that stuck.

Now, after winning in 2024 and then repeating this year, Roberts is in rare air as a three-time champion. In fairness, the enormous payroll Los Angeles brings to bear weighs in any evaluation of his greatness. Bruce Bochy winning four with San Francisco and Texas is more impressive, as is Tony LaRussa getting three in Oakland and St. Louis. But three rings…well, it’s still three rings.

Roberts is right on the heels of Joe Torre, who won four with the Yankees. And Roberts does this while consistently winning playoff rounds—Los Angeles also made it to the Fall Classic in 2017 and 2018, and they reached the NLCS in 2016 and 2021. Keep in mind that when Roberts took over the Dodgers in ’16, they were a big-market franchise that couldn’t get out of the Division Series.

SPEAKING OF TORRE

The link between these Dodgers and the Torre-era Yankees was put in front of us throughout the Series, as the last time a team won a repeat championship. I thought of it again when Rojas turned into one of last night’s memorable heroes. The reason is that while those Yankee teams are rightfully remembered as the era of Jeter, Mariano, Bernie, Pettitte, Posada, etc., if you remember those postseasons, you can remember a lot of big hits by names like Shane Spencer, Scott Brosius, Luis Sojo, and more.

In that same vein, when these Dodgers are remembered 25 years from now, we’ll naturally think of Shohei, Mookie, Freddie, Yamamoto & Co. They, like the Yankee stars a quarter-century ago were the essential precondition for greatness. But that greatness would not have been fulfilled without big moments from names like Miguel Rojas, Tommy Edman, Kiki Hernandez…and most improbably, the immortal Will Klein.

A POSTSEASON TO REMEMBER

Game 7 was a fitting end to a classic World Series, which in turn was the fitting end to a classic postseason overall. It started with three winner-take-all Game 3s in the Wild-Card Round, and a pair of winner-take-all Game 5s in the Division Series round. Two of these battles took place between great rivals (Red Sox-Yankees, Cubs-Brewers) and another one (Tigers-Mariners) turned into a 16-inning epic. You had a dramatic ALCS that went the full seven games and was deciding by a stunning home run late.

Or there was the Dodgers and Phillies in the Division Series—Los Angeles won the first two and closed it out in four, but every one of their wins was a razor-tight nailbiter decided by a crucial moment late. Even L.A.’s sweep of Milwaukee in the NLCS, the one anticlimactic moment of the postseason was still marked by three really good games to start the series and a historic individual performance from Ohtani to end it.

Octoberfest is our favorite time of year in sports. Don’t get us wrong, we’re looking forward to what’s ahead in November and then immediately beyond the horizon to football postseasons. We’ll have more on that tomorrow. But right now, while we offer congratulations to L.A., and condolences to Toronto, those of us who didn’t have a dog in the fight can stop and breathe in the greatness of what we just watched.

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