Dodgers 5, Blue Jays 4 – World Series Game 7: An extra-inning classic secures back-to-back titles and a Dodgers dynasty

Chad Moriyama 11/02/2025 Game Recaps Leave A Comment

(Via @Dodgers)

It’s hard to ask for anything more from a season of baseball than it ending on Game 7 of the World Series, though certainly fans of the Dodgers and Blue Jays hoped for something less tense. Indeed, we were treated to one of the best games of baseball ever, almost certainly the best World Series game ever, and I’m just beyond happy the Dodgers were the ones who triumphed in the end by a 5-4 score in 11 innings.

What was the mood like towards the end of the game? Well, I had this written and had to do one of my famous rewrites.

The final rewrite of the season.

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— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) November 1, 2025 at 6:32 PM

Thankfully, it ended like this.

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Alright, let’s actually do the recap, shall we?

For the Dodgers, it was none other than Shohei Ohtani on the bump, because why wouldn’t he be, right? In a way, yeah, but he was also pitching on three days rest for the first time in his career (while coming off another normal start), plus it’s the last game of the season for a two-way player, so there was always going to be some concern about how much juice he had left.

To start the game off in the 1st, he got behind George Springer with three balls in a row, and Springer then singled on a 3-1 count. He rebounded by striking out Nathan Lukes on the seventh pitch of the at-bat, and then after falling behind Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a 3-1 count as well, Ohtani eventually punched him out looking on a full count. Fortunately, Vlad acted like he had the walk and ended up fooling the running Springer into stopping resulting in a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play to end the frame.

That’s oddly the second time it’s happened this series.

If I had a nickle for every time the Blue Jays batters deked their own runners, I'd only have two nickles, but it's weird that it happened twice in a series.

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) November 1, 2025 at 2:27 PM

The 2nd continued the trend of Ohtani’s spray pattern looking shaky, as he issued a five-pitch walk to Bo Bichette and went full to Addison Barger before allowing a jam-shot single to right (Bichette was laboring into second base). He rebounded with Alejandro Kirk popping foul and Daulton Varsho flying out, but then gave up a single to Ernie Clement.

Fortunately, Bichette cannot run and had to stop at third to just load the bases, and Ohtani ended that threat with a strikeout of Andres Gimenez.

How’s this for first guessing the decision to let Ohtani come out for the 3rd?

Think you have to go Glasnow at this point even if it overextends the staff. Ohtani's velo is back, but the command is just erratic. Hate the spray pattern.

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) November 1, 2025 at 2:47 PM

Sure enough, things did not go well, as Springer started a rally with a single, he was sacrificed to second by Lukes, and got to third on a wild pitch by Ohtani. After Vlad was intentionally passed to corner things, Bichette stepped up and hit a first-pitch slider for a no-doubter three-run homer to center to make it 3-0 just like that.

That was the end of the road for Ohtani, as Justin Wrobleski entered and gave up a single to Barger, but then got the next two to end the 3rd.

Should’ve never been allowed to come out for that 3rd.

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On the other side, taking the ball for the Blue Jays was 500-year-old Max Scherzer, who also started Game 7 of the World Series in 2019 when he was with the Nationals. He’s no stranger to the moment, and the Blue Jays had to feel confident in him.

Things started in the 1st with a Ohtani lead-off single, but then Will Smith hit a check-swing grounder to first that required a diving play from Vlad to save a hit.

That advanced Shohei to second, but Freddie Freeman than flew out to center (moving Shohei to third), and Mookie Betts then grounded out to short to end that scoring chance.

The 2nd was much more routine from Scherzer, as he got a 1-2-3 frame, though I guess Tommy Edman did hit one to the track in right. And he then cruised through just an eight-pitch inning in the 3rd, though Shohei also hit one to the track (this time in left).

The Dodgers finally got something going in the 4th, as Will led off with a double and Freddie followed with a single to corner things.

After Mookie flied out to right, Max Muncy walked to load the bases, and Teoscar Hernandez lined a ball to center only to get robbed by a diving Varsho. Smith did score on a sac fly, but that was a pivotal play in the game. 3-1, Blue Jays.

Edman followed with a runner still in scoring position, but lined out foul on a diving play by Vlad to end the 4th.

Scherzer continued in the 5th, getting a (questionable) strikeout of Enrique Hernandez, but giving up a single to Miguel Rojas to end his day.

Instead of Mason Fluharty, it was Louis Varland to face Shohei this time around, and he gave up an 0-2 single to put a pair on again.

He then got both Smith and Freeman to miss their pitches on flyouts to squash that threat and get out of the 5th.

——

Back to the Dodgers and their pen game, Wrobleski continued in the 4th, getting a groundout before hitting Gimenez. That cleared the benches despite Gimenez trying to get hit in the same area two pitches in a row previously before finally getting what he asked for.

“Fuck you, motherfucker.” – Justin Wrobleski

Funny.

Trying to get hit and then complaining about getting hit is a pretty funny bit.

— Chad Moriyama (@chadmoriyama.bsky.social) November 1, 2025 at 3:27 PM

Springer then hit a comebacker that bounced off Wrobleski for an infield single to put a pair on, but Wrobo came right back by striking out Lukes and getting Vlad to lineout to prevent any damage in the 4th.

Tyler Glasnow entered in the 5th on what was supposed to be his start day, giving up just a two-out single in the frame.

——

That took us to the 6th inning, which started with Chris Bassitt entering for the Blue Jays, and he didn’t look sharp for the first time this series. A Mookie walk was followed by a Muncy single, but then Teoscar grounded up the middle for a force out that cornered the runners. Tommy was able to take advantage by lifting a sac fly to center to score Mookie and cut the deficit to 3-2.

Enrique followed with a single of his own to put a pair on again, but Miggy grounded out back to Bassitt on the seventh pitch of the at-bat to end the inning.

Unfortunately, the Blue Jays got that right back in the bottom of the frame. Glasnow resumed his outing by allowing a lead-off single to Clement, who stole second without a throw and then scored on a Gimenez double to right-center that made it 4-2 Blue Jays.

It looked like a potential big inning, but Glasnow got Springer to strikeout, Lukes to lineout and only advance Gimenez to third, and then got Vlad to groundout to kill the threat. End of the 6th.

——

Taking over in the 7th was Game 5 starter Trey Yesavage, who issued a walk to Ohtani but faced the minimum after getting Dills to flyout and Freddie to bounce into a 3-6-3 double play.

He continued in the 8th, getting the first out but then leaving a splitter up to Muncy, who annihilated the ball to right to make it a one-run game again. 4-3, Blue Jays.

Yesavage rebounded by getting the second out, and was relieved by Jeff Hoffman, who ended the 8th without further drama.

——

Back to the Dodgers pen, it was Emmet Sheehan in the 7th, and he struck out two in a scoreless inning that only involved a two-out single. He continued in the 8th, but gave up a lead-off double to Clement, who set the record for hits in a single postseason.

That was when Game 5 starter Blake Snell entered, and Gimenez squared to bunt on the first two pitches, taking one ball and bunting one foul. On the third pitch he swung away and almost killed Muncy at third, but it went for a lineout in the box score.

Snell then got a strikeout of Springer, and then another strikeout of the pinch-hitting Davis Schneider (for Lukes), who homered off him in Game 5. End of the 8th.

——

The Dodgers were three outs away from losing the World Series and they had 8-9-1 due up in the form of Enrique, Rojas, and Ohtani. The Blue Jays were nursing a one-run lead and everybody knew who was most likely to hurt them … and maybe that’s what cost them in the end.

Hoffman obviously continued on in the 9th, and he got Enrique to strikeout to start.

Rojas was next and he worked the count full, and with Ohtani lurking, Hoffman wasn’t going to give him a free pass. With that probably on his mind, he ended up hanging a slider over the middle of the plate and Rojas didn’t miss it, yanking the seventh pitch of the at-bat for a dramatic game-tying homer to left to make it 4-4.

Unreal.

MIGUEL FUCKING ROJAS

Hoffman then ended up getting Ohtani to flyout short of the track and struck out Dills on what should’ve been a full-count walk to end the 9th.

Oh right, the other side of the 9th was still to play.

With the Blue Jays now setup for a walk-off, Snell continued on and started by falling behind in the count to Vladdy. He swung away on 3-0 and thankfully the changeup was out of the zone, as he hit a ball just short of the track in center for the first out.

Bichette then singled, with Isiah Kiner-Falefa running for him (important later), and Barger drew a close walk to put a pair on.

Improbably, the guy who answered the bell was none other than Game 6 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the day after throwing 96 high-intensity pitches in a win to extend the series. Incredible stuff.

Things started ominously when he hit Kirk on the hand with an 0-1 sinker to load things up with one out. At that point, Andy Pages entered the game for Edman, presumably because he had the stronger throwing arm in case of a flyball.

Despite things looking bleak, Yamamoto got ahead of Varsho in the count and induced a grounder to Miggy, who was playing in. He stumbled a bit when fielding the ball and made an off-balance throw to the plate, where Will’s foot barely stayed on and/or got back down in time to keep the game going. Andy then paid off for reasons other than his arm, as Clement hit first-pitch curve deep to left-center, where Pages trucked Enrique on the track to make a series-saving catch!

On the force at home, it was way closer than it seemed, and it sure feels like the difference was Kiner-Falefa didn’t get a great lead or jump. There’s an overlay of Mookie on an identical play with the fielder further off the base and not being as close, yet he beats IKF to home despite being a slower runner. Margins.

On the collision catch, it was a lot better than you thought it was live, probably. Pages went a long way on basically a 50/50 catch probability ball for him and hauled it in despite a big collision.

——

Amazingly, there was still more baseball to be played.

WORLD SERIES GAME 7 BONUS BASEBALL

The Dodgers had a golden chance in the 10th against Seranthony Dominguez, as he issued a one-out walk to Mookie, gave up a single to Muncy, and a patient Teoscar battled back from a 1-2 count and drew a walk on the seventh pitch to load things up.

However, Pages did his thing and somehow missed a 2-1 fastball, grounding to short. With the infield playing in, Gimenez threw out Betts at the plate to keep things tied. Enrique then bounced a roller to Vlad, who tossed it to the covering Dominguez, and he unfortunately eventually found the bag to end that chance.

Yamamoto responded by sending things to the 11th with a drama-free 1-2-3 frame in the 10th.

In the top of that 11th, it was Shane Bieber for the Blue Jays, and he got 9th-inning hero Miggy to groundout on a couple pitches, then sawed off Shohei on the first pitch for out number two. Seemed like easy pickings for him, but he then missed twice out of the zone to Dills and then hung a slider, which was promptly deposited into the bullpen in left-field pen make it 5-4 Dodgers in the 11th!

Bieber then got Freddie to groundout to end the inning, but obviously the damage was done.

WILL SMITH

And so with the World Series on the line, things moved to the bottom of the 11th. Justin Dean entered in center for defense, shifting Pages to right and Teoscar out of the game, and Hyeseong Kim also entered for Rojas at second.

Of course, nothing was ever going to come easy, as Yamamoto ran into immediate trouble in the 11th when Vlad led off with a double down the line in left on a 3-2 pitch.

A sac bunt by Kiner-Falefa (that required a good play from Yamamoto) moved Vlad to third, and they basically unintentionally intentionally walked Barger on four pitches to setup a double play, as Kirk was a prime candidate.

That … well, it paid off.

A moment in Dodgers history.

The celebration was on.

@cosmlosangelesca They did it again! 🔥 The Los Angeles Dodgers are back-to-back World Series Champions! 🏆💙 For the first time in over 25 years, a team has gone back-to-back — and the Dodgers made history in unforgettable fashion. What a moment. What a team. What a season. #WorldSeries #Dodgers #Champions #BackToBack #SharedReality ♬ We Are The Champions – Remastered 2011 – Queen

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World Series MVP? Was there any doubt? I would argue it’s the greatest World Series pitching performance ever.

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And so the World Series ends 4-3 in favor of the Dodgers. One of the best ever? Maybe.

Celebration post(s) coming up!

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