Dodgers do it again! Smith and Rojas deliver a Game 7 for the ages

Toronto, Ontario – In a Game 7 that will live forever in Dodgers lore, the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 5–4 in 11 innings to capture their second straight World Series title. It was one of those nights that felt like it might never end—an instant classic that had everything: missed chances, heroic swings, and impossible defense. The win gave the Dodgers their eighth championship and made them the first team to repeat since the 2000 Yankees.

Shohei Ohtani started for Los Angeles but looked shaky early, throwing 42 pitches through two innings and escaping a bases-loaded jam with a 99 mph fastball that froze Andrés Giménez. In the third, Toronto made him pay. After a walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette launched a 443-foot home run to center, giving the Jays a 3–0 lead and sending the Rogers Centre into chaos. Toronto’s defense kept it that way for most of the night—Daulton Varsho made a full-extension catch in center to save multiple runs, and Guerrero Jr. turned a diving stop at first into another highlight. Tempers flared soon after when Justin Wrobleski grazed Giménez’s elbow guard, sparking a rare benches-clearing moment in a World Series Game 7. Even the bullpens emptied, but no one was ejected. The tension, though, hung over every pitch.

Toronto looked poised to finish the job behind rookie reliever Trey Yesavage, whose seventh-inning double play on Freddie Freeman ended with Guerrero running off the field shouting in celebration. But Jays manager John Schneider pushed his luck and left Yesavage in one inning too long. Max Muncy, quiet all series, crushed a solo homer in the eighth to make it a one-run game. Two innings later came the moment Dodgers fans will talk about for years: with Los Angeles down to its final two outs, Miguel Rojas—who hadn’t even been in the lineup until Game 6—worked a full count and blasted a tying home run off closer Jeff Hoffman. Rogers Centre fell silent. “I still can’t believe it happened,” Rojas said afterward. “Baseball gives you these moments when you least expect them.”

Rojas wasn’t done. In the bottom of the ninth, he stumbled while fielding a chopper but managed to throw home in time to cut down pinch runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa by inches. Then Andy Pages collided with Enrique Hernández at the wall to make the catch of his life, sending the game to extras still tied 4–4. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the tenth but came up empty again as Toronto’s defense kept holding the line. It was beginning to feel like no one would ever score—until Will Smith stepped up. With two outs in the 11th, Smith turned on a Shane Bieber pitch and sent it screaming into the left-field seats for the first extra-inning home run ever hit in a winner-take-all World Series game. “You dream of those moments,” Smith said afterward, champagne dripping from his jersey. “I’ll remember that forever.”

When the Blue Jays threatened in the bottom half, Dave Roberts turned again to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who was running on fumes after throwing 96 pitches the night before. On his 130th pitch in two days, Yamamoto got Alejandro Kirk to roll into a game-ending double play with the tying run on third base. The Dodgers spilled out of the dugout as gloves flew skyward. Yamamoto, named World Series MVP, earned his third win of the series and cemented his place alongside names like Koufax, Hershiser, and Gibson. The Blue Jays, meanwhile, were left with heartbreak. They had outscored the Dodgers across the series, ridden a resurgent Max Scherzer and breakout performances from young arms, and been two outs away from their first championship since 1993 before Rojas’ improbable blast changed everything.