Game
In the bottom of the second inning, Ohtani escaped a two-out bases-loaded jam by striking out Andrés Giménez to keep the game scoreless. In the bottom of the third inning, a single by George Springer and a walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. preceded a three-run home run by Bo Bichette to give the Blue Jays a 3–0 lead. Ohtani pitched 2+1⁄3 innings, allowing five hits, three runs, and walking two batters while striking out three. [18]
In the bottom of the fourth inning with one out, Dodger reliever Justin Wrobleski nearly hit Giménez with two inside pitches – the second of which Giménez appeared to throw his arm at intentionally in an attempt to get hit [19] – before a third inside pitch did hit Giménez, and resulted in a benches-clearing incident when Giménez argued with Wrobleski. During the incident, closer Jeff Hoffman got into a shouting match with a few Dodgers, including Kirby Yates, who was not even on the active roster. According to Dodger reporter David Vassegh, multiple Dodgers screamed Hoffman saying, "you don't want to get in this game". [20] Once the umps got everyone settled down, Wrobleski allowed a single but eventually finished the inning without allowing a run. Days after the World Series ended, social media personality Jomboy deep dove into the benches-clearing incident and came to the conclusion that Giménez was at fault, as he tried to get hit instead of dogging out the way like a normal batter would. [21]
Scherzer allowed a one-out single in the fifth inning before exiting; he pitched 4+1⁄3 innings, allowing four hits, one run, and walking one batter while striking out three. He was relieved by Louis Varland, who with his 15th appearance of the playoffs set a record for most pitching appearances in a single postseason. [22] Varland allowed another hit but also escaped the jam without allowing a run. [23] In the top of the sixth inning, the first two Dodgers reached base off Jays reliever Chris Bassitt, with Mookie Betts eventually scoring on sacrifice fly by Edman to cut the Blue Jays' lead to 3–2. The Jays immediately answered in the bottom of the inning, when Ernie Clement led off with a single against Game 3 starter Tyler Glasnow, stole second, and scored on a Giménez RBI double to extend the lead to 4–2. [24]
In the top of the eighth inning, Max Muncy hit a solo home run off Game 5 starter Trey Yesavage to cut the Dodgers' deficit to 4–3, which prompted the Jays to bring in closer Jeff Hoffman for the four-out save. [25] [26] Ernie Clement hit a leadoff double off Emmet Sheehan in the bottom of the eighth inning, setting a record for hits in a MLB postseason with 30. [27] Dodger Game 5 starter Blake Snell entered in relief; Giménez hit a sharp lineout to drawn-in Muncy at third base, and Snell recorded two more outs to strand Clement at second. In the top of the ninth inning, with the Blue Jays two outs from a championship, Miguel Rojas hit a one-out home run off of Hoffman to tie the game at 4–4. Rojas, who had been put in the line-up for a struggling Andy Pages after Game 5, had not had a hit since the Wild Card Series one month ago. Rojas became the first player in MLB history with a game-tying home run in the ninth inning or later of a World Series Game 7. [28] According to ESPN Insights, the Blue Jays had a 91.7 percent chance to win Game 7 before the homer. [29]
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Snell attempted to force the game into extra innings. Guerrero Jr. flied out to center on a 3–0 count before Bichette singled and was pinch-run for by Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Addison Barger drew a walk to get Alejandro Kirk to the plate; the Dodgers countered by replacing Snell with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had thrown 96 pitches the previous night. On the second pitch, Kirk was hit in the arm to bring Daulton Varsho to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. With the infield in, Varsho hit a grounder to second baseman Rojas, who stumbled as he fielded the ball but recovered to throw to Smith in time to force out Kiner-Falefa at home for the second out. The Blue Jays unsuccessfully challenged the call; the replay confirmed Smith's foot touched the plate just before Kiner-Falefa's foot slid in. [31] After the game, Kiner-Falefa was criticized for not taking a bigger lead off of third base; he explained that the coaches instructed him to stay close to third base to avoid getting doubled off at third in the event of a line drive, [32] as he represented the winning run with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the ninth. [33] [34] Many felt this decision cost the Blue Jays the World Series, as Kiner-Falefa would have scored if he had a normal lead off third. [35] [36] [37] Clement came up with two out and the bases loaded and hit a fly ball to the warning track in left-center field, sending left fielder Enrique Hernández back to attempt what appeared to be a difficult over-the-shoulder catch in order to save the game. However, Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages, inserted as a defensive replacement before the prior at bat, ranged over and made the catch while colliding with Hernández to escape the jam. Andy Pages had to run 121 ft (37 m) in just 5.5 seconds, and the catch is regarded as one of the most critical in baseball history. [38]
Seranthony Domínguez was sent to pitch for the Jays in the 10th. Mookie Betts drew a one-out walk before Max Muncy delivered a single and Teoscar Hernández drew a walk to load the bases, but the Jays got out of the jam with their own force out at home plate on a grounder hit by Pages, followed by a grounder to Guerrero Jr. by Enrique Hernández on which a covering Domínguez was just able to beat him to first base. With another chance to secure a walk-off win, the Blue Jays instead went down in order to send the game to the 11th inning to make it the first Game 7 to go past the tenth since 1997 and the third overall. Shane Bieber pitched for Toronto in the 11th, and Will Smith hit a two-out home run off Bieber to give Los Angeles a 5–4 lead, also becoming the first player to hit an extra-inning home run in a Game 7. [40] This was, at the time, the fourth biggest play in terms of Championship Win Percentage Added (CWPA) in MLB history. [41] In the bottom of the 11th, Guerrero Jr. lined a leadoff double to left before Kiner-Falefa laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance Guerrero to third base with one out. Barger then drew a walk to set up Kirk at the plate with runners on the corners. On an 0–2 pitch, Kirk hit a broken-bat ground ball to Dodger shortstop Betts, who stepped on second and threw to Freeman at first to complete the double play to end the game and series. [26] That play overtook Will Smith’s homer earlier in the inning as the fourth biggest play in terms of CWPA. [41] The plate appearances for Barger and Kirk were baseball's first golden pitches—a situation where either team could win a championship on that pitch—since the 2016 World Series. Toronto went 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position, tying the record for most runners stranded on base in a World Series Game 7 set in 1924 by the New York Giants. [42] The Dodgers became the first team to repeat as champions since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees won three straight. [43]
Yoshinobu Yamamoto won the World Series Most Valuable Player Award, the first pitcher to win the award since Stephen Strasburg in 2019. [44] Yamamoto recorded three wins and 15 strikeouts with a 1.02 ERA. [45] [46] Yamamoto was the first pitcher to get three road wins in a World Series (Games 2, 6, and 7), and the second since 1968 to be credited with three wins in a World Series, joining Randy Johnson in 2001. [47]
