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MLB 2025 World Series Dodgers' Miguel Rojas celebrates after hitting a game-tying home run in the ninth inning against the Blue Jays in Game 7 of the World Series. Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images TORONTO — If you have ever wondered what it sounds like to hear a pin drop, consider the 11th inning at Rogers Centre at six minutes past midnight on Sunday, as a drive off the bat off Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith soared over the diamond and descended into the bullpen of the Toronto Blue Jays. The sound upon its landing — thunk — resounded through a ballpark in front of a ballclub already stunned once by a late-night Dodgers rally. From this one, the Blue Jays could not recover. Advertisement In the decisive moment of the Dodgers’ 5-4 victory in Game 7 of the World Series, the baseball splashed off the grass inside the bullpen and into the stands. Smith spread his arms wide and rounded the bases. After a season spent wondering if the Dodgers might ruin baseball, the team has become the first back-to-back champion since the New York Yankees in 1998 to 2000. “To do what we’ve done in this span of time is pretty remarkable, ” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I guess let the pundits and all the fans talk about if it’s a dynasty or not, but I’m pretty happy with where we’re at. ” At one point trailing by three runs, at another point two outs away from defeat and in the end out of pitchers, the Dodgers could not be denied. Yoshinobu Yamamoto secured the final eight outs of the game after starting Game 6 the night before, earning the Japanese star the World Series MVP. Mookie Betts finished off the game-ending double play. Smith and infielder Miguel Rojas supplied the late-night home runs that put the Dodgers in position to win. As happened so often in this series, the final moments were harrowing. And the heartbreak for Toronto may be profound. With one out in the top of the ninth, Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman hung a slider. Rojas smacked the ball over the left-field fence. The flight of the baseball acted as a mute button for Rogers Centre, a building teeming with anticipation only moments before. Instead, the shrieks and screams from the Dodgers’ dugout echoed through the building. Roberts closed his eyes and clasped his skull. His players clambered out of the dugout. Rojas thumped his chest and pointed toward the sky. The Blue Jays only heightened the tension with an attempted rally in the bottom of the ninth. A one-out single by Bo Bichette and a walk by outfielder Addison Barger put pressure on Dodgers pitcher Blake Snell. Desperate for an escape, Roberts brought in Yamamoto, who had thrown 96 pitches the night before. Yamamoto was far from sharp. He hit catcher Alejandro Kirk with his second pitch to load the bases. The Dodgers pulled their infielders to the edge of the grass. Rojas maintained his balance on a sharply hit grounder by outfielder Daulton Varsho and threw home to Smith for the second out. Called into the game as a defensive replacement, Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages sprinted to the wall in left-center field, leaped over teammate Kiké Hernández and managed to snag a drive from Toronto third baseman Ernie Clement. Advertisement The Dodgers loaded the bases in the top of the 10th. The game once again found Pages, who had been benched earlier in the series amid an extended slump. Pages grounded into a fielder’s choice as shortstop Andrés Giménez threw home for the second out. Blue Jays reliever Seranthony Dominguez and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. connected for the third out. And it was Guerrero who sparked the final throes of life for Toronto in this season. After Smith homered, Guerrero led off the bottom of the frame with a double. He advanced to third on a bunt. But he finished the season there, 90 feet from tying the game, when Kirk hit a grounder into Betts’ glove. Betts skipped across the dirt and tossed his hat in the air. His teammates rushed the field. It felt impossible for anyone on either side to still possess the energy. All evening long, the fatigue was visible on the faces of the players, evident in each deeply drawn breath. By Saturday, both teams had been pushed to the brink. The Dodgers fielded the oldest lineup in baseball, and the group had begun to show its age. The Blue Jays were riddled with injuries. Nursing soreness in his middle section, George Springer, the four-time All-Star designated hitter, grimaced after every swing. Bichette was running as if he put his toes on backward. And in the frenzied ninth inning of Game 6, Kirk had been clipped in the hand with a pitch. Game 6 delivered an exclamation point for a series which did not require it. The excesses of the 18-inning marathon in Game 3 stretched both rosters thin. The sudden completion of Game 6, with Barger doubled off second base while representing the Blue Jays’ game-tying run, took away the collective breath of each club. After a short night of sleep, they returned to Rogers Centre for the final innings of the 2025 season. Advertisement If Game 7 is unlike any other, the teams tried to treat it like any other day. A minute before 3 p. m. , Dodgers first-base coach Chris Woodward emerged from the dugout lugging two bags of equipment. Inside the mostly silent ballpark, with lines of fans teeming outside waiting for entry, the infielders conducted their usual pregame drills. The Blue Jays had begun regrouping the night before. Springer exhorted his teammates to view Game 7 as an opportunity rather than a burden. Manager John Schneider encouraged Barger to keep his head up. At one point, Schneider walked past starter Max Scherzer, who “looked like he was ready to kill somebody. ” To counter Shohei Ohtani, Toronto turned to its own future Hall of Famer. Scherzer starred in baseball’s last World Series Game 7. Washington Nationals manager Dave Martinez rode Scherzer through five hard innings to take down the Houston Astros in the 2019 finale. Since then, Scherzer has bounced around the sport, serving as an inspiration to teammates and an irritation to figures of authority. At 41, he has become one of the game’s foremost cranks, forever raging against rule changes, challenging conventional wisdom and hyping up the boys. “There’s a lot of teams that don’t like Max Scherzers just because he questions everything, ” said Blue Jays teammate Chris Bassitt, who considers Scherzer one of his closest friends in baseball. “Like, he wants to know every little detail from outfield positioning to why you’re throwing this pitch to who is playing here to how we control off-days, and so many organizations don’t like to answer questions. ” Before the Series began, Schneider informed Scherzer he would start Game 3. Scherzer told Schneider exactly what that meant: He would be ready for Game 7. The dialogue between the Dodgers and Ohtani involved more layers. After Ohtani pitched in Game 4, he informed team officials he would pitch again whenever the team needed. The most sensible route was using him as a starting pitcher, because the rules for two-way players permitted him to stay in the game as the designated hitter after he left the mound. The Dodgers formalized the idea around 2: 30 a. m. Saturday and reaffirmed the plan that afternoon. “With Shohei, ” Roberts said, “we don’t have long conversations. ” Ohtani emerged from the Dodgers dugout at 7: 31 p. m. Scherzer stalked into the outfield two minutes later. As Scherzer jogged along the warning track, Ohtani played long toss on the other side of the ballpark. The crowd at Rogers Center jeered when Ohtani was announced as the leadoff hitter. The razzing only rose in volume when he was introduced a second time as the starting pitcher. Advertisement Ohtani and Scherzer reconvened at 8: 10 p. m. , separated by 60 feet and 6 inches. Ohtani greeted his colleague with a single. Scherzer navigated through a scoreless inning. Ohtani pushed himself as he ran the bases, even tagging up to take third base on a fly out by first baseman Freddie Freeman. But Scherzer still stranded him. When Ohtani emerged from the dugout, only 40 seconds remained on the clock. The rulebook allows the umpires to use their discretion to afford extra time. The umpires turned off the clock, but Ohtani still only made six warmup pitches, rather than the customary eight. Ohtani looked erratic in the early going, unable to spot any of his off-speed pitches for strikes. He still struck out two with his fastball, which reached the triple digits. The velocity could not save him in the second — but Bichette’s knee did. Bichette led off with a walk, taking the free pass as Ohtani sprayed his fastball. Barger looped a 100-mph fastball into right. Ernie Clement shot another 100-mph fastball into right. The single would have scored a healthy runner. But Bichette had to hold at third. Ohtani buzzed a 99 mph fastball past Giménez to end the threat. Ohtani made the third out in the third inning, as outfielder Nathan Lukes snagged his 104. 4 mph line drive. Ohtani returned to the field with 15 seconds on the clock. Umpire Jordan Baker afforded him the time to throw five warmups. The crowd howled at the display. Its tune would soon change as Ohtani wilted. Springer sparked the rally with a leadoff single. After a bunt by Lukes, Ohtani intentionally walked Guerrero to face Bichette. Ohtani opened with a slider that hovered over the center of the plate. Bichette bashed the ball over the center-field fence for a three-run homer. There was no need to run. He took a moment in the batter’s box to admire the baseball’s flight. After he crossed the plate, a familiar face greeted him. Guerrero engulfed Bichette. Toronto’s defense spared Scherzer a letdown in the fourth. With the bases loaded, Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernández smashed a 109. 8 mph drive into center field. Varsho laid out to snag the baseball. A run still scored, but Scherzer escaped three pitches later when Guerrero dove to corral a ball down the line from utility man Tommy Edman. The cacophony only heightened in the bottom of the frame. Giménez took exception to a wayward fastball from Dodgers rookie Justin Wrobleski. The pitch hit Giménez on the wrist. He dropped his bat and opened his mouth. Wrobleski spewed invective of his own. The jawing between batter and pitcher caused the dugouts to empty. The bullpens soon followed. Eventually the tension eased. The kerfuffle interrupted the warmup routine of Tyler Glasnow, who had joined the relievers in running into the fray. The two clubs traded runs in the sixth. As the seventh started, with Ohtani set to lead off, a roar emanated from the fans around the Blue Jays’ bullpen. The noise soon spread across the park. It was time for Trey Yesavage. Advertisement The rookie had struck out 12 Dodgers only three days ago in Game 5. He operated under duress in the seventh, struggling to find the strike zone. But he received aid from Guerrero. After a leadoff walk by Ohtani, Yesavage busted Freeman inside with a slider. Guerrero fired to Giménez, who relayed the ball back to first for an inning-ending double play. Guerrero high-stepped off the bag and into the dugout. For a moment, it looked like Toronto would party inside this building as it had not since 1993. Then Hoffman hung a slider. Then Smith’s ball crash-landed in the bullpen. And then Yamamoto and his teammates held on, pushed to the limit, emptied of energy and arms, to hang on for the victory. In the end, the Dodgers did not ruin baseball. For these seven games, they teamed with the Blue Jays to show just how special it can be. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle Andy Mc Cullough is a senior writer for The Athletic covering MLB. He previously covered baseball at the Los Angeles Times, the Kansas City Star and The Star-Ledger. A graduate of Syracuse University, he grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Follow Andy on Twitter @By Mc Cullough