TORONTO — Miguel Rojas cranked a tying home run off Jeff Hoffman in the top of the ninth, saved the game with a stellar defensive play in the bottom half, then watched his catcher, Will Smith, win it in extra innings.
Smith provided the Los Angeles Dodgers with their first lead in Game 7 of the World Series with a solo home run in the top of the 11th, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto finished the Toronto Blue Jays in the bottom half, sealing a thrilling 5-4 victory on Saturday night that brought yet another championship to L.A.
“You dream of those moments, you know, extra innings, put your team ahead — I’ll remember that forever,” Smith said after the game.
The Dodgers became the first repeat World Series champions in a quarter-century, and clinching it took everything they had.
It took all of their starting pitchers — Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Yamamoto, who pitched the first six innings in Game 6 and the last 2 innings in Game 7 — checking into the game. It took Rojas and Smith coming up with huge hits.
And, in the end, it took Yamamoto inducing a critical double-play ball. The Blue Jays had runners on the corners with one out with Alejandro Kirk due up. Yamamoto fired an 0-2 splitter, and Kirk broke his bat, hitting a grounder to shortstop. Mookie Betts stepped on second and fired to first to win it all.
For his efforts throughout the series, Yamamoto was named World Series MVP.
“We’ve got a special group of guys, man,” Smith said. “We just never gave up. … Oh man, that was a fight, for seven games.”
The Dodgers have dominated the National League West for more than a decade, claiming 12 division titles over the past 13 years. They rid themselves of their reputation as a team that continually fell short of expectations in October. They have claimed three championships in the past six years, including after the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, and are now the first team to win back-to-back championships since the New York Yankees claimed their third in a row in 2000.
The Dodgers’ road there was more arduous than anticipated.
They once again suffered a litany of injuries throughout their starting rotation and taxed a bullpen that later struggled to consistently get outs. Around midseason, their star-studded offense slumped. In the end, a team many expected to challenge the regular-season wins record of 116 finished with just 93, barely holding off the San Diego Padres in the division.
But the Dodgers’ star-studded rotation rounded back into form in September, dominating opposing hitters with a 2.07 ERA.
That continued in October. The Dodgers breezed past the Cincinnati Reds, outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies and swept the Milwaukee Brewers to reach the World Series for the fifth time in nine years. In that stretch, Snell, Yamamoto, Glasnow and Ohtani went 7-1 with a 1.36 ERA.
The Dodgers went into the final round as heavy favorites, but they ran into a Blue Jays team that taxed their starters, put a lot of pressure on their slumping offense and challenged them like no one else.
The Blue Jays won Game 1 by bludgeoning the Dodgers’ middle relievers, accumulating nine runs in the sixth inning. But Yamamoto answered with a masterpiece in Game 2, throwing his second consecutive complete game, and Freddie Freeman ended an 18-inning marathon in Game 3 with another memorable World Series walk-off homer.
When the Blue Jays cruised to a Game 4 win and rode a dominant Trey Yesavage to also take Game 5, the Dodgers were forced to win back-to-back games in Toronto to claim another title. They proved up for the challenge.
In the ninth inning of Game 6, the Blue Jays had two on with none out and trailed by two runs, but Enrique Hernandez charged a sinking liner, made the catch and threw to second base, where Rojas fielded a one-hopper to complete the first game-ending 7-4 double play in postseason history. In Game 7, it was Rojas again, finally breaking through for a Dodgers team that continually came up short in RBI opportunities.
With the Dodgers trailing 4-3 with one out and none on in the ninth, Rojas reached out for a 3-2 slider from Hoffman and deposited it into the Blue Jays’ left-field bullpen for his first extra-base hit of the postseason. The Blue Jays then loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with one out when Rojas ranged back on a Daulton Varsho grounder and made an off-balance throw home to barely get Isiah Kiner-Falefa out in time. Andy Pages ran down Ernie Clement’s long drive moments later.
Then came the final play — a 6-3 double play from Betts to Freeman, halting the Blue Jays’ final rally and making the Dodgers kings of the sport once more.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.