Alden GonzalezNov 1, 2025, 11:45 PM ETCloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.Follow on X
“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 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 2⅔ 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.
“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 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 ultimately challenged them like no one else.
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 road 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 in a two-run game, but Enrique Hernandez charged in on 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.
Then came the final play — a 6-4-3 double play from Betts to Freeman, halting the Blue Jays’ final rally and making the Dodgers kings of the sport once more.
For his efforts Saturday and throughout the series, Yamamoto was eventually named World Series MVP.
A Dodgers franchise that has dominated the National League West for more than a decade, claiming 12 division titles over the last 13 years, has thoroughly rid itself of its reputation as a team that continually fell short of expectations in October. They have claimed three championships in the last six years, including after the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, and is now the first team to win back-to-back championships since the New York Yankees claimed their third in a row in 2000.
CloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.Follow on X
Dodgers repeat as World Series champs after instant classic Game 7 (2:21)Will Smith hits the go-ahead home run in extras as the Dodgers take down the Blue Jays to win their second straight World Series. (2:21)