Only one out, one play, and one inch away from going from worst to first and winning the World Series, the Toronto Blue Jays could not close the deal. The Los Angeles Dodgers never held a lead until the 11th inning in a game that started the night before. After the stroke of midnight, it was a series of game-changing plays that led to the Dodgers winning their second consecutive championship after taking game seven 5-4 over the Blue Jays.

Remarkable outings by both their proven players and those with struggles all contributed to the improbable comeback by the Dodgers. Yoshinobu Yamamoto was ultimately named the MVP with three wins in the series, including games six and seven. Yamamoto pitched on no rest in the finale, getting out of both innings pitched with bases loaded for the Blue Jays.

Clutch home runs by Max Muncy and Miguel Rojas allowed the Dodgers to come back and send the game into extra innings, setting up Will Smith for the game-winner against Toronto. Muncy, who went 3-for-4, delivered his eighth-inning home run coming out of his slump at precisely the right time.

Although Smith had the game-winning home run in the 11th, he almost cost the Dodgers the game in the bottom of the ninth. With bases loaded, Miguel Rojas fielded a ground ball at second base and threw it home for the force out. While catching the throw from Rojas, Smith’s foot  momentarily came off the plate just before the base runner’s foot touched the plate. Smith got his foot back on the plate in the split second before the runner would have scored to end the game.  

“I think that game had everything it could possibly have. An incredible game, incredible series,” said Dodgers’ first baseman Freddie Freeman after the game. “Just a grind for both teams. Back-to-back (World Series titles) are so hard to so, and to be able to pull that off and to be part of a group that does it — I’m just so happy that Clayton Kershaw’s a three-time champ.”

The Dodgers became the first team to repeat as World Series champions since the 1998-99 New York Yankees and the first National League team to do so since the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. For the Dodgers, it was their third World Series championship in six years.

“I’m just speechless, I really am,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s going to go down as one for the ages.”

The 11 innings of winner-take-all World Series baseball was the third such Fall Classic game to go at least 11, joining the 1997 and 1924 series (12 innings). There were 146 innings pitched, the second-most in World Series history, behind the 1912 series, when there were 147 2/3 innings pitched in an eight-game series (due to a tie).

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