Wait 32 years to see your team in the World Series and you’re bound to see some things you may not see for another 32, if not more.
The Toronto Blue Jays huffed and puffed but ultimately just couldn’t blow the Los Angeles Dodgers house down. 18 innings, six hours and 39 minutes of focus, intensity, and determination crushed by a walk-off home run by Freddie Freeman.
This game tied the World Series record for most innings, set a new record for pitches thrown at 609 and pitchers used at 19. The hitters combined for a couple of World Series records as well, 153 plate appearances along with 37 runners left on base.
“The way everybody fought, that’s what you’re just so proud of,” Max Scherzer said, having thrown the first four-and-a-third innings. “Yeah, we came out on the wrong side of this and it stings and it burns, you wanna win that game. But, so proud of everybody’s effort, everybody believed in each other…
The fight everybody showed, the innings we got out of the bullpen tonight, every last one of them, just incredible. So, crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy game.
Max Scherzer, pitcher, Toronto Blue Jays
The stars were otherworldly and the “others” were clutch beyond belief. This was an effort nothing short of heroic. The Blue Jays just happened to be heroes in defeat on this night.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. looked to have made the two biggest plays of the game. First, he had an unbelievable read on an attempted put-out throw from shortstop, intercepting it early to throw out Teoscar Hernandez at third to end the sixth inning. Then, in the top of the seventh, Guerrero Jr. stormed home on a single to right field by Bo Bichette and just barely beat the throw to give the Blue Jays what was then a 5-4 lead.
Shohei Ohtani undid all of that with one swing of the bat but the Blue Jays took it on the chin and dug in some more. Chris Bassitt came in and pitched a perfect eighth, Jeff Hoffman gave up one hit over two innings, and Braydon Fisher pitched a scoreless inning-and-a-third.
Then came one of the most courageous relief efforts you will ever see, Eric Lauer popping up out of the bullpen to throw 68 pitches for four-and-two-thirds innings of shutout ball.
If that wasn’t dramatic enough, Brendon Little – who has struggled to find the strike zone for over a month and whose last appearance was a Game 5 nightmare in Seattle – pitched another scoreless inning to take the game to an 18th inning. It was just the second time in World Series history that a game lasted at least 15 innings.
Unfortunately for the Blue Jays, they had an 11th consecutive scoreless inning and Little couldn’t hold the Dodgers down for another inning. Wondering how Toronto couldn’t score for that long? George Springer was forced to leave the game in the top of the seventh due to some right side discomfort and is awaiting the results of an MRI. Bichette was then replaced by Isiah Kiner-Falefa later that inning after singling the Blue Jays into the lead.
Addison Barger was replaced by Myles Straw in the top of the eighth and the Jays loaded the bases with two out but Lukes grounded out to the pitcher Rokie Sasaki. In the top of the 12th, Tyler Heineman replaced Alejandro Kirk – who hit a crucial three-run home run in the top of the fourth that gave the Jays a 3-2 lead.
Blue Jays’ moments of regretConfusing call leads to crucial mistake by Bichette, Varsho
Three moments will sting the Blue Jays more than any other. The first came in the top of the second, when Bichette led off the inning with a single. Daulton Varsho came to the plate and appeared to have quite clearly taken a fourth ball for a walk but home plate umpire Mark Wegner called a strike.
Bichette began walking to second base and Varsho to first base before suddenly realizing the pitch was called a strike. With Bichette stranded, the Dodgers tagged him out. Varsho did eventually walk but this time with no one on base. Alejandro Kirk then hit a single that arguably would have scored a run for an early lead.
“I think just to be a little bit quicker with this call,” Manager John Schneider told Rosenthal. “Mark’s a great umpire. Been doing it a long time. Very delayed call, pretty deliberate. Just didn’t say anything. So Varsh assumed it was a ball, and Bo assumed. I just asked him, in this environment, can he be a little bit quicker or give a little bit more clarity? So everyone knows what’s going on?”
Ohtani ties the game after Dominguez misses his spot
Then came the bottom of the seventh where, leading by a run, the Blue Jays decided to pitch to Ohtani despite him having hit a home run and two doubles earlier in the ball game. Schneider explained that the plan during a mound visit was to pitch around Ohtani but Seranthony Dominguez missed his spot and served up a middle-middle fastball that was summarily dismissed over the right-centre field wall and tied the game. Ohtani wasn’t given another opportunity to swing his bat, walking in each of his next five at-bats.
Ohtani set a new record, reaching base nine times in a single game. He will be the Dodgers’ starting pitcher in Game 4.
Schneider powers home, but not in time
Los Angeles, – October 27: Catcher Will Smith #16 of the Los Angeles Dodgers tags out Davis Schneider #36 of the Toronto blueJays at home plate in the tenth inning of game 3 of a World Series baseball game at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Monday, October 27, 2025. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
Finally came the top of the 10th, with two outs, where Nathan Lukes doubled to right field and Davis Schneider tried to scamper all the way home from first base but was thrown out quite comfortably. Guerrero Jr. was due up next, and although it’s quite likely the Dodgers would have walked him with first base open, it still would have created a high pressure situation of the bases being loaded for pitcher Emmet Sheehan, who was chiefly responsible for the nine-run inning the Blue Jays erupted for in Game 1 of the series.
Game 4 will be ultimate test of Blue Jays resilience
Whatever bitterness they taste in their mouths through the early morning has to be converted into a sting in the tail by night.
Game 4 awaits. Shane Bieber will make the biggest start of his career knowing the Blue Jays bullpen is thin. Bichette and Barger should be fresher than most. It remains to be seen if Springer will have any part left to play in this series.
The Blue Jays have come back time and time again throughout the regular season and playoffs. They haven’t lost a game of this magnitude in such excruciating fashion until now. Toronto is about to have its biggest test of resilience yet.
Come through this and they will know they can come through anything, even the seemingly invincible Dodgers.