TORONTO — Where there was a Will, there was a way.

The Dodgers, buried in an early hole Saturday night, displayed one kind of will in recovering to catch the Blue Jays in the late innings. And then in the 11th inning there was another.

Will Smith blasted a go-ahead homer that became the game winner as the Dodgers repeated as World Series champions with a 5-4 victory in 11 innings over the Blue Jays in Game 7 at Rogers Centre.

Smith homered against Shane Bieber to give the Dodgers their first lead. The homer was the Dodgers’ third in four innings.

The Dodgers became the first team since the Yankees in 2000 to repeat as World Series champions. The Blue Jays were within two outs of the franchise’s first championship in 32 years, before closer Jeff Hoffman surrendered a game-tying homer to Miguel Rojas in the ninth.

But nobody was larger for the Dodgers than Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who fired 2 ²/₃ innings of scoreless relief a night after pitching six innings as the starter. Yamamoto’s last piece of magic was getting Alejandro Kirk to hit into a game-ending double play with the tying run at third base.

Will Smith lifts up Yoshinobu Yamamoto after winning Game 7 over the Blue Jays to win their second consecutive World Series title. AP

The Dodgers (with a record $400 million payroll) relied mostly on starting pitchers — Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Yamamoto — to get through the game, avoiding a bullpen crew that had underwhelmed for most of the season.

The roof nearly blew off the stadium in the bottom of the third inning as Bo Bichette crushed a three-run homer that catapulted the Blue Jays into control with a 3-0 lead.

So, the question became whether Toronto’s pitching was good enough one last time to thwart a Dodgers lineup that had underachieved for most of this postseason. The names — Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy and Teoscar Hernández — are all too familiar.

Close, but not quite for the Blue Jays — who couldn’t get a ring for bench coach Don Mattingly in his first trip to the Fall Classic in his 36 seasons in a major league uniform.

After the Dodgers rallied to tie the game with a dramatic homer from Rojas with one out in the ninth, the Blue Jays threatened in the bottom of the inning on Bichette’s single against Snell and Addison Barger’s walk. Yamamoto, who threw 96 pitches on Saturday, entered to plunk Alejandro Kirk before getting Daulton Varsho to hit a grounder that became a force out at the plate. Ernie Clement was retired on a long fly that sent the game to extra innings.

Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith (16) celebrates after hitting a home run against the Toronto Blue Jays in the eleventh inning during game seven of the 2025 MLB World Series at Rogers Centre. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Seranthony Domínguez loaded the bases with one out in the 10th inning, but received consecutive ground balls that prevented the Dodgers from scoring the go-ahead run. The last was a dribbler that Vladimir Guerrrero Jr. fielded and flipped to Domínguez, who just beat Kiké Hernández to first base.

With the Dodgers’ season on the verge of expiration, Rojas blasted a homer with one out in the ninth inning against Hoffman that tied it 4-4. An inning earlier the Dodgers had inched closer on Max Muncy’s solo blast against Trey Yesavage.

Ohtani, working on short rest, was removed after surrendering Bichette’s blast. The right-hander lasted only 2 ¹/₃ innings and allowed three earned runs on five hits with two walks. It was a second straight lackluster start in the series for Ohtani, the losing pitcher in Game 4.

In the third, George Springer singled leading off and Nathan Lukes’ sacrifice fly advanced the runner before Guerrero was intentionally walked. Bichette’s three-run blast, which traveled 442 feet, ensued.

Bichette, who is set to hit free agency as the best available shortstop on the market, had returned for the World Series after six weeks sidelined with a knee injury.

Two defensive gems by the Blue Jays limited the Dodgers to only one run in the fourth against Scherzer after loading the bases. First, Daulton Varsho’s diving grab on Hernández’s sinking line drive turned into a sacrifice fly, pulling the Dodgers to within 3-1. The ensuing batter, Tommy Edman, hit a line drive that Guerrero snagged diving near the first base foul line for the final out.

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (18) celebrates with teammates after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in game seven of the 2025 MLB World Series at Rogers Centre. Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images

Justin Wrobleski drilled Andrés Giménez in the right hand in the fourth and after gestures and words were exchanged between the two, the benches emptied. Players also ran in from the respective bullpens, but order was restored without a punch thrown.

Springer, the next batter, delivered the only blow: he smashed a 99-mph liner off Wrobleski’s leg for an infield single. But Tyler Glasnow escaped the inning by retiring Guerrero after Lukes struck out.

Max Scherzer was removed after surrendering a single to Rojas in the fifth. The future Hall of Famer — who also started a Game 7 of the World Series for the Nationals in 2019 — allowed one earned run on four hits and one walk with three strikeouts over 4 ¹/₃ innings.

But the Dodgers scratched for a run in the sixth against another former Mets pitcher, Chris Bassitt, to slice the Blue Jays’ lead to 3-2. Mookie Betts drew a leadoff walk in the inning and scored on Edman’s sacrifice fly after Muncy had singled.

The Blue Jays reclaimed the run in the bottom of the inning on Giménez’s RBI double. Ernie Clement singled leading off the inning against Glasnow and stole second.

Muncy unloaded in the eighth for a solo homer against Yesavage to move the Dodgers within 4-3. Hoffman recorded the final out in the eighth and remained in the game to work the ninth, allowing the homer to Rojas.