There has never been a game in MLB history like Game 7 of the 2025 World Series.
After 11 innings of back-and-forth drama, the Los Angeles Dodgers emerged from a series that potentially shortened life spans in both L.A. and Toronto as the first repeat champions MLB has seen in 25 years.
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The Dodgers didn’t lead until the 11th inning after taking multiple punches from a Blue Jays team ready to end a series in which Toronto mostly outplayed Los Angeles. It was an absurd game. It was baseball at its finest and its worst.
Here are the moments that defined a game that is going to be remembered for a very long time.
No. 0: The double play that got them there
There’s no Game 7 if the Dodgers don’t turn a double play that already held its own place in Toronto sports infamy. With runners on second and third and only one out, Blue Jays shortstop Andrés Giménez hit a fly ball to shallow center that Kiké Hernández caught on the run, then fired to second to double off Addison Barger.
No. 1: Shohei Ohtani strikes out Vladimir Guerrero Jr., then George Springer has a brain fart
Arguably, the first absurd moment of the game was Ohtani taking the mound in the first place. Before Saturday, the only time the Dodgers’ superstar had started a game on fewer than five days’ rest was a 2023 game in which his previous start was rained out midgame. This start was on three days’ rest after he threw 96 pitches in Game 4.
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Ohtani got started with a scoreless inning after allowing a leadoff single to George Springer. He managed to strike out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for his second out as Springer broke for second. Springer inexplicably hesitated on his way there, though, clearly thinking Guerrero had walked and perhaps thinking it was a “run on anything” situation.
The first inning came to an odd close. It turned out to be a warning.
No. 2: Bo Bichette’s big homer
Had Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman thrown a scoreless ninth inning, we would be talking about Bo Bichette as the Blue Jays’ hero.
Ohtani struggled in the second inning, with his control clearly not there and needing to escape a bases-loaded jam to keep the game scoreless. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts decided to send him back out for the third inning, though.
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Two baserunners later, Bichette — still feeling the knee sprain that forced him to miss every other round of the postseason — crushed a slider to blow the roof off Rogers Centre.
Look at all those fans celebrating. They had no idea what was coming.
No. 3: Daulton Varsho saves multiple runs
Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho has been a defensive standout for years, and his glove came up biggest when he fully laid out for a line drive from Teoscar Hernández with bases loaded in the fourth.
If this ball bounces past Varsho, it’s probably a tie ballgame. Instead, it was just one run for the Dodgers, and they didn’t get any more that inning.
No. 4: Benches clear
Rookie reliever Justin Wrobleski was called in to relieve Ohtani and kept the rest of the third inning scoreless. Then he got sent back out for the fourth, and that’s when things got weird.
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On a 2-2 pitch, Wrobleski threw an off-target pitch and hit the hand guard of Giménez, who took exception to the pitch. Wrobleski took exception to Giménez’s taking exception. Cue the benches and bullpens clearing.
“I mean, I wasn’t trying to [start a brawl],” Wrobleski said after the game. “He tried to get hit by the pitch before! Then he got hit and then he talked to me, and then I said, ‘Come see me!’ and he didn’t, so whatever.”
No. 5: Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez add a run
Very few non-diehard baseball fans had heard of Ernie Clement before this postseason, but he made his name with the most hits MLB has ever seen in a single postseason. His record-tying hit and steal set up another run plated by Giménez.
No. 6: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. flashes the leather
Guerrero didn’t get a hit until the 11th inning, but he showed his value in other ways before that. In the seventh inning, after Blue Jays starting pitcher Trey Yesavage entered the game as a reliever on two days’ rest, Guerrero turned a double play with a great decision and a great throw on a ground ball from Freddie Freeman.
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It would have been easy enough to just step on first, but Guerrero opted to make the hard throw to second to first get the forceout, knowing he had time with a slow runner in Freeman.
No. 7: Max Muncy brings the Dodgers closer
Max Muncy, designated for assignment by the Athletics in 2017, is the Dodgers’ all-time postseason home runs leader. He added another in the eighth inning, and this is when things started getting really uncomfortable for Toronto.
No. 8: No one saw that coming from Miguel Rojas
Miguel Rojas does not hit home runs under normal circumstances. The majority of the veteran’s value comes from his glove in the middle infield, and what little value he delivers with his bat is usually making contact. He had one home run all year against right-handed pitchers.
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But then Hoffman hung a slider, and Rojas delivered his first huge moment of this game.
No. 9: Yoshinobu Yamamoto enters the game.
Yamamoto was already in line for World Series MVP honors by virtue of his two excellent starts in Games 2 and 6. He threw 96 pitches in the latter. When asked Friday if Yamamoto would be available for Game 7, Roberts shot the idea down.
But on Saturday, he sang a different tune. Yamamoto prepared for the game like he was pitching, and Roberts didn’t rule him out. By the time Yamamoto entered the game in the ninth, the Dodgers had used all three of the other starting pitchers in their elite rotation, plus Wrobleski and Emmet Sheehan.
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That’s Game 7 stuff, and it lined Yamamoto up to get the win in three of the Dodgers’ four series victories.
No. 10: Miguel Rojas saves the game
Yamamoto entered the game with two runners on and one out and didn’t help his cause by hitting Alejandro Kirk with a pitch. Up came Varsho, with the chance to end the game with a single ball out of the infield.
He hit a grounder to second base instead, and Rojas got the ball to Will Smith at home plate in time … just barely.
We cannot emphasize how close the Blue Jays were to ending this game in the ninth.
No. 11: Andy Pages barrels into Kiké Hernández
One batter later, Clement hit what certainly could have been the game-winner, a fly ball to the warning track in left-center.
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The Dodgers had brought in Andy Pages, owner of the worst OPS in a postseason in history (min. 50 plate appearances), as a defensive replacement earlier in the inning. He converged with left fielder Kiké Hernández on the ball, then trucked the veteran.
But he made the catch.
No. 12: The Blue Jays escape a 10th-inning jam
Los Angeles had a chance to take the lead in the 10th when it loaded the bases with one out, but Pages grounded out.
It came down to Kiké Hernández, who hit a grounder to first base and almost reached first in time after pitcher Seranthony Domínguez initially missed the base with his foot.
No. 12: Will Smith comes through
Smith has been among the top catchers in baseball since his MLB debut in 2019, and Game 7 delivered his signature moment.
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Shane Bieber, the Blue Jays’ starting pitcher who entered the game as a long reliever, left a slider up, and Smith gave it a ride for the lead.
No. 13: Mookie Betts turns 2 for ring No. 4
Mookie Betts is 33 years old. This was his first full season as an every-day shortstop after a career spent in the outfield and at second base. He managed to turn himself into a Gold Glove finalist, leading shortstops in defensive runs saved.
So when he got a Kirk ground ball with runners on the corners, he made it count on a play that could have either tied or ended the game.
You don’t need numbers to know that was a big play, but here’s one: It was the most impactful defensive play in MLB history by championship win percentage added.
They will be talking about this game for years in Los Angeles. They will be ruing it for decades in Toronto. The Dodgers had three immortal performances from Smith, Rojas and Yamamoto, but this game was so much more than that.