During the 2025 World Series at Dodger Stadium, team historian Mark Langill appeared on the KCBS-TV Morning News with reporter Jaime Maggio and former Dodger general manager Ned Colletti. (Photo: KCBS-TV)
At the moment Will Smith swung and lifted a 2-0 slider over the wall, putting the Dodgers up 5-4 in the top of the 11th inning Saturday night, Mark Langill wasn’t thinking that would be enough for Los Angeles to win its second straight World Series championship.
After all, the Toronto Blue Jays led Major League Baseball in comeback wins in 2025.
“I was thinking there is a bottom of the 11th inning and anything can happen,” said Langill, a South Pasadena resident, better known as the Dodgers’ longtime team historian, who has nearly seen it all on the baseball diamond in his more than three decades on the job.
“Of course, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto doing his impression of a vintage 1988 Orel Hershiser on the mound, there was definite cause for optimism,” followed up Langill, confidently.
To end it, the Dodgers’ ace Yamamoto came in to shut down Toronto in the bottom half of the inning – facing a leadoff double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and finishing it off with a game-ending double play.
Langill likes to compare Yamamoto’s performance to Hershiser, who was absolutely dominant for the World Series champion Dodgers 37 years ago when he pitched a complete-game shutout against the then-Oakland Athletics and then returned in Game 5 to throw another complete game, clinching the title for the Dodgers. His effort earned him the World Series MVP award, capping off one of the greatest pitching seasons in MLB history.
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Yamamoto showed the same superiority on the mound this time around, going 3-0 in the World Series, with a 1.02 ERA over 17 2/3 innings, striking out 15 while allowing just 10 hits, two runs, and a pair of walks.
He pitched a four-hit complete game in Game 2, followed by six strong innings in Game 6, and then entered the contest in relief, throwing 2 2/3 scoreless innings in the extra-innings Game 7 clincher, with the Dodgers winning it 5-4.
And for that, he was named the World Series MVP, becoming the first pitcher since Randy Johnson in 2001 to win three games in the Fall Classic.
Not to be forgotten are the many twists and turns leading to the wild celebration on the field and inside the Dodgers clubhouse — a euphoric mix of jubilation, relief, and camaraderie.
Toronto had jumped ahead early. In the 3rd inning, Bo Bichette crushed a three-run home run off Shohei Ohtani to put the Blue Jays in front 3-0. The Dodgers cut it to 4-2 when Max Muncy belted a solo shot in the 8th.
It was then time for more dramatics as, with one out in the bottom of the 9th, Miguel Rojas launched a game-tying home run — marking the first tying homer in the 9th of a winner-take-all Game 7 in MLB history. The game was set up after the Dodgers won Game 6, with Enrique Hernandez catching a liner from Andres Gimenez and throwing to Rojas at second base to complete a double play, preserving a 3-1 victory.
“You’re thinking, thanks to Yogi Berra, ‘It isn’t over until it’s over,’” Langill said. “But after six months of watching, why would you give up when there was still a chance?”
And then, two innings later, Smith — the Dodgers catcher who caught every inning, a total of 73 innings behind the plate, setting a new MLB record for most innings in that situation for a single World Series — stepped up to bat and silenced the sold-out crowd with one memorable swing.
Asked why the Dodgers are World Series champions for the second consecutive year, Langill quickly pointed out, “Because the breaks went their way against the Yankees in 2024 and the Blue Jays in 2025. The margin of error is so thin in the postseason.”
Further, he added: “It was a true Hollywood ending in Canada!”
With everything on the line, naturally tensions were high as the benches cleared in the fourth inning when the Blue Jays were hit by a pitch, with raw emotion spilling across the field.
Langill wasn’t among Dodger front office staff and family members who headed to Toronto for the Games 6 and 7 victories as he continues to be treated at City of Hope in Duarte after undergoing surgery in April 2024 to remove two brain tumors.
“It didn’t matter that I didn’t travel,” he said. “The three home games were exciting at Dodger Stadium. I guess you could say ‘four’ games because one went 18 innings. I can be nervous in any country when it comes to the Dodgers in the World Series.”
Like many, Langill could finally exhale after the final out when Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts cleanly fielded an Alejandro Kirk ground ball, stepped on second base for the force, then fired to Freddie Freeman at first to complete the double play.
“It doesn’t feel real. I feel like I watched a knockoff movie of the Bad News Bears or Sandlot,” said Langill, referring to the baseball classics about kids and the love of the game. “For a team that was called a juggernaut with a galaxy of stars, this ‘miracle’ ending will forever be remembered as something nobody could’ve expected, especially on the road.”
Over the years, Langill has been a big proponent of the saying: “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
“Win or lose, it’s been the greatest job in the world for 31 years,” he said. “I’m so happy for the players, the fans, and my colleagues in the Dodger organization. And hats off to the Blue Jays, a wonderful team who gave it their all.”