Just a few more nights now until the calendar closes on 2025. Once again, I look back with a grateful nod to the world of sports, which never fails to deliver with tales of life’s greatest themes: triumph and tragedy, skill and dedication, love and rivalry, and everything in between.

Like an escape hatch we often need amid troubling times, sports remains our greatest reality show, delivering heart-stopping unpredictability and predictable heart-stopping moments in equal measure. The NFL promises to take us across the New Year with the resurgent Patriots in a starring role, but it’s always fun to look back, too.

So here’s a walk through some of my favorite moments of the past year. The stories that stayed with me most:

Hooray for Rory: What a year for Rory McIlroy. He started the golf year by winning the Masters, becoming just the sixth man in the history of the game to complete the career Grand Slam. But it was how he did it, the dramatic final round, the emotional final swing, the years of torment and disappointment finally exorcised, the release of so much joy. I wondered then if he might go after a calendar grand slam, too, but even as that effort faltered amid his post-Masters adrenaline dump, Rory returned with a bang at the Ryder Cup. Between him and fellow Irishman Shane Lowry, the United States never had a chance, with Europe romping its way across Bethpage Black to retain the coveted Cup.

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Bueckers closes UConn chapter in style: Paige Bueckers went to Connecticut as the best high school player in the country, topping a senior class that included Caitlin Clark. But injuries invaded so much of Bueckers’s early years in Storrs that it seemed she might leave campus without a championship, unthinkable given UConn’s historic dominance. But this year, she wrote her fairytale ending, and the hug she shared with Geno Auriemma said everything about how much it meant. From there to the No. 1 pick in the WNBA Draft, she had quite a year.

Empowerment, thy name is WNBA: The league is on shaky labor ground, but these players don’t back down. From their audacious All-Star Game T-shirts — Pay Us What You Owe Us — to Napheesa Collier’s epic takedown of league leadership during the playoffs, the players have made it clear they expect change in financial dynamics that have long shorted player salaries.

Aliyah Boston and the players had a message for the WNBA at the All-Star Game.Michael Conroy/Associated Press

Baseball’s best game, team edition: From the first pitch to the final 11th-inning out, Game 7 of the World Series was utterly riveting, filled with amazing exploits and clutch moments, ultimately crowning the Dodgers as back-to-back champs, but reminding us all why baseball was once our unequivocal national pastime. The tension of the game, the fielding prowess, the late-inning heroics, all if it was unforgettable, the perfect capper to a great postseason.

Baseball’s best game, solo edition: What can’t Shohei Ohtani do? The four-time MVP is still only 31 years old, so maybe he’ll even top himself again someday. But it’s hard to imagine a better individual game than what he did in Game 4 of the NLCS. As the starting pitcher, he threw six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts. And as the leadoff hitter, he hit three home runs, including a monster 469-foot bomb that cleared Dodger Stadium. His game alone would have finished off that sweep of the Brewers.

Holy Schlittler: The Wild Card Series opened well for the Red Sox against the Yankees, thanks to Garrett Crochet’s amazing arm. But it was rookie Cam Schlittler who got the last laugh, with the pride of Walpole shutting down the Sox with ease in the deciding game. He was electric, and watching him in the heady joy afterward, alongside his mom and dad, was so memorable.

Walpole native Cam Schlittler dominated the Red Sox in Game 3 of the Wild Card Series.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff

Tennis passes the torch: From the Big Four to the Big Two, men’s tennis is in great hands with the burgeoning Carlos Alcaraz/Jannik Sinner rivalry. The two men split the four majors this season, meeting in the last three finals after Sinner defeated Alexander Zverev in Australia. Alcaraz won the French Open in a five-set thriller, fighting off three fourth-set match points to win the 5-hour-29-minute epic. Sinner got some revenge at Wimbledon, winning in four sets, and Alcaraz returned that favor at the US Open.

On the women’s side, the best drama came from American Amanda Anisimova. After completely freezing in her first Grand Slam final and losing, 6-0, 6-0, to Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon, Anisimova met Swiatek again at the US Open and beat her in the quarterfinals. Though she ended up losing in the final to Aryna Sabalenka, Anisimova’s fortitude was inspiring. For a year that began with Coco Gauff’s French Open title, the future is bright.

Loving that Little Ball of Hate: Brad Marchand will forever be a Bruin. But he isn’t a Bruin anymore, not after last season’s trade to Florida. But seeing Marchand play so well in the postseason and win a second Stanley Cup with the Panthers, while painful, was joyful. Players may seem old on the ice, but their career windows are so short, and late-career championships just mean more.

Brad Marchand lifted the Stanley Cup again in 2025, this time as a member of the Florida Panthers.Lynne Sladky/Associated Press

Wilson’s shot: A’ja Wilson’s game-winning shot didn’t officially clinch the WNBA title for the Las Vegas Aces, but when she beat the Phoenix Mercury in Game 3, she all but guaranteed the sweep that came one game later, when she scored 31 points. Wilson, a four-time and reigning MVP, is in a class of her own.

Tara Sullivan is a Globe columnist. She can be reached at tara.sullivan@globe.com. Follow her @Globe_Tara.