Will Smith caught more innings than any other catcher in a single World Series, and his 11th-inning home run gave the Dodgers their first lead of Game 7, and clinched a second straight championship with a 5-4 win over the Blue Jays on Saturday night and into Sunday morning at Rogers Centre in Toronto.
Seven different pitchers who started games in this World Series were used in a do-or-die Game 7, including Game 4 starter Shane Bieber, who allowed the go-ahead home run to Smith with two outs in the 11th.
Will Power
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— SportsNet LA (@SportsNetLA)
November 2, 2025
Smith caught all 73 innings of the 2025 World Series, two more than Lou Criger caught for the Boston Americans (later, the Red Sox) in the 1903 Fall Classic.
That made a winner out of Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who you might remember from such starts as Game 6 one night earlier. After throwing 96 pitches in six innings on Friday, Yamamoto escaped an inherited jam in the ninth, pitched through the 10th, then worked around a leadoff double by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. for a clean 11th as well to earn the win for a second straight night.
The final outs came on a double play grounder by Alejandro Kirk, with Mookie Betts taking it himself to shortstop then throwing to first base to close out the first back-to-back champions in MLB since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.
THE
@DODGERS ARE BACK ON TOP AS WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS
#CHAMPS
(MLB x
@BudweiserUSA)
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— MLB (@MLB)
November 2, 2025
Yamamoto was named World Series MVP for his three wins in the series.
For a while, it didn’t seem like the Dodgers would get this chance. They left two runners on base in each of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, and during the World Series hit just .203/.294/.364 and averaged 3.71 runs per game. They trailed by two runs late but got solo home runs by Max Muncy in the eighth and Miguel Rojas in the ninth to even the score. Muncy, Rojas, and Smith joined Lou Johnson (1965) as the only Dodgers with home runs in Game 7 of the World Series.
They also might not have even got to extra innings were it not for Andy Pages, who was inserted for Tommy Edman in center field in the ninth. Pages got to a bases-loaded fly ball that Edman with his bad ankle likely wouldn’t have reached, and made a game-saving catch, bowling over Kiké Hernández in the process.
OH MY GOODNESS WE ARE GOING TO EXTRAS
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— MLB (@MLB)
November 2, 2025
Shohei Ohtani pitching on three days rest was not sharp, having trouble with most of his pitches outside the fastball and looking exhausted while on the mound. He got through the first two innings scoreless, thanks to George Springer bailing on a stolen base attempt to end the first inning and a hobbled Bo Bichette not sent home from second base on a single in the second when Toronto stranded the bases loaded.
Ohtani was at 43 pitches through two innings, and was still sent out for a third inning to face the top of the order. Ohtani ended the top of the first inning on base and ended the third inning at-bat, and both times was given extra time to warm up for pitching the bottom of the frame, to the understandable consternation of Blue Jays manager John Schneider. During the Fox broadcast, major league umpire Mark Carlson from the MLB replay center explained that if a pitcher ends the previous inning on base or at-bat, umpires are allowed discretion to give extra time for warming up.
But all that was background noise soon enough, as Springer opened the third inning with a single, was bunted to second, and took third on a wild pitch. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was intentionally walked with a 1-0 count, then Bichette hammered a slider for a three-run home run to open the scoring and end Ohtani’s time on the mound.
BO BICHETTE BELTS ONE TO DEEP CENTER
@BLUEJAYS LEAD 3-0 IN GAME 7
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— MLB (@MLB)
November 2, 2025
Justin Wrobleski was first out of the bullpen and retired four of his six batters faced with two strikeouts, ending his first postseason series with five scoreless innings and six strikeouts in four appearances. There were some fireworks in the fourth, when Andres Giménez leaned in and nearly got hit by one pitch then did get hit on the hand by the next pitch. Giménez and Wrobleski exchanged expletives and the benches emptied but it was much ado about nothing, except to provide training for an introductory lip-reading course.
A closer look at the exchange between Wrobleski and Giménez that led to the benches clearing.
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— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX)
November 2, 2025
The Dodgers had some hard-hit balls of Max Scherzer, making his second career Game 7 start in the World Series. But they didn’t have much to show for it until the fourth inning, when Will Smith doubled high off the wall in center and the team had runners at the corners with nobody out, and bases loaded with one out. Los Angeles got a run on a sacrifice fly, but it could have been more if the out on the play wasn’t an incredible diving catch by Daulton Varsho in center field to rob Teoscar Hernández of a hit. Guerrero then made a diving grab behind first base on a Tommy Edman liner to end the inning.
Rojas singled with one out in the fifth to end Scherzer’s night, and Ohtani singled off reliever Louis Varland, who broke a major league record by appearing in 15 games (out of 18) this postseason. But Smith and Freddie Freeman each flew out to waste the opportunity.
Chris Bassitt, the third Toronto pitcher, was greeted by a Mookie Betts walk and Muncy single to set up another run, this time on a sacrifice fly by Edman to pull within 3-2.
Tyler Glasnow, who got the final three outs on three pitches in Game 6, entered a precarious situation in the fourth inning, with two on and two out, facing the Blue Jays best hitter. But he got Guerrero to fly out to end that threat and kept his ledger scoreless scoreless until two hits, including an RBI double by Giménez to put Toronto’s lead back at two. Glasnow escaped further damage by getting Guerrero to ground out to end the sixth.
This was the second time in Glasnow’s career he pitched on consecutive days, along with two innings on June 30 and one inning on July 1, 2018 while with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Game 5 starter Trey Yesavage got five outs in relief, but also allowed Muncy’s home run in the eighth inning to pull the Dodgers within a run. Fellow Game 5 starter Blake Snell entered in the bottom of the eighth inning with a runner on second base, and retired all three batters he faced.
A total of seven pitchers who started games in this World Series pitched in Game 7, with Ohtani, Glasnow, Snell, and Yamamoto recording 26 outs with four runs allowed, while Scherzer, Yesavage, and Bieber recorded 21 outs and gave up three runs.
World Series Game 7 particulars
Home runs: Max Muncy (3), Miguel Rojas (1), Will Smith (2); Bo Bichette (1)
WP — Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-1): 2 2/3 IP, 1 hit, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
LP — Shane Bieber (2-1): 1 IP, 1 hit, 1 run
Up next
Another parade in Los Angeles,
on Monday.
