LOS ANGELES – This was the kind of game that made you thank God you became a baseball fan at some point. In the seventh inning, I thought that, if you brought a non baseball fan to the game, they would instantly become a lifelong fan. It was like the game — just a couple of miles from Hollywood — was scripted to maximize entertainment. The game lasted 18 innings, and it ended with another Freddie Freeman home run walk-off. It was similar to Game 1 of the World Series last year. This was a single shot into dead center field. It was the Dodgers who won by 6-5 after 18 innings. It was thrilling for the first 7-9 inning, but there were many twists and turns throughout the game. A walk-off homerun followed. Everything will be fine when the game is over. Dave Roberts, Dodgers manager, said that the game was one of the best World Series games ever. “Emotional. “I’m emotionally spent.”
I’ve seen some incredible games. I remembered the walk-off Grand Slam last year, Game 7 (because I had to), Game 5 in 2017 and Game 6 in 2011, among others. The list included more dramatic games, heavier weight of history, and high-scoring affairs. But this was a show like few others in recent World Series’ history. Even if we restricted our focus to the nine-inning period, this game would still have been a winner if it had a dramatic finish. There were also many close calls in the extra innings. The bases were awash with traffic. The two teams left 37 men on the bases. The two teams came close to winning this game in extra innings several times before the 18th inning, when the Blue Jays left runners on third and second base before Freeman’s walk-off. There were also storylines beyond this specific game. This is the first World Series between the Blue Jays, and Dodgers. George Springer, the 2017 Astros’ George Springer, has a history and is being booed like I have never heard him before. Max Scherzer was the pitcher of the Blue Jays. He is one of the best ever. Scherzer, who was 41 and past his prime, was still a pretty good pitcher for the most part. For a brief moment, he looked like Mad Max. Shohei Ohtani scored two of Scherzer’s three runs. It’s hard to blame him.
Did I say Ohtani? The best baseball player on the planet was in this video. Again. He began with a single. He then hit a homerun. Then, he scored an important run in a game-tying rally. When the Dodgers again trailed, he tied it. This time, he hit a homerun. This is 12 bases total, just two short of the World Series record. Ohtani had six home runs, two doubles and nine out of 15 in his last 15 games after that home run. What are you saying? When someone says “you can’t believe this!” You could. We could make it into a film. That’s how good Ohtani is. Blue Jays realized that something was wrong and walked him purposefully for the remainder of the game. Yes, he was intentionally walked four times before he took the four-pitch stroll where each pitch was outside of the strikezone. The old intentional unintentional walking. Ohtani got on base nine times. This is a record for both the regular season as well as postseason.
The game was not all about Ohtani. It’s far from the truth. There were many other big moments. We saw the Dodgers jump out to a 1-0 lead in the second on a Teoscar Hernández home run. His sixth playoff home run in 13 games. Ohtani’s third-inning homer gave the Dodgers the 2-0 lead. In the fourth, a Tommy Edman’s error left the door wide open for a Blue Jays rally. And the Jays took advantage of it. Alejandro Kirk’s three-run homer gave them the advantage and they added another run. Kirk, btw, had 15 long-range homers and 75 RBI in 130 games during the regular season. In 14 games of the playoffs, Kirk has 13 RBI and five homers.
In the fifth, the Dodgers responded with Ohtani’s RBI double. Freddie Freeman then drove him home by hitting a shot along the first-baseline. In the seventh, the Blue Jays again took the lead. Bo Bichette, with his hobbled leg, sent a shot down the same line after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. had singled. Guerrero barely scored after a carom from some broadcasting equipment. He even performed a funny slap to the plate in order to beat the tag. Ohtani then tied it up with a home run in seventh inning. A runner who was trying to move up on an infield ball, but failed, was thrown out. Freeman hit a ball with his glove in the 8th inning, and a runner was thrown at third after he tried to move from first to second. On the bases, there were some close calls. Freeman got thrown out of the game at home for a not so close call. In one play, a runner was picked off at first because he mistakenly thought that a batter had drawn an intentional walk. However, it was actually called a strike rather than a ball. In the top of the 10th, a runner was thrown at the plate while his star player was on deck.
Edman was successful in making two of these throws. He had made a bad mistake earlier. There was a play in the 11th inning at third base where the defender attempted to field an infield hit while there were two runners by standing on the bag and grabbing the ball. The play didn’t go well. The runner had been safe. The ninth inning was completed by a starting pitcher, who had temporarily switched to the role of closer. He had to come on and get five strikes to complete the game. Then, another starter came out of the pen in October.
Clayton Kershaw entered the 11th inning with the bases piled up. He was in his final year and had given up five runs over two innings during his NLDS start. Nathan Lukes was a 31-year old who had spent 10 years playing in the minors. He fouled two 3-2 pitch before grounding softly out to end the inning. Will Klein, with only one inning of experience in the playoffs and less than 23 regular-season innings in his career, pitched four scoreless innings in relief for the Dodgers. He had never thrown more than 2 innings in a MLB game. Fun. Redemption. Great players from the past battling it out. Extra innings that are long and include several tease moves. The 2025 World Series Game 3 was a true spectacle.
2025-10-28 07:39:57
