In a heartbreaking finish to the most unexpected of seasons, the Toronto Blue Jays lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night, ending their bid for a first championship in 32 years.
The Blue Jays had leads of 3-0 in the third inning and 4-3 in the ninth inning, but closer Jeff Hoffman surrendered a game-tying home run to Miguel Rojas.
In the top of the 11th inning, Dodgers catcher Will Smith hit a solo home run off Toronto’s Shane Bieber, who had come in as a reliever, for the decisive shot in a 5-4 Los Angeles victory.
Toronto had a huge chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth but could not capitalize with the bases loaded and one out.
Daulton Varsho grounded into a force out at home, and Ernie Clement hit a deep fly ball that Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages was just able to catch.
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Tight, tense, thrilling and frightening all at once, Game 7 was a perfect capper to a rollicking, up-and-down World Series that contained more momentum shifts than a beat-up old car with a broken clutch.
The early advantage went to the Blue Jays, although they were unable to capitalize on it.
Dodgers starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani, thrust into the role on short rest because Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts had few options, struggled with his control.
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But he survived the first two innings unscathed, ending the second by striking out Andres Gimenez with the bases loaded.
In the third, the dam broke. George Spring led off with a single, and after Nathan Lukes bunted him to second base, a wild pitch from Ohtani allowed him to take third base.
Roberts promptly ordered Ohtani to walk Vladimir Guerrero, Jr., putting two runners on for Bo Bichette.
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Bichette then unleashed the swing of his life. He crushed an Ohtani pitch to deep centre field, a no-doubt shot that had the entire Rogers Centre, minus those wearing Dodger blue, on their feet from the moment it came off the bat.
The home run gave the Blue Jays a 3-0 lead, chased Ohtani from the game, and most importantly, meant that all of their early pressure didn’t go to waste.
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The Dodgers rallied for a run in the top of the next inning.
Still, the Blue Jays limited the damage with a pair of spectacular defensive plays, the first a diving catch in centre field from Daulton Varsho, the second a diving stab of a line drive beyond first base from Guerrero.
These were the kinds of plays that had team-of-destiny vibes.
Three innings later, the Jays did it again. Schneider brought rookie Trey Yesavage in to pitch for his first relief appearance in the major leagues.
Yesavage walked Ohtani, and looked shaky doing it, but after a Will Smith fly ball out, he got Freddie Freeman to hit a grounder to first base.
Guerrero made a brilliant play, hurling to second base for the force out and then taking the return throw at first for a double play. Just like that, the rally was over.
That play came after the Jays added a fourth run thanks to a pair of doubles from Ernie Clement and Andres Gimenez, the eighth and ninth hitters in the lineup. As they had done all season, they got big plays from all over the place.
The nail-biting, rollercoaster series included a pinch-hit grand slam, the first in World Series history, in Game 1 from Toronto’s Addison Barger. There was an 18-inning marathon in Game 3 that was ended by a walk-off home run from L.A.’s Freddie Freeman.
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There was also a 12-strikeout performance in Game 5 from Blue Jays rookie Trey Yesavage, another World Series record, and a stunning end to Game 6, when Barger was doubled off second base after Dodgers outfielder Kike Hernandez caught a sinking liner and made a quick throw to the infielder.
It was the first game-ending double play of that type in World Series history.
The pre-Series narratives had the Dodgers as heavy favourites. They were the defending champions and won the National League West despite several pitching injuries. Fully healthy and with a pitching staff full of potential aces, they went 9-1 in the playoffs to reach the Fall Classic.
The Blue Jays, meanwhile, had been no one’s preseason favourites.
Toronto had slumped to a last-place finish in the American League East in 2024, and they were unable to land their biggest free-agent targets, outfielder Juan Soto and pitcher Roki Sasaki.
On June 1, the Jays were 5.5 games back of the New York Yankees, but then Toronto started stacking wins behind a resurgent offence, and a key four-game sweep of their division rivals in early July allowed them to seize the AL East lead for the first time since 2015.
Toronto held off a hard-charging Yankees team, pinning down a four-game win streak to finish the regular season, and with the best record in the American League, the team earned a first-round playoff bye.
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The Jays subsequently beat the Yankees 3-1 in the American League Division Series and came back from an 0-2 hole in the American League Championship Series to defeat the Seattle Mariners in seven games.
The first World Series game in Toronto in 32 years went to the home team, as the Blue Jays won it 11-4 at a raucous Rogers Centre, but Los Angeles won the next two: a sterling start from Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Game 2 and that Game 3 that felt like it would never end.
Then it was Toronto’s turn to bounce back, behind a strong start from trade-deadline acquisition Shane Bieber in Game 4 and Yesavage’s brilliance the following night.
Another strong start from Yamamoto in Game 6 — and another hard-luck night from Toronto’s Kevin Gausman, who had eight strikeouts and one rough inning — set up the decisive Game 7.
