For much of the night, the defending champions appeared to be in trouble. Toronto jumped ahead 3–0 in the third inning after Bo Bichette smashed a three-run homer, delivering what looked to be his defining Blue Jays moment as he approaches free agency — though he has expressed a strong desire to remain in Ontario, News.Az reports, citing US media.
"That was right up there with George [Springer's] homer against Seattle. For a guy that has been a staple of this team for the past six or seven years, to have Vlad [Guerrero Jr.] intentionally walked, and then he went dead center on the first pitch, it was so fitting. It felt right at the time," manager John Schneider said after the game.
He added: "In terms of Bo, what he did this year is nothing short of amazing. What he did to get back is nothing short of amazing. He's playing on one leg. So, in the moment, it felt right. And for guys like him, George, [Daulton Varsho], [Alejandro Kirk] guys that have been here, I feel for them because they deserve to be on the stage right now."
The Dodgers, however, did not quit in the face of what seemed like a fairy-tale script written against them. They clawed back a run in the top of the fourth and added another in the top of the sixth. Toronto plated an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth—Andrés Giménez doubled home Ernie Clement—stretching the lead to 4-2, but that proved to be insufficient cushion.
Max Muncy homered in the top of the eighth, and Miguel Rojas hit a one-out solo shot in the ninth to tie the game and send the deciding game into extra frames.
"We were going to play 27 outs," Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts said when asked about team's mood when Rojas stepped to the plate. "Obviously, it doesn't look great in that moment, but I trust him to take the at-bat, and he got a pitch that he could handle and hit the biggest hit he's ever had in his life. Obviously, at that point in time we felt real good about it."
In the top of the 11th, the decisive moment eventually arrived. With one out, catcher Will Smith hit a home run off Shane Bieber, giving LA their first lead of the night. And, in the bottom half of the inning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who started Game 6 on Friday night, closed the door. Kirk grounded into a double play, and celebrations followed.
The second-year pitcher looked largely untouchable this fall, only allowing 23 hits eight runs (six earned) across 37.1 innings this postseason. The Dodgers won Game 7 on the back of a true team effort, but Yamamoto took the individual plaudits as the World Series MVP.
"It's unheard of, and I think that there's a mind component, there's a delivery, which is a flawless delivery, and there's just an unwavering will. I just haven't seen it. I really haven't," Roberts said of his pitcher. "You know, all that combined. And there's certain players that want moments and there's certain players that want it for the right reasons, but Yoshi is a guy that I just completely implicitly trust and he's made me a pretty dang good manager."
The Game 7 victory, which ended Toronto’s first trip to the Fall Classic since 1993, sends the Commissioner’s Trophy back to California for the second time in two years. The Dodgers are the 15th team to win back-to-back MLB titles, and the first since the New York Yankees’ three-peat in 1997, 1998 and 2000.
