The World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays was a tight, evenly matched, back-and-forth affair. Why, then, would Game 7 be any different?
The final baseball game of the year was turbocharged with everything there is to love about this ridiculous sport. It had ear-shattering home runs, ice-cold defensive plays, incredible pitching performances, and, just because no one wanted the season to be over, the drama leaked into extra innings.
It all ended with the Dodgers becoming repeat champions for the first time since the Yankees won the World Series from 1998 to 2000. For the Toronto Blue Jays, who pushed those reigning champs to the limit, it was absolute heartbreak.
Here are my takeaways from the Dodgers’ 5-4 win in Game 7:
1. When there’s a Will, there’s a way
(Photo by Rob Tringali/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
With the game tied at 4-4 in the 11th inning, the lineup turned to the top of the Dodgers order and World Series Game 4 starter Shane Bieber entered the game. Bieber quickly retired his first two batters, Miguel Rojas and Shohei Ohtani, on three pitches. But Will Smith wasn’t going to go down that easily.
The Dodgers catcher crushed a Bieber slider that fell over the middle of the plate and sent it into oblivion. The Dodgers emptied the dugout and celebrated Smith’s go-ahead home run to left. In the end, Smith’s second home run of the postseason was the game-winning run.
2. The biggest swing of Bichette’s life
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Bo Joseph Bichette. Who else?
The homegrown Blue Jays shortstop who jostled his way onto the World Series roster at less than 100 percent health, clearly still nursing his sprained left knee, hit the biggest home run of his life: a three-run statement shot off Shohei Ohtani that put the Blue Jays on the board with a 3-0 lead in the third inning.
Bichette knew it was gone the moment he barreled up a hanging slider from Ohtani. And there may have been some extra juice behind it, since the Dodgers had just intentionally walked Vladimir Guerrero Jr., opting instead to take their chances against Bichette.
George Springer, who was on third base, watched Bichette’s ball sail out of the ballpark before putting both of his arms up and jogging home. Guerrero mimicked his leadoff hitter and threw his hands in the air and praised Bichette, his teammate since day one in the Single-A Midwest League back in 2017.
Meanwhile, around them, an emotional Rogers Centre crowd went ballistic. Blue Jays fans knew how much that swing and that moment meant to Bichette after battling back from an injury that likely would’ve kept him sidelined — were it not the World Series. His heart and grit came through in Game 7, and Canada will never forget it.
Bo Bichette CRUSHES three-run homer off Shohei Ohtani to give Blue Jays 3-0 lead over Dodgers
3. Standing O for Mad Max
Max Scherzer saw John Schneider pop out of the dugout to remove him from the game and it looked like he was ready to fight it. But the Dodgers were threatening, and as crafty as Scherzer had been through 4 1/3 innings against his former team, he knew it was time. Scherzer, still on fire with adrenaline, pounded his chest and pointed to the crowd as he walked off the mound. They responded by giving him a loud standing ovation. It meant the world.
There have been two World Series Game 7s in the past eight years, and Scherzer started both of them. With everything on the line, there was no one else the Blue Jays wanted on the mound than the future first-ballot Hall of Famer. All October, Scherzer showed us why he’s one of the greatest to ever do it, and his 33rd career postseason outing was no different.
All five of Scherzer’s pitches were slightly up in velocity, with the 41-year-old no doubt emptying the tank across his 54-pitch start. He limited the Dodgers to one run, struck out three, walked one, and gave up three hits. He worked out of a jam of his own making in the fourth and stymied the Dodgers’ best efforts to dismantle him, to no avail.
Like he did in World Series Game 7 for the Nationals in 2019, Scherzer earned immense respect after another legendary performance.
4. Ernie with the Jordan Shrug
(Photo by Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
This is just how clutch the Blue Jays third baseman has been all postseason, but particularly in the World Series.
When Ernie Clement lined a double off Emmett Sheehan to lead off the seventh inning, he touched the second-base bag, looked to his teammates in the home dugout, and did the Michael Jordan shrug. What is anyone going to do about it? That double was his third hit of Game 7, and his single earlier in the game gave him the all-time record for most singles in a postseason (30). He’s just been that good.
In his first career trip to the postseason, Clement batted .417 with a .990 OPS and 13 runs scored in 18 games. Throughout his excellent October, the 29-year-old never batted higher than sixth in the Blue Jays’ deep lineup.
In Game 7, he produced from the eight-hole. Clement, someone who isn’t a superstar or household name, coming through with huge hits from the bottom of the lineup was ultimately the difference between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays. Toronto’s lineup was a threat up and down the order, with no breathing room for most opposing pitchers to get into a rhythm.
Clement’s postseason performance underscored the Blue Jays’ season-long offensive approach the best.
5. Miggy Ro from out of nowhere
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As he came up to the plate, it was fair to question why Dave Roberts was letting Miguel Rojas hit in the ninth inning with the Dodgers down to the final two outs of their season. But no one was questioning that decision after he put together a tough at-bat against Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman, which culminated in a game-tying home run to left field. With one swing, Rojas silenced a Rogers Centre that was getting ready to celebrate.
Throughout Game 7, it seemed like the Dodgers weren’t out of it, even as the momentum swung to Toronto’s side following Bichette’s three-run home run. Little by little, they clawed back, tallying their runs where they could, including a timely solo shot from Max Muncy in the eighth inning that set up the home run from Rojas.
Dodgers’ Miguel Rojas crushes homer to tie game against Blue Jays in 9th inning
The Blue Jays have repeated it throughout the Fall Classic. No number of runs is enough against the formidable Dodgers.
6. Dodgers pitching bends but doesn’t break
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani appeared fatigued from the get-go. After Tyler Glasnow pitched the ninth inning of Game 6, the Dodgers went back to Ohtani to start Game 7 after his most recent outing came in Game 4. But it was clear hitting and pitching — doing more than everyone else — had finally caught up to him. Ohtani gave it his all, but he had trouble locating his fastball and his velocity was slightly down. This wasn’t the same dominant pitcher the Dodgers might have expected, and it showed in the results. He allowed three earned runs on five hits, including that decisive blow from Bichette, in just 2 ⅓ innings.
After Ohtani exited in the third, though, a combination of five Dodgers pitchers kept the team in the game. Justin Wrobleski, Glasnow, Sheehan, Blake Snell and, finally, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (the Game 6 starter) did not allow the Blue Jays to score after the sixth inning. Most remarkable of all was Yamamoto taking the mound in the ninth inning of Game 7 and delivering the most important outs of the Dodgers’ season. He recorded the final out, a double play ball against Alejandro Kirk, to wriggle out of the Blue Jays’ threat in the bottom of the 11th and end a World Series classic that we will be talking about for a very long time.
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It takes a special talent to overshadow Ohtani on his start day, and it’s difficult to overstate just how ridiculous Yamamoto’s effort was in Game 7. He was coming off back-to-back complete games when he pitched a one-run, six-inning gem in Game 6, and then he volunteered to pitch in Game 7 if the Dodgers needed him. When the time finally came, it was like his 96-pitch outing just one night before never even happened. He was fresh, dominant, and unhittable again. Yamamoto went back to the well, and the Blue Jays still couldn’t hit his splitter. It was déjà vu.
Meanwhile, Yamamoto looked like he wasn’t even breaking a sweat. Everything he did in the World Series was otherworldly. He encapsulated what it means to be the MVP.
7. Officially a dynasty?
(Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
MLB on FOX’s Derek Jeter — the Hall of Famer, the Captain himself — said it best about the Dodgers: this is “the best team in baseball we’ve seen in a long, long time.”
The Dodgers got their first back-to-back titles with this group, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see them win at least one more with this core.
But first, a parade on Monday.
Deesha Thosar covers Major League Baseball as a reporter and columnist for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
