Dodgers seal back-to-back World Series titles

The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 after extra innings in the final seventh game to win back-to-back World Series titles, making it the first team in 25 years to do so.

When Alejandro Kirk grounded into a double play with the game-winning run on third base, the 11th inning’s home run by catcher Will Smith broke the deadlock at Toronto’s Rogers Centre sparked wild celebrations.

Bo Bichette’s three-run homer in the third inning gave the National League champions a 3-0 lead before the team kept chipping away and scored with four runs on the final inning with solo homers from Max Muncy and Miguel Rojas.

Since Donald Trump’s re-election as US president, the series had been played against Canada’s only Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise in the wake of political and trade disputes between North America’s neighbors.

Shohei Ohtani, the most well-known player in baseball, started for the Dodgers but got in trouble in the third inning.

George Springer took the lead with a base hit, advanced to third base on a wild pitch, and was bunted over to second base. Bichette raised the roof as he launched the ball over center field after Vladimir Guerrero Jr. was purposefully walked.

Ohtani finished his night as the pitcher, but he was allowed to play as the designated hitter under a 2022 regulation change known as the “Ohtani rule.”

On a sacrifice fly for the team to send Smith home in the fourth inning, the Dodgers immediately responded by loading the bases for Teoscar Hernandez, but Guerrero’s superb diving catch at first base prevented further damage.

Max Scherzer, a veteran starter for Toronto, left the game in the fifth inning with a 3-1 lead, and Mookie Betts scored on Mookie Betts’ sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to one run.

When Ernie Clement’s stolen base allowed Gimenez to bring him in with a right-field double, the Blue Jays came back.

Both teams frequently changed pitching positions, even switching to starting pitchers from earlier in the series, as is typical in a World Series game seven.

Trey Yesavage, who had started Toronto’s first and fifth games, gave up Muncy’s solo shot in the eighth minute before Rojas’ final-gasp solo effort off Jeff Hoffman levelled the score.

In the ninth inning, the Dodgers loaded the bases but failed to score a run, and both teams did the same as expectation mounted in the following ninth, but both teams fluffed their lines.

A seventh World Series game had gone to extra innings for the sixth time, and Smith’s homer put the Dodgers in the lead.

Game 2: Dodgers 1 – 5

Dodgers 6-5 Blue Jays in Game 3.

Game 4: Dodgers 2-6 Blue Jays

Game 5: Blue Jays 1-6 Dodgers

Game 6: Dodgers 1-3 Blue Jays

7th inning: Blue Jays 4-5 Dodgers