In August 1903—way back in the early stages of the Teddy Roosevelt adminstration, when there were 45 states in the union—the two teams leading the American and National League agreed to meet at the end of their respective seasons for a “World’s Championship Series.” The upstart AL champion Boston Pilgrims (whose Sox were not yet officially Red) pulled off the apparent upset over the Pittsburgh Pirates in what was then a best-of-nine series.
Little did Cy Young, Honus Wagner, Patsy Dougherty, and company realize what havoc they unleashed in the minds of baseball fans over the generations, even 122 years later.
Shortly after 8pm ET on October 27, 2025, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays squared off for Game 3 of the World Series at Dodger Stadium. The baseball began, and it would not relent until just before 3am ET on October 28th (which was even after midnight on the West Coast). During those six hours and 39 minutes, the two sides played one of the most preposterous games ever witnessed at the sport’s highest level — improbably the second time in less than a decade that a World Series Game 3 in LA has gone at least 18 innings, tied for the longest in MLB playoff history.
Just as Max Muncy ended that madness against the Red Sox back then with a solo shot in the 18th, this one finally concluded when the Dodgers’ first baseman belted a homer of his own in that fateful frame. Muncy plays third these days though, so this time, it was 2024 World Series MVP Freddie Freeman stepping up again with a game-winning bomb off Brendon Little, his second walk-off homer in as many Fall Classics.
But oh what a saga it was to get to that point. How did it happen? Why did it happen? Is it proof that we are living in some bizarre real-world version of Tartarus? Is Sisyphus our new roommate? Does he chip in on rent at least?
Well, friend, we can only answer one of those questions, really.
Shohei Ohtani pummeled the Jays into a helpless submission
The first two games of this World Series took place in Toronto, but the third saw a return to Chavez Ravine. The last time Ohtani played in LA, he obliterated the Milwaukee Brewers to polish off the Dodgers’ NL pennant — in addition to six shutout frames, the game’s biggest star tied a postseason record with a hat trick of homers.
Ohtani was right back at it on Monday night. After leading off the game with a double that bounced into the right-field stands, Ohtani was left stranded by the next three Dodgers hitters. So he took matters into his own hands in the third with a 389-foot rocket against 41-year-old future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer, who was a fresh-faced lad with the Diamondbacks when this game began (we kid, we kid).
The Dodgers led 2-0 in wake of the Ohtani blast, but thanks to Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk, they were trailing 4-2 by the time No. 17 stepped up to bat again. Toronto skipper John Schneider went to the bullpen to relieve Scherzer with Mason Fluharty, who fanned Ohtani in a memorable game-ending at-bat back in August.
Fluharty wasn’t as fortunate on this occasion, as the three-time MVP roped a double to left-center field, scoring Kiké Hernández to make it a one-run game. Ohtani dented home plate on his own when Freeman singled him in to tie it up at 4-4.
Two innings later, the Jays were back in front, but Ohtani was due up second in the home half of the seventh. Seranthony Domínguez left one in the middle of the zone and it went over 400 feet.
At that point, it was 5-5 and Toronto decided, “Hey, we’re just not going to let that guy beat us anymore! He’s not fair. We’re done with him. DONE, I TELL YOU.”
So Ohtani was intentionally walked with the bases empty in the ninth … and the 11th. There was actually a runner on third when he was given the four fingers in the 13th, but it was back to business in the 15th for an MLB playoff record four intentional walks. Oh, and he walked again in the 17th; it wasn’t technically intentional, but there were no pitches even close to the strike zone.
The man ended the night 4-for-4 with two homers, two doubles, five walks, and a complete mastery of the Jays’ psyche — good for nine times reaching base, tying a record for any MLB game, let alone a postseason contest. Now, all he has to do is rest up for pitching Game 4 because that’s just how life as Shohei Ohtani goes! He didn’t get the walk-off like Freeman, but his looming shadow completely shaped how Toronto pitchers gradually faced the Dodgers.
At least the Jays retired Ohtani when he was caught stealing second in the bottom of the ninth. That’ll teach him!
The retiree/rookie extra-innings show
By the top of the 12th, Game 3 was still tied at 5-5, and the Dodgers’ bullpen was running out of names. Emmett Sheehan was struggling to finish his third inning of work after Roberts’ incredibly odd decision to add Andrés Giménez—he of the sub-.600 OPS this year—to the intentional walk club. Davis Schneider then hit a well-placed roller to load the bases, and out came Roberts to the mound. He was going to his franchise legend.
Clayton Kershaw will have a Hall of Fame plaque in Cooperstown in 2031, but he’s spent the last postseason of his 18-year career as just about the last arm on the roster in the Dodger bullpen. It’s all he can do to contribute, as he wouldn’t break a rotation of Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow, and Ohtani. His only previous appearance this month was a disaster against the Phillies in LA’s lone postseason loss prior to the World Series. Combine that with Kershaw’s long list of career playoff struggles, and you have over 50,000 Dodgers fans holding their breath, hoping that No. 22 wouldn’t blow it again.
Kershaw bore down and coaxed some bad swings out of Nathan Lukes, who could have taken a bases-loaded walk on two different pitches. Instead, he fouled one low and then hit a slow roller to Tommy Edman. The second baseman might have been the real star of this play, as his quick glove-shovel-pass reached Freeman before Lukes crossed first.
That might stand as the final pitch of Kershaw’s career, since there’s no guarantee that Roberts feels comfortable enough to pitch him again — though given the marathon, maybe his hand will be forced to use one of the few relievers who threw only eight pitches. As for Toronto, it was the nadir of a night that saw them set a World Series record with 19 men left on base; they clearly had their chances.
From there, the rookies took over. Edgardo Henriquez threw a perfect two innings aside from plunking Daulton Varsho. Then came Will Klein, who channeled 2018 Nathan Eovaldi, but without Nasty Nate’s track record. The 2020 fifth-round pick out of Eastern Illinois had been traded three times within a year and a half before landing in LA this June, and he was only added to the World Series roster because Alex Vesia is away from the team dealing with a serious personal matter.
Entering in the 15th, Klein allowed just one hit in four scoreless frames, with the lone knock coming on a Vladimir Guerrero Jr. roller. The long man’s pitch count zoomed up to the sixties and seventies in his final frame as he showed signs of fatigue, walking Varsho and Isiah Kiner-Falefa before moving them both into scoring position on a wild pitch. But he spun a curveball by Tyler Heineman* for strike three to end the top of the 18th, setting the stage for his first career playoff win on Freeman’s homer.
*Incidentally, Heineman was only batting there because Toronto skipper John Schneider had him pinch-run for his slightly slower fellow catcher Kirk in the 12th. Given a do-over, Schneider would likely rather leave Kirk’s All-Star-caliber bat in the lineup. Alas.
Also, we’d be really singing the praises of southpaw Eric Lauer had the Blue Jays emerged triumphant.
Once a division rival with the Padres, Lauer stymied LA in his own weary 68 pitches across 4.2 shutout innings between the 12th and the 16th, before giving way to Little. Even though Will Smith and Freddie Freeman each saw potential walk-off homers barely die at the warning track in the 14th and 15th, respectively, Lauer gave Toronto a chance to steal this game at Dodger Stadium, but the normally dangerous Jays just couldn’t push across a run. Honestly, he might be the real Eovaldi in this situation since his team fell short.
The funny thing? The pitching could have become even more surreal had this game crept onward because Toronto’s planned Game 4 starter, Shane Bieber, was warming up … as was Yamamoto, despite the fact that he threw 105 pitches in a complete game two days ago. We’ll let it slide since this game offered so much else; it was wild enough that these two bullpens — leaky sieves for much of the season and their first several innings of this game itself — both shifted into turbo mode late, with scoreless ball from the eighth through the 17th.
The early misstep that got us here
There’s a world where none of the extra innings even happen because the Blue Jays just win in nine. Had it not been for a faux pas in the opening hour of the ballgame, that could have come to pass. Bo Bichette led off the second for Toronto with a single, and the next batter, Varsho, worked the count to 3-1. Glasnow fired one high … but it was (poorly) called a strike.
There was confusion over home-plate umpire Mark Wegner’s slow call amid the noise, and thinking that it had been a walk, Bichette began jogging to second. The Dodgers caught him dead to rights.
Bichette bears some blame, but the majority of it falls on Wegner for ruling a high pitch a strike in the first place, let alone not being clear enough to let all parties know in a loud Dodger Stadium that this was indeed his call. It only hurt more when Varsho then walked (for real) and Kirk singled him to third. Had Bo been on, he could’ve scored with ease.
Does Glasnow pitch Kirk the same way if there’s a runner in scoring position? Who knows. But it was frustrating for that to be the first out of the inning when two Jays got on immediately afterward. Addison Barger would strike out and Ernie Clement would line out to render this frame a goose egg for Glasnow.
Baserunning Blunder Bonanza
The Bichette pickoff was just the first of several strange baserunning plays on the night. Many years ago, a hypothetical player was introduced on the baseball podcast “Effectively Wild.” Nicknamed the “Vroom-Vroom Guy,” he was someone who would just keep running the bases until someone threw him out, no matter how ill-advised his advanced might be.
There were quite a few “Vroom-Vroom Guy”-esque plays on Monday. First was Freeman, who was thrown out at home with ease on a 98.5-mph heave from Barger in right field. The catcher Kirk had plenty of time to receive the throw, get in position, and drop a tag on Freeman.
In the sixth, another Dodger bit the dust on a weird play, as Teoscar Hernández tried to go from first to third on a grounder to deep short. He had been running on the pitch, so it wasn’t as initially preposterous as it sounds, but it was an unnecessary risk with two outs.
The first baseman Guerrero has a Gold Glove on his trophy case for a reason, and knowing that he wasn’t going to get the throw in time at first, he took a few steps forward to receive it early and uncorked a seed to Clement at third, nailing Teo.
One out at third apparently deserved another though, and the Jays obliged at an inopportune time.
The score was tied at 5-5 in the ninth with Kiner-Falefa on first and one out. Varsho lined one off Freeman’s glove and into right field. IKF rounded second and went for third, but like Guerrero, Edman made a terrific throw to get the runner.
The Jays had one more twist of the knife in store for their fans.
Back in the opening frame of extras, Ty France notched a two-out single, soothing some of the pain for Toronto fans who had been bummed to see him rather than ALCS hero George Springer; he left a few innings earlier due to an ominous injury suffered mid-at-bat. France went 1-for-3 filling in for Springer at leadoff before getting pulled himself, as John Schneider called on the unrelated Davis Schneider to pinch-run. Lukes followed by lacing a ball into the right-field corner for a double.
Perhaps feeling emboldened by Guerrero’s daring baserunning in the seventh to give the Blue Jays their most recent lead, the Jays had Schneider try to score. Instead, like Freeman early on, Schneider was a dead duck. Catcher Will Smith had time to snare the relay from Edman and tag him out.
Give credit where it’s due: the LA and Toronto defenses stepped up to make brilliant plays on each of these outs. Still, it was an oddity to see so many of them in one game, and at least a couple had eyebrow-raising sends.
What a bananas night at Dodger Stadium. As True Blue LA’s Eric Stephen noted though, perhaps we should’ve seen this craziness coming. It was a Brad Paisley Game, after all. Naturally.
