The highway to turning into the primary repeat World Sequence champion in 25 years was not a clean one for the Dodgers, who captured their ninth championship in franchise historical past once they knocked off the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in 11 innings of a Sport 7 for the ages.
After successful 9 of their first 10 postseason contests, the Dodgers needed to slog via a seven-game World Sequence that included two extra-inning wins — one in 18 innings — and consecutive losses at house that put their season on the brink.
However in the long run, the Dodgers emerged with their second consecutive championship and third in six seasons. How did they make it occur? Listed below are some moments that galvanized the Dodgers’ run to a different World Sequence triumph.
An awesome escape, with a wheel man
Mookie Betts broached the thought of operating the wheel play because the Dodgers tried to hold on for expensive life in Sport 2 of the NLDS towards the Philadelphia Phillies at Residents Financial institution Ballpark. In a tribute to executing the basics, Max Muncy pounced on a bunt and Betts tagged out the lead runner at third base to assist the Dodgers survive the ninth inning and seize a 2-0 lead within the best-of-five collection.
Ohtani’s iconic efficiency
A have a look at the three house runs Shohei Ohtani hit in Sport 4 of the NLCS.
Based mostly on the primary inning alone, Shohei Ohtani would’ve produced an unforgettable efficiency in Sport 4 of the NLCS towards the Milwaukee Brewers, hanging out three in a row following a leadoff stroll because the Dodgers’ beginning pitcher after which homering as his crew’s leadoff batter to stake himself to an early lead. However Ohtani homered twice extra — together with a 469-foot blast over the right-field pavilion — and went on to strike out 10 in six innings to assist the Dodgers safe their second consecutive NL pennant.
One other full sport by Yamamoto 
Yoshinobu Yamamoto had already thrown a whole sport in Sport 2 of the NLCS, the primary one by a Dodgers pitcher since José Lima in 2004. However Yamamoto went into extra rarefied air when he threw one other one in Sport 2 of the World Sequence in a 5-1 win over the Blue Jays — turning into the primary Dodger to throw consecutive postseason full video games since Orel Hershiser in 1988.
Kershaw’s second
The anguish and heartbreak of Clayton Kershaw‘s postseason history is well known, and the Dodger Stadium crowd braced itself when he entered Game 3 of the World Series with the bases loaded and two outs in the 12th inning. In an eight-pitch battle with the Jays’ Nathan Lukes, Kershaw induced a gentle grounder to second baseman Tommy Edman that he needed to cost and scoop over together with his glove to first baseman Freddie Freeman to flee the jam.
The Will Klein Sport 
As Sport 3 of the World Sequence dragged into the fifteenth inning, the Dodgers turned to Will Klein, the final reliever of their bullpen — although Yamamoto was later warming for a possible nineteenth inning. Klein, acquired by the Dodgers in a minor commerce on June 2, threw 72 pitches — essentially the most he’s thrown as knowledgeable — over 4 scoreless innings to maintain the Dodgers in it.
Freeman, the walkoff sequel 
In a World Sequence Sport 3 that featured 19 pitchers, 25 place gamers, 609 pitches thrown and 153 journeys to the plate, it was one thing acquainted that received it for the Dodgers within the 18th inning: a Freeman walk-off house run. One 12 months and two days after his iconic walk-off grand slam in Sport 1 of the 2024 World Sequence, Freeman smashed a solo shot to heart discipline to carry the Dodgers to a 6-5 win and a 2-1 collection lead.
Kiké Hernández, October hero
Left fielder Kiké Hernández added one other chapter to his October legacy within the backside of the ninth inning of Sport 6 with the Dodgers attempting to hold on to a 3-1 lead and hold their season alive. With runners on second and third and one out, Hernández performed shallow and was in good place to catch a sinking line drive by Andrés Giménez earlier than firing a throw to second baseman Miguel Rojas, who caught it on a bounce to double off the runner at second and drive a Sport 7.
Miguel Rojas ninth-inning hero
Rojas turned the ninth-inning point of interest in Sport 7 as he got here as much as bat with the Dodgers trailing 4-3 and two outs away from dropping the World Sequence. Rojas, who had one homer because the All-Star break, labored the depend full earlier than hammering a game-tying shot to left. Within the backside of the inning, with the bases loaded and the infield in with one out, Rojas fielded a grounder cleanly and got here up firing to drive the runner out at house and protect the tie.
The Catch
One batter later and with the bases nonetheless loaded, it was Andy Pages’ flip to be the defensive hero. Inserted mid-inning at heart discipline for his sturdy arm, Pages discovered himself utilizing his legs to cowl a number of floor on a deep fly ball to left-center that Hernández was attempting to catch over his shoulder earlier than colliding with Pages as the middle fielder secured the ball to hold the sport into further innings.
Will Smith, house run hero
As Sport 7 entered the eleventh inning, it was catcher Will Smith who was in the suitable place on the proper time. Smith, who’d labored his means again into the lineup after struggling a hairline fracture in his proper hand in September, turned on a 2-0 slider for his second house run of the collection to place the Dodgers in entrance for the primary time within the sport.
Yamamoto with the exclamation level 
Getting into Sport 7 throughout that ninth-inning jam that Rojas and Pages helped him escape, Yamamoto retired the Jays so as within the tenth after which labored round a leadoff double within the eleventh, fiedling a sacrifice bunt after which strolling a batter earlier than inducing a double play to seal the Dodgers’ repeat championship. For Yamamoto within the World Sequence, the ultimate tally was three wins, the final coming in reduction after throwing 96 pitches the night time earlier than in Sport 6, and the MVP award.
