Dodgers steal Game 7 late to repeat as champs

TORONTO -- Miguel Rojas cranked a tying home run off Jeff Hoffman in the top of the ninth, saved the game with a stellar defensive play in the bottom half, then watched his catcher, Will Smith, win it in extra innings.

Smith provided his Los Angeles Dodgers with their first lead in Game 7 of the World Series with a solo home run in the top of the 11th, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto finished off the Toronto Blue Jays in the bottom half, sealing a thrilling, 5-4 victory on Saturday night that brought yet another championship to L.A.

The Dodgers became the first repeat champions in a quarter century, and clinching it took everything they had.

It took all of their starting pitchers -- Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Yamamoto, who pitched the first six innings in Game 6 and the last 2⅔ innings in Game 7 -- checking into the game. It took Rojas and Smith coming up with huge hits.

And, in the end, it took Yamamoto inducing a critical double-play ball. The Blue Jays had runners on the corners with one out with Alejandro Kirk due up. Yamamoto fired an 0-2 splitter, and Kirk broke his bat, hitting a grounder to shortstop. Mookie Betts stepped on second and fired to first to win it all.

A Dodgers franchise that has dominated the National League West for more than a decade, claiming 12 division titles over the last 13 years, has thoroughly rid itself of its reputation as a team that continually fell short of expectations in October. They have claimed three championships in the last six years, including after the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, and is now the first team to win back-to-back championships since the New York Yankees claimed their third in a row in 2000.

The road there was more arduous than anticipated.

The Dodgers once again suffered a litany of injuries throughout their starting rotation and taxed a bullpen that later struggled to consistently get outs. Around midseason, their star-studded offense slumped. In the end, a team many expected to challenge the regular-season wins record of 120 finished with just 93, barely holding off the San Diego Padres in the division.

But the Dodgers' star-studded rotation rounded back into form in September, dominating opposing hitters with a 2.07 ERA.

That continued in October. The Dodgers breezed past the Cincinnati Reds, outlasted the Philadelphia Phillies and swept the Milwaukee Brewers to reach the World Series for the fifth time in nine years. In that stretch, Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani went 7-1 with a 1.36 ERA.

The Dodgers went into the final round as heavy favorites, but they ran into a Blue Jays team that taxed their starters, put a lot of pressure on their slumping offense and ultimately challenged them like no one else.

The Blue Jays won Game 1 by bludgeoning the Dodgers' middle relievers, accumulating nine runs in one sixth inning. But Yamamoto answered with a masterpiece in Game 2, twirling his second consecutive complete game, and Freddie Freeman ended an 18-inning marathon in Game 3 with another infamous World Series walk-off homer.

When the Blue Jays cruised to a Game 4 win and rode a dominant Trey Yesavage to also take Game 5, the Dodgers were forced to win back-to-back road games in Toronto to claim another title. They proved up for the challenge.

In the ninth inning of Game 6, the Blue Jays had two on with none out in a two-run game, but Enrique Hernandez charged in on a sinking liner, made the catch and threw to second base, where Rojas fielded a one-hopper to complete the first game-ending, 7-4 double play in postseason history. In Game 7, it was Rojas again, finally breaking through for a Dodgers team that continually came up short in RBI opportunities.

With the Dodgers trailing, 4-3, one out and none on in the ninth, Rojas reached out for a 3-2 slider from Hoffman and deposited it into the Blue Jays' left-field bullpen for his first extra-base hit of this postseason. The Blue Jays then loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with one out when Rojas ranged back on a Daulton Varsho grounder and made an off-balance throw home to just barely get Isiah Kiner-Falefa out in time. Andy Pages ran down Ernie Clement's long drive moments later.

The Blue Jays and Dodgers then took turns stranding the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and the top of the 10th, rallies halted by an assortment of stellar defensive plays -- Rojas' off balance throw home, Pages' catch deep in the left-center-field gap, Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s flip to first just in time.

Then came the final play -- a 6-4-3 double play from Betts to Freeman, halting the Blue Jays' final rally and making the Dodgers kings of the sport once more.