On November 1, 2025, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays played a series-deciding Game 7 of the 2025 World Series to determine the champion of the Major League Baseball season that year. The Dodgers defeated the Blue Jays 5–4 in eleven innings, clinching their second consecutive World Series title after their 2024 victory over the New York Yankees. With their win, the Dodgers became the first team since the 1998–2000 Yankees to win consecutive or more World Series titles. It was the fifth time in World Series history that a Game 7 went into extra innings, only the third time in history (and first since 1997) that a Game 7 lasted at least eleven innings, and just the second instance in which the visiting team won (the first being 2016).
Game 7, which featured a game-tying home run by Miguel Rojas in the top of the ninth inning (the first such instance in World Series Game 7 history in which a game-tying home run was hit that late in the game), a series-saving force out at home plate from Rojas to Will Smith and series-saving catch by Andy Pages in the bottom of the ninth (thus preventing a potential walk-off victory for the Blue Jays), and a series-winning home run by Smith in the eleventh (the first time ever in World Series Game 7 history in which a go-ahead home run was hit in extra innings), was considered by many to be one of the greatest games in baseball history and resulted in the Dodgers winning their third championship in six seasons. Following the game, many analysts and writers said that the Dodgers' victory in the series, coupled with their previous World Series wins in 2020 and 2024, cemented their status as an MLB dynasty.
Background
The Dodgers had come into the Series as clear favorites due to their star power and status as the defending champions, but the Blue Jays had home-field advantage due to finishing the regular season one game ahead of the Dodgers. Observers noted that the Jays' one game margin and resultant home field advantage was due in part to the third game of the Dodgers-Blue Jays regular season series from August 8–10 at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers had taken the first two games and were on the verge of a sweep in the August 10 game, but while holding a one-run lead in the eighth, the Dodgers surrendered two solo home runs to the Blue Jays, and after tying the score in the bottom of the inning, allowed a tie-breaking third home run in the ninth (and squandering a bases loaded and one out situation in the bottom of the ninth) to lose, 5–4. Had they won that game and all other results remained the same, Los Angeles would have had home-field advantage and Game 7 would have taken place at Dodger Stadium. (In that scenario, the Blue Jays would have lost the division to the Yankees and would have had a more challenging route to the World Series.)
In the World Series, Toronto won Game 1 in a rout off the back of a nine-run sixth inning, just one run shy of the record for most runs in a single World Series inning. Yoshinobu Yamamoto responded with a complete-game victory for the Dodgers in Game 2, the first such game in a World Series since Johnny Cueto in 2015. With the series shifting to Los Angeles, The Dodgers won Game 3 in 18 innings on a Freddie Freeman walk-off home run, which tied the record for longest World Series game by innings. The Blue Jays regained control of the Series in Games 4 and 5 by roughing up a struggling Dodgers' bullpen; in Game 5, Blue Jays starter Trey Yesavage set a rookie World Series record for strikeouts with 12. The Dodgers won game 6 in Toronto after escaping a bizarre ninth-inning jam and forced the Series' decisive seventh game.
Pia Toscano sang the American national anthem and Noah Reid sang the Canadian national anthem. Jack Morris and Paul Molitor threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Blue Jays' Game 7 starter Max Scherzer was matched against two-way player Shohei Ohtani, making his first start ever on three days' rest. Scherzer became the oldest pitcher to start a winner-take-all World Series game. Coincidentally, Scherzer also started in the last Game 7 of a World Series in 2019, while a member of the Washington Nationals. This was Toronto's second Game 7 of the 2025 MLB postseason, after defeating the Seattle Mariners at the Rogers Centre, highlighted by George Springer's 7th inning three-run home run that turned a 3–1 deficit into a 4–3 lead and eventual win. With Game 7 taking place on November 1, it was the eight year anniversary of the Dodgers last World Series Game 7 in 2017, a game they lost 5–1 at home to the Houston Astros in a World Series that would later become mired in controversy.
Game summary
Innings 1–4: Blue Jays jump in front After a scoreless first inning for both teams, in the bottom of the second inning, Dodgers' two-way player Shohei Ohtani escaped a two-out bases-loaded jam by striking out Andrés Giménez to keep the game scoreless. In the bottom of the third inning, a single by George Springer and a walk to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. preceded a three-run home run by Bo Bichette to give the Blue Jays a 3–0 lead. Ohtani pitched innings, allowing five hits, three runs, and walking two batters while striking out three. The Dodgers loaded the bases in the top of the fourth inning before Blue Jays center fielder Daulton Varsho made a diving catch on a ball hit by Teoscar Hernández; Will Smith scored on the sacrifice fly but the catch saved further damage. The inning ended with another diving catch by Guerrero Jr. on a line drive hit by Tommy Edman. In the bottom of the fourth inning with one out, Dodgers' reliever Justin Wrobleski nearly hit Giménez with two inside pitches – the second of which Giménez appeared to throw his arm at intentionally in an attempt to get hit – before a third inside pitch did hit Giménez, and resulted in a benches-clearing incident when Giménez argued with Wrobleski. During the incident, closer Jeff Hoffman got into a shouting match with several Dodger players, including Kirby Yates, who was not even on the active roster. According to Dodger reporter David Vassegh, multiple Dodgers screamed at Hoffman saying, "you don't want to get in this game". Once the umps got everyone settled down, Wrobleski allowed a single but eventually finished the inning without allowing a run. Days after the World Series ended, social media personality Jomboy investigated the benches-clearing incident and came to the conclusion that Giménez was at fault, owing to his apparent attempts to intentionally get hit by the pitch.
Innings 5–8: Jays try to hold off Dodger rally Scherzer allowed a one-out single in the fifth inning before exiting; he pitched innings, allowing four hits, one run, and walking one batter while striking out three. He was relieved by Louis Varland, who with his 15th appearance of the playoffs, set a record for most pitching appearances in a single postseason. Varland allowed another hit but also escaped the jam without allowing a run. In the top of the sixth inning, the first two Dodgers reached base off Jays reliever Chris Bassitt, with Mookie Betts eventually scoring on sacrifice fly by Edman to cut the Blue Jays' lead to 3–2. In the bottom half, utility player Ernie Clement led off with a single against Game 3 starter Tyler Glasnow, stole second, and scored on a Giménez RBI double to extend the lead to 4–2.
In the top of the eighth inning, Max Muncy hit a solo home run off Game 5 starter Trey Yesavage to cut the Dodgers' deficit to 4–3, which prompted the Jays to bring in closer Jeff Hoffman for the four-out save; Hoffman retired Edman to end the eighth. Ernie Clement hit a leadoff double off Emmet Sheehan in the bottom half, setting a record for hits in an MLB postseason with 30. Dodger Game 5 starter Blake Snell entered in relief; Giménez hit a sharp lineout to drawn-in Muncy at third base, and Snell recorded two more outs to strand Clement at second.
Inning 9: Dodgers save their season with multiple heroic plays Hoffman retired the first batter in the top of the ninth inning to bring the Blue Jays within two outs of a championship. He next faced nine-hole hitter Miguel Rojas; Rojas, who had been put in the lineup for a struggling Andy Pages after Game 5, had not had a hit coming into the game since the Wild Card Series one month prior. On a full count, Rojas hit a home run to left field off of Hoffman to improbably tie the game at 4–4. Rojas became the first player in MLB history with a game-tying home run in the ninth inning or later of a World Series Game 7. According to ESPN Insights, the Blue Jays had a 91.7 percent chance to win Game 7 before the homer.Dodgers Take World Series Glory For the Second Year in a Row, Sport Makers, November 3, 2025
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Snell attempted to force the game into extra innings. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. flied out to deep center on a 3–0 count, narrowly missing a championship-winning home run, before Bo Bichette singled and was pinch-run for by Isiah Kiner-Falefa. Addison Barger drew a walk to bring Alejandro Kirk to the plate; the Dodgers countered by replacing Snell with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had thrown 96 pitches the previous night. On the second pitch, Kirk was hit in the arm to bring Daulton Varsho to the plate with the bases loaded and one out. With the infield in, Varsho hit a grounder to second baseman Rojas, who stumbled as he fielded the ball but recovered to throw to Smith in time to force out Kiner-Falefa at home for the second out. The Blue Jays unsuccessfully challenged the call; though Smith's foot briefly came off the plate, replay confirmed Smith's foot touched the plate just before Kiner-Falefa's foot slid in. Clement came up with two out and the bases loaded and hit a fly ball to the warning track in left-center field, sending left fielder Enrique Hernández back. While Statcast gave him a 99% probability of catching the ball, he misread the ball, forcing him to attempt an over-the-shoulder catch in order to save the game. However, Dodgers center fielder Andy Pages, inserted as a defensive replacement before the prior at bat, ranged over and made the catch while colliding with Hernández to escape the jam. Andy Pages had to run in just 5.5 seconds, though Statcast gave him a 60% probability of catching the ball. Regardless, his catch was regarded as one of the most critical in baseball history.
Innings 10–11: Dodgers win back-to-back championships after more dramatics
Seranthony Domínguez was sent to pitch for Toronto in the 10th. Mookie Betts drew a one-out walk before Max Muncy delivered a single and Teoscar Hernández drew a walk to load the bases, but the Jays got out of the jam with their own force out at home plate on a grounder hit by Pages, followed by a grounder to Guerrero Jr. by Enrique Hernández on which a covering Domínguez was just able to beat him to first base. With another chance to secure a walk-off win, the Blue Jays instead went down in order to send the game to the 11th inning to make it the first Game 7 to go past the tenth since 1997 and the third overall. Game 4 starter Shane Bieber pitched for Toronto in the 11th, and Will Smith hit a two-out home run off Bieber to give Los Angeles a 5–4 lead, also becoming the first player to hit an extra-inning home run in a World Series Game 7. This was, at the time, the fourth biggest play in terms of Championship Win Percentage Added (CWPA) in MLB history, a record which would be broken in the bottom of that very inning. https://www.mlb.com/news/most-clutch-plays-in-postseason-history-c212102298