Let’s start this off with a question: how many of you counted the Dodgers out? If you aren’t raising your hands, you either don’t know baseball, lying to yourself, or you have the sort of blind hope you find in a Disney movie.
The reason I asked that was because, despite the odds and the poor play during the heat of summer, the Los Angeles Dodgers defended their title and are now back-to-back champions. On Saturday November 1, 2025, the Dodgers treated their fans to a sequel to win the World Series over the Toronto Blue Jays 4 games to 3. They needed seven games, and two of those games went into extra innings, but victory belongs to the Dodgers.
The Dodgers are the first team to repeat as World Series Champions since the New York Yankees (the team they beat last year) did it at the turn of the 21st century. It also cements the Dodgers as a legitimate dynasty, while also giving them a chance to do what the Los Angeles Lakers once did and the Kansas City Chiefs failed to do: get a three-peat next year.
All kinds of history were made when the Dodgers won Game 7. First, the Dodgers are the first road team to win last two games of the World Series to win the title since the Washington Nationals in 2019. They are also the first team in World Series history to be trailing in the 9th inning on the road to come back and win the game. Also, Yoshinobu Yamamoto becomes the 14th pitcher in MLB history to win three games in a World Series (last time it was done was by Randy Johnson in 2001). So, naturally, Yamamoto won the World Series MVP for his magnificent performance.
Next paragraph, whew. Catcher Will Smith hits the game-winning home run, the first player in MLB history to slug a homer in extra innings in a World Series Game 7. And speaking of innings, Smith finishes with a record of innings caught behind the plate with 73 innings. For those of you without calculators, that’s the equivalent of over 8 games…in a week! (The previous record was set in 1924…over a hundred years ago…by Muddy Ruel for the Washington Senators…go ahead and Google who this guy is now). The last record that was broken was the number of postseason wins in a single season. The Dodgers won 13 games, the previous record was 11 (held by both the 1999 Yankees and the 2005 Chicago White Sox).
Dave Roberts now is responsible for three of the Dodgers’ nine World Series titles. He’s also the first manager to repeat as a champion since Joe Torre. Not bad for a man whose only claim to fame prior to becoming the Dodgers manager is breaking “the Curse of the Bambino” for the Boston Red Sox. But this World Series also means one other thing: it means that Clayton Kershaw will go out a champion.
Kershaw had announced his retirement before the postseason began. Several of Kershaw’s teammates expressed their desire to send Kershaw out as a champion. He also adds a third ring to his resume that is assuredly going to land him in the Hall of Fame. Freddie Freeman smiled when he said the term “three time champion Clayton Kershaw.” As they celebrated in the clubhouse, Dave Roberts gave the floor to Kershaw to kick off the champaign party, acknowledging him as a sure thing, first ballot Hall of Famer. Kershaw expressed pride at being able to party with this team as they celebrated their victory in the final game of the season, and the final game of Kershaw’s career.
Game 7 sure didn’t start the Dodgers’ way, but in the words of Vin Scully: “nothing has ever come easy for the Dodgers.” The Blue Jays came out shooting, jumping out to a 3-0 lead. But the Dodgers never gave up. They crawled back into the game, manufacturing runs (which is what they did best all year), and got in striking distance. Miguel Rojas tied the game with a solo home run in the 9th to send this game into extra innings (becoming the first player to tie a game-tying home run in the 9th inning of a World Series Game 7). Then, iron legs Will Smith homered for the winning run in the top of the 11th. Mookie Betts slammed the door by turning the double play that ended the game. It was a true team effort as all four of the Dodgers starting pitchers (Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Shohei Ohtani) pitched in Game 7, while the rest of the team gave their all.
Once again, the city of Los Angeles will get to party. They will get another parade. Finally, the Dodgers will be able to reward their fans for their perseverance and loyalty. And one last fact to end this article; this victory separates the Dodgers from their most hated and one true rivals, the San Francisco Giants, in number of World Series titles. The Dodgers have nine, the Giants have eight. Brace yourself baseball, we may not have gotten The Kang Dynasty in movies like we wanted, but we will have “the Blue Dynasty” instead.
