Los Angeles Dodgers Walk Off Toronto Blue Jays In 18 Inning Thriller
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays played one of the best World Series games we’ll ever see, lasting 18 innings. The Los Angeles Dodgers have now taken a 2-1 series lead over the Toronto Blue Jays and need just two more wins to win back-to-back championships.
Pitching Staff Held It Down
Overall, the pitching staff did an incredible job of holding things down. The Dodgers used a total of 10 pitchers, and the last pitcher who gave up a run was Blake Treinen in the seventh inning. The back end of their bullpen shut the Blue Jays down and came up clutch in big spots.
The Blue Jays’ bullpen also did a nice job tonight, but couldn’t hold on. Brendon Little gave up the game-winning home run to Freddie Freeman in the bottom of the 18th inning. This is a devastating loss for Toronto, as simple base-running mistakes ultimately cost them the game.
They had the perfect chance to take the lead in the top of the ninth inning, but a mistake by Isiah Kiner-Falefa resulted in an out at third base. IKF tried going from first to third on a single to right field by Daulton Varsho, but ended up being thrown out by a mile.
This game will go down as an all-time playoff classic in playoff history, lasting over 6 hours and 39 minutes. It felt like every inning, each team was close to breaking through, but fell just short.
Ohtani Makes History For Dodgers
Staying on the topic of history, Shohei Ohtani joined the history books. Per Sarah Langs, Shohei Ohtani is the first player to be intentionally walked four times in a postseason game. The only players to be intentionally walked 4+ times in a regular season game are James Wood, Barry Bonds, Manny Ramirez, Andre Dawson, Garry Templeton, and Roger Maris.
Ohtani became the first player in MLB History to have two home runs and 5 walks in a single game. His two home runs proved to be clutch in this game, keeping the Dodgers alive.
Can The Blue Jays Recover?
This loss does an immense amount of damage to the Blue Jays in this series. Many losses sting throughout the long season, but this loss will have an impact on their players physically and mentally. They had every opportunity to win this game in what felt like every inning, but the small mistakes came back to haunt them.
We saw last year how, yet again, one swing by Freeman changed the entire series and sucked the life out of the New York Yankees. Toronto will need to respond quickly to try to even up the series. They’ll be sending out Shane Bieber, who will square off against Ohtani for the Dodgers.
For how many comebacks the Blue Jays had this season, they’re as battle-tested as anyone to storm back and even the series.
