The Dodgers went and won another World Series on Saturday, the first MLB team to win consecutive championships since the New York Yankees from 1998-2000.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was named World Series MVP, the
easiest choice of all after he started and won Game 6, then closed out Game 7 by getting the final eight outs, plus his complete-game victory in Game 2.
Yamamoto is the first pitcher to win three games in a World Series since Randy Johnson in 2001, per Manny Randhawa at MLB.com.
Shohei Ohtani on the Fox Sports postgame show said of Yamamoto, “I have no idea how he pulled it off. I really believe he is the No. 1 pitcher in the whole world.”
“What Yoshi did tonight is unprecedented in modern day baseball,” manager Dave Roberts said during his postgame press conference. He called Yamamoto the GOAT during the MVP presentation.
Will Smith hit the championship-winning home run, after setting a World Series record by catching all 73 innings. “You dream of those moments, you know, extra innings, put your team ahead – I’ll remember that forever,” Smith said, per Bill Plunkett’s game recap at the Orange County Register.
Miguel Rojas hit the game-tying home run in the ninth inning to get Game 7 into extra innings. From Jack Harris at the Los Angeles Times:
The Dodgers looked buried early, after falling behind three runs when a hobbled Bo Bichette took an exhausted Shohei Ohtani deep in the third inning. They seemed finished until the ninth, clawing back close but never completely erasing the deficit — until Rojas saved the season with a tying home run to left.
From Andy McCullough of The Athletic:
As happened so often in this series, the final moments were harrowing. And the heartbreak for Toronto may be profound. With one out in the top of the ninth, Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman hung a slider. Rojas smacked the ball over the left-field fence. The flight of the baseball acted as a mute button for Rogers Centre, a building teeming with anticipation only moments before. Instead, the shrieks and screams from the Dodgers’ dugout echoed through the building.
Roberts closed his eyes and clasped his skull. His players clambered out of the dugout. Rojas thumped his chest and pointed toward the sky.
“I know everybody says we’re probably ruining baseball because we got so much talent,” Rojas told David Vassegh for SportsNet LA, “but how about starting the year in Japan and playing the longest season ever?”
Rojas also made a game-saving play and throw home in the ninth inning to force out Isiah Kiner-Falefa at home plate to keep the game tied. From Patrick Dubuque at Baseball Prospectus:
The throw beats Kiner-Falefa by a fraction of a second, which is exactly how long catcher Will Smith is able to hold the plate with his back foot before it comes off. The replay confirms the call. If the runner had simply kept running through the plate like it were first base, it would have been over.
Rojas revealed he was also playing through a rib injury in Game 7, per Matt Moreno at Dodger Blue.
The Dodgers championship parade is on Monday in Los Angeles.
