In the heart of Dodger Stadium, under a canopy of stars and roaring fans, the 2025 World Series ignited into pure baseball immortality on October 27. Game 3 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays stretched into an epic 18-inning marathon, tying the longest game in Fall Classic history—a mark previously shared only by the 2018 showdown between the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox.
What began as a pitchers’ duel devolved into a grueling test of wills, bullpen depth, and sheer resilience, culminating in a 6-5 Dodgers victory that flipped the series to 2-1 in their favor. At the epicenter stood two titans: Freddie Freeman, whose walk-off heroics etched another chapter in his legendary postseason lore, and Shohei Ohtani, whose otherworldly performance shattered records and left the baseball world in awe.
The evening unfolded like a script from a Hollywood blockbuster, with Dodger Stadium’s palm trees swaying gently against the cool autumn breeze. Attendance swelled to 52,654, a sellout crowd that included celebrities, die-hard locals, and fans who had traveled from Toronto’s northlands.
The air buzzed with anticipation; the series was knotted at 1-1 after the Blue Jays stole Game 2 in Toronto, forcing the Dodgers to protect home-field advantage in this pivotal third contest. Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow, fresh off a dominant postseason run with a 0.68 ERA, toed the rubber against Toronto’s veteran Max Scherzer, a former Dodger whose presence added layers of intrigue and irony.
Glasnow set the tone early, fanning George Springer on a 98-mph fastball to open the game, then inducing a flyout from Nathan Lukes. The Dodgers’ offense, however, stirred in the bottom of the second. With two outs, Teoscar Hernández laced a double to right-center, and Will Smith followed with a single, plating Hernández for a 1-0 lead. But Toronto answered swiftly.
In the fourth, catcher Alejandro Kirk crushed a three-run homer off Glasnow, a 412-foot blast to left that silenced the stadium and gave the Blue Jays a 3-1 cushion. Kirk’s shot, his second postseason dinger, highlighted Toronto’s opportunistic lineup, featuring Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette, who combined for 45 home runs during the regular season.
The Dodgers refused to fold. Trailing 4-2 entering the fifth after Scherzer’s departure, they erupted against reliever Mason Fluharty. Mookie Betts singled sharply, and then came Ohtani—a force of nature whose arrival at the plate often feels like a seismic event. Ohtani, the two-way phenom who defected from Japan to redefine MLB, smoked a two-run homer to left, his first of the night, tying the game at 4-4.
The crowd erupted in a deafening roar, “MVP! MVP!” chants echoing off the pavilions. This was no ordinary homer; it marked Ohtani’s eighth of the postseason, equaling Corey Seager’s Dodgers franchise record set in 2020 during their championship run. But Ohtani wasn’t done. In the sixth, he doubled off the right-field wall, scorching 110 mph off the bat, and scored on Freeman’s ground-rule double. The Dodgers nudged ahead 5-4, only for Guerrero’s hustle double and Bichette’s RBI single in the seventh to knot it again at 5-5—a back-and-forth affair that had fans on the edge of their seats.
As the innings piled up, the game transcended mere competition, becoming a symphony of endurance. Both bullpens were ravaged; the Dodgers used an astonishing 10 pitchers, a World Series record, while Toronto leaned on eight arms. Reliever Will Klein, a journeyman with zero career starts, emerged as an unlikely savior, tossing four scoreless frames in the 14th through 17th—a personal career high that drew comparisons to Max Muncy’s marathon relief stint in 2018. The clock ticked past midnight, then 2 a.m., with the stadium lights burning brighter than ever. Fatigue set in; errors crept up, like Hernández’s misplay in right that nearly gifted Toronto the lead. Yet, the Dodgers’ depth shone—Kiké Hernández at shortstop, Miguel Rojas spelling at third—holding the line against a Jays squad desperate to even the series.
Amid the chaos, Ohtani ascended to mythic status, setting a cascade of World Series records that will be dissected for generations. After his explosive start—four hits, including two homers and two doubles for 12 total bases—he drew five intentional walks, the last four consecutive from the eighth through 17th innings. This wasn’t caution; it was capitulation.
Blue Jays manager John Schneider, facing the planet’s best hitter batting .400 in the playoffs, opted to load the bases rather than let Ohtani swing. The strategy backfired spectacularly. Ohtani reached base nine times total—four hits plus five walks—tying a 83-year-old MLB mark for most in a single game and becoming the first ever in postseason play.
His four extra-base hits matched Frank Isbell’s 1906 feat, the only other such performance in World Series annals. And those two long balls? They made Ohtani the first player with three multi-homer games in one postseason, a testament to his unicorn blend of power (55 regular-season homers) and plate discipline (171 walks). “He’s the best player on the planet,” marveled teammate Max Muncy postgame. Ohtani, ever humble through interpreter Will Ireton, deflected: “What matters most is we won.” Scheduled to start Game 4 on the mound Tuesday—his World Series pitching debut—this performance only amplified the Dodgers’ aura of invincibility.
Then, as dawn’s first hints crept over the San Gabriel Mountains, Freeman seized the narrative. The 36-year-old first baseman, whose 2024 walk-off grand slam in Game 1 against the Yankees sparked L.A.’s title charge, had been quiet amid the frenzy—0-for-5 with three strikeouts. But legends don’t fade; they flare.
Leading off the 18th against exhausted closer Brendon Little, Freeman fouled off three two-strike sliders, then unleashed a 105-mph liner to deep center—his ninth-inning homer from last year’s classic echoing in every mind. The ball sailed 398 feet into the bleachers, a solo shot that ended the 6-hour, 39-minute odyssey. Teammates mobbed him at the plate, Ohtani hoisting Freeman on his shoulders in a scene of pure elation.
“To have it happen again a year later… it’s kind of amazing, crazy,” Freeman said, his voice cracking amid shaky smiles and thunderous cheers. This marked his second straight World Series walk-off homer, a feat as rare as a perfect game, underscoring why he’s a two-time champion and 2020 NL MVP.
The victory wasn’t just a win; it was a statement. The Dodgers, defending champs eyeing a repeat—the first since the Yankees’ 1998-2000 three-peat—now hold series momentum heading into Game 4, where Ohtani faces Shane Bieber. Toronto, resilient under Schneider, must regroup after Kirk’s heroics couldn’t carry them. For fans dissecting every at-bat, this 18-inning thriller joins the pantheon: think Gibson’s limp-off homer or Buckner’s fateful grounder. In an era of analytics and superteams, Game 3 reminded us why we love baseball—unpredictable, unforgiving, unforgettable.
As the stadium emptied near 3 a.m., confetti still fluttering, one truth lingered: In the 2025 World Series Dodgers vs. Blue Jays saga, heroes like Freeman and Ohtani don’t just play the game; they redefine it. With two more wins needed for glory, L.A. enters the night invincible, the baseball gods firmly on their side. The Fall Classic marches on, but after this, who dares doubt the Boys in Blue?
