Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champions. Again. They became Major League Baseball's first multiple champion since 2000.. He also trailed for most of Game 7 after winning Game 6 only to force Game 7.
What we just saw in Game 7 was pretty crazy even by Game 7 World Series standards. You really had to watch the game to experience what we all went through watching it live. The box scores certainly don't reflect some of the plays we've seen.
In that spirit, here are some of the best and wildest plays you had to see to truly believe. We'll rate them, but ratings are subjective and people may disagree for the sake of entertainment. There's no reason to act like they're final or anything like that.
Unrated (strange division)
- Was about-“fight”. It's in quotes because it would never actually be a fight, but benches are so rarely cleared these days, and seeing that in Game 7 was weird. What followed was a funny moment when George Springer hit a liner off a pitcher Justin Wrobleski and the crowd erupted as if it were retribution.
Not rated (honorable mention)
- Max MuncyA home run in the top of the eighth cuts Blue Jaysleading to one at a time when it seemed like the rest of the game might be a formality.
- What happened to George Springer stealing second in the first inning when Vladimir Guerrero Jr.. threw a punch while looking and then Springer was thrown out without even looking like he was running hard for second?
- Remember, Bo Bichette played with a knee injury. When Ernie Clement Singled out in the second inning, Bichette would normally have scored, but instead they had to hold him at third. The Blue Jays left the bases loaded.
- In the top of the sixth inning, the Dodgers put two runners on with no outs. Teoscar Hernandez hits returning Blue Jays reliever Chris Bassittwho walked second to force a force in hopes of forcing a double play. That put the runner on third with one out and the Dodgers followed with a sack. What if Bassitt knocks out the leader?
Okay, now let's get to it.
World Series Game 7: Seven Best Moments
In some of these we are going to combine several points to round them up to seven. We can break the rules while basking in the joy of an amazing series and an all-time great seventh game.
7. Varsho and Guerrero Jr. make a diving catch.
The Blue Jays love their heritage. Everyone knows about Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and most know about Bo Bichette (his father Dante). Does everyone know about Dalton Varsho and his father Gary, who was a reserve outfielder for several years?
The Dodgers had the bases loaded and one out in the top of the fourth inning, just after they hit a three-run home run, putting them in a 3–0 hole. Hernandez threw a shot to center field that could have gone into Varsho's hands, but Varsho made a diving catch. He scored one run, but it could have been worse. And then Tommy Edman sent a rocket down the first base line, but Guerrero made a diving catch to end the threat, giving the Blue Jays a 3–1 lead.
6. Homer the Monster Bichette
Bichette hasn't hit a home run since Sept. 2 and missed most of the playoffs with a knee injury. As noted above, he was clearly limping. And yet, he absolutely crushed a three-run home run from Shohei Ohtani to give the Blue Jays a 3–0 lead in the third inning that they would nearly hold to win the World Series. Alas, it didn't happen, but that home run is one of the things that made this game amazing.
5. Rojas' game at the plate
With the game tied in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Blue Jays loaded the bases and got one out. Dalton Varsho hit a grounder to second, and the Dodgers had to come home with it instead of trying to turn over the double play. Miguel RojasThe usually small forward who was in the game for defense made a good play on Varsho's grounder, but he had to rush home and the game ended with a bang. Not only that, it looked like a trap Will SmithThe leg left home for a second before returning just in time to record the out. The performance was supported through a video review.
4. The catch of the pages
Damn, why the hell is this number 4? What a ridiculous game.
This was the next play after No. 5. No, I’ll paraphrase. It was next step after our fifth play. Ernie Clement, who was the offensive superstar of the series, hit a shot deep to left center that looked like it would be the winner. Dodgers left fielder Kiké Hernandez was in hot pursuit of the ball, as was the center fielder. Andy Pages — who had been a defensive replacement just two hitters earlier and wasn't even their best defender in center field — ended up making a diving catch facing Hernandez to force extra innings.
3. Will Smith's Moment of Shine
Smith hit a huge home run in the second game of the series and caught every inning in the series. Keep in mind what this means considering he caught 18 innings in Game 3, turned around and still caught every inning the next day. He then hit the series-winning home run in Game 7, a blast to left field of the Blue Jays' starter. Shane Bieber.
2. Miguel Rojas home run
As I said above, Rojas played defense. He wasn't even a regular starter in this series. He hit just seven home runs in the regular season, and his only home run against a right-hander came against a position player. His last homer came on September 19th. He got closer with the Blue Jays. Jeff Hoffmanwho received Shohei Ohtani and Will Smith left after Rojas. But Rojas scored to tie the game in the ninth inning of Game 7. It was the second-ever tying or go-ahead home run in Game 7 of the World Series in the ninth inning, tied with Bill Mazeroski's famous homer in 1960.
However, he falls short of first place.
1. Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Yamamoto, World Series MVPshould take first place, given the circumstances. He had zero complete games for the US in 48 regular season starts and six playoff starts prior to the NLCS. He then threw back-to-back complete games, including Game 2 of the series. He pitched six innings in the sixth game. He returned to pitch 2â…” heroic innings in Game 7 to earn the win.
He escaped a bases-loaded game with one out in the ninth. He then worked on Guerrero's double in the 11th to bring him home.
