Alden GonzalezOct 28, 2025, 03:18 AM ET

CloseESPN baseball reporter. Covered the L.A. Rams for ESPN from 2016 to 2018 and the L.A. Angels for MLB.com from 2012 to 2016.

LOS ANGELES — Twelve months and three days ago, Freddie Freeman opened the 2024 World Series with a Kirk Gibson-style walk-off grand slam that sent a sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd into jubilation.

This time, it was liberation.

On the 609th pitch, in the 399th minute, against the 19th pitcher deployed in the third game of this World Series, Freeman saw a full-count sinker that sailed toward the middle of the strike zone and lifted it to straightaway center field for another game-ending home run, sending the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in 18 innings Monday.

“To have it happen again a year later, to hit another walk-off — it’s kind of amazing, crazy,” Freeman said, his team now leading this best-of-seven series 2-1. “I’m just glad we won.”

Freeman jogged briskly towards first base, uncertain if he had hit it far enough, then raised both hands to the sky as he made the turn. Will Klein, the red-headed righthander who went from the last man in the bullpen to the hero after throwing four scoreless innings, sprinted toward home plate to join a mob of teammates in celebration — only to be mobbed himself. Shohei Ohtani, who set a postseason record by reaching base nine times, jogged toward shallow left field and enveloped starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had volunteered to take down the 19th inning, in a hug.

Freeman — and Klein, and nine other Dodgers pitchers — ensured it would not be necessary.

“It’s one of the greatest World Series games of all time,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m spent emotionally.”

The 18th-inning home run in Game 3 marks the second time Freddie Freeman has hit a walk-off home run in a World Series for the Dodgers. Patrick Smith/Getty Images

It was only seven years ago that Roberts managed the longest World Series game in baseball history — an 18-inning affair that ended on Max Muncy’s walk-off home run. This one saw the Blue Jays and Dodgers combine for 10 runs in the first seven innings and zero, against two of the worst bullpens in the sport, for the next 10. It saw Ohtani collect an extra-base hit in each of his first four plate appearances, including the game-tying homer in the seventh, and walk in each of his next five, four of which were intentional. It saw Clayton Kershaw strand the bases loaded in an emotional 12th inning.

It saw an array of impressive throws — Addison Barger gunning down Freeman at home in the third, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. cutting off a throw to get Teoscar Hernandez attempting to take third base in the sixth, Hernandez starting the relay that threw Davis Schneider out at home in the 10th.

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And it saw Klein, a minor midseason pickup and a surprising addition to the Dodgers’ World Series roster, save the season.

Klein has always thrown hard but hardly ever exhibited much control. The Dodgers are his fourth team in five years because of it. But after Tyler Glasnow, Anthony Banda, Justin Wrobleski, Blake Treinen, Jack Dreyer, Roki Sasaki, Emmet Sheehan, Kershaw and Edgardo Henriquez took down 14 innings, Klein emerged from the bullpen. Before Game 3, he had never thrown more than three innings in professional baseball and had never thrown more than 36 pitches in the major leagues. But he was the only man left.

“I realized that when I looked around in the bullpen and my name was the only one still there,” Klein said. “I was just going to go until I couldn’t, and that’s kind of what happened.”

Klein held the Blue Jays scoreless in the top of the 15th. Then the 16th. Then the 17th. Each time, he’d walk back into the dugout, field a question about how many more pitches he had left and answer the same way: “As many as you need.” The Dodgers placed a runner in scoring position in the 10th, 11th, 13th, 14th and 17th but could not capitalize. They stranded 18 baserunners, which was actually one fewer than the Blue Jays. And Klein kept going.

“I started to feel it,” Klein said, “and there were times when, like, you’re starting to feel down and you feel your legs aren’t there or your arm’s not there, and you just gotta be like, well, who else is going to come save me, you know? So I had to dig deep, do it myself.”

Blake Snell, the Game 1 starter, asked repeatedly if he could come in to pitch, even though he had already thrown his between-starts bullpen session, and was repeatedly denied. Ohtani, scheduled to start Game 4, was hardly an option, especially after experiencing leg cramps in the late stages. When Klein checked in, Roberts began to consider ending an epic postseason game with a position player on the mound. Utility man Enrique Hernandez usually fills that role, but he had been replaced by a pinch hitter. And so veteran infielder Miguel Rojas began to ponder the possibility.

“I pitched when I was younger,” Rojas said. “I was thinking about actually pitching and trying to throw at least one fastball and one breaking ball to try to get outs.”

It was a real possibility until Yamamoto approached pitching coach Mark Prior, two days after throwing the first World Series complete game in 10 years, and volunteered to check in. Yamamoto was starting to warm up when Klein came back out for the top of the 18th. After issuing a second walk with two outs, Dodgers catcher Will Smith approached the mound to check on him and Roberts made eye contact from the dugout. “I’m good,” Klein yelled. He then fell behind 3-1 to Blue Jays backup catcher Tyler Heineman, got the strike call on an inside fastball and, on his 72nd pitch, flipped a curveball for the punchout.

“I think Will Klein may be the MVP,” Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts said. “I mean, outside of Shohei reaching base nine times.”

Ohtani led off with a double, homered in the third, hit an opposite-field double in the fifth and homered again in the seventh. Blue Jays manager John Schneider wanted nothing to do with him thereafter. With one out and the bases empty in the ninth, Schneider intentionally walked Ohtani. He did it again with two outs and none on in the 11th. And again with a man on third and two outs in the 13th. And again with one out and none on in the 15th.

The Dodgers had a runner on first with two outs in the 17th, and the Blue Jays decided to finally pitch to Ohtani rather than letting the tying run get into scoring position. Ohtani saw four straight balls from Brendon Little nonetheless.

“He’s arguably the best player on the planet, you know,” Schneider said. “I think you kind of react in real time a little bit. They have a really talented lineup. It’s not the easiest thing in the world to just walk him and face Mookie and Freddie.”

Before Ohtani, no player had ever reached base nine times in a postseason game, and only Frank Isbell — way back in 1906 — had ever accumulated four extra-base hits in the World Series. Ohtani is the first player since at least 1900 with four extra-base hits and five walks in any game, according to ESPN Research, and the first player ever with three multi-homer games in a single postseason. Now, in Game 4, he will once again serve as the starting pitcher, and thanks to Freeman’s heroics, he’ll have a chance to give the Dodgers a commanding 3-1 lead in this series.

As Monday became Tuesday, Ohtani stood on the field alongside his interpreter and was asked how he planned to prepare for such an undertaking. Then the most superhuman baseball player ever gave the most human answer imaginable.

Said Ohtani: “I want to go to sleep as soon as possible.”