By Fabian Ardaya, Mitch Bannon and Tyler Kepner

LOS ANGELES — Seven years and one day later, the Los Angeles Dodgers once again played a World Series Game 3 late into the night at Dodger Stadium. A 6-5 win against the Toronto Blue Jays found a way to match the marathon that their 18-inning walk-off win in 2018 against the Boston Red Sox was.

FREDDIE FREEMAN WALK-OFF HOME RUN IN THE 18TH INNING! #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/wD1xbRxDbC

— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025

The longest game in World Series history by innings (six hours, 39 minutes in length) was a treat of October theater, as Shohei Ohtani put forth yet another historic performance and Alejando Kirk walloped a three-run blast before the night turned into a battle of beleaguered bullpens. The decisive blow, in the 18th: Freddie Freeman, for the second consecutive World Series, launched a walk-off home run.

The Blue Jays are an October power team

Toronto’s ability to make contact earns all the talk. It’s easy to see why. The Blue Jays did lead baseball in batting average and contact rate this season. They have scrappy bat-to-ball guys like Ernie Clement and Andrés Giménez. But, in October, dingers drive the Jays.



With Kirk’s fourth-inning blast on Monday, the Jays sit at 24 home runs in 14 playoff games this fall, four more than any other team. That 1.71 HR per game pace is well above their regular season mark of 1.18. The Jays’ contact and patience allow them to push baserunners on and rattle off massive innings, as they did with a nine-run frame in Game 1. But don’t get it wrong: the long ball is lifting Toronto’s offense right now.

There’s more than one way to get to the bullpen

Blue Jays manager John Schneider’s stated goal ahead of the World Series was to work into Los Angeles’ relief group. It was the clear soft underbelly of this Dodgers team, one that the Milwaukee Brewers were unable to get to.

“In a seven-game series, try to get into their bullpen,” Schneider said. “Their starters are tough, you know, they’re really tough.”

The Jays succeeded in Game 1, chasing Blake Snell due to a fast-climbing pitch count. They failed in Game 2, with Yoshinobu Yamamoto throwing a complete game. On Monday, Toronto’s attack found a new way to get to the bullpen. The Jays didn’t push up Tyler Glasnow’s pitch count with endless foul balls. They didn’t tire him out with copious savvy takes. Instead, the Jays simply scored runs.

With five hits, three walks and four runs against Glasnow, the Jays chased Los Angeles’ starter after 4 2/3 innings. It gave them the chance they wanted: to work against the Dodgers’ bullpen. But, even with extra innings, they couldn’t get enough done against that group.

The Dodgers pride themselves on not making mistakes. The one they did make cost them

This is the same Dodgers team that praised the little things last October, when the New York Yankees fumbled a five-run lead in the eventual World Series clincher. This was the team that deftly handled the Milwaukee Brewers’ pressure-based attack. While the Dodgers are far from the game’s most exceptional defensive team, they don’t often allow mistakes to compound.

Tyler Glasnow was one of 10 Dodgers pitchers to appear in Game 3. (Patrick Smith / Getty Images)

They hadn’t during this World Series, either, until the fourth inning of Game 3. Given a 2-0 lead, Glasnow made the original mistake, walking Vladimir Guerrero Jr. after falling behind 3-0 in the count and spiking a full-count curveball. Bo Bichette followed with a grounder that, if turned quickly, could’ve been a double play on Bichette’s balky right knee. Except the typically sure-handed Tommy Edman pulled his glove up too quickly for the potential turn, and the ball rolled into right field. Two batters later, Kirk launched a first-pitch curveball into the stands to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 Blue Jays lead.

This is Ohtani’s postseason

When everyone had visions of the game’s best player getting a ton of play on the biggest stage, this is what everyone wanted to see: Ohtani having games like he did Monday night. His first World Series was interrupted by a torn labrum in his left shoulder that rendered him a decoy for most of the series against the Yankees. This October has included prolonged offensive swoons along with some of the greatest games you’ve ever seen.

Monday, he took off.



His four extra-base hits tied Frank Isbell’s mark in Game 5 of the 1906 World Series, 119 years ago. His last seven at-bats at Dodger Stadium this October have resulted in five home runs and two doubles. He is an unstoppable force whose game-tying blast in the seventh inning matched him with Corey Seager’s 2020 for the most home runs by a Dodger in a single postseason run (eight).

Ohtani’s 12 total bases in Game 3 are a Dodgers World Series record, and he became the first player ever with three multi-homer games in a single postseason run. He also became the first player in World Series history to reach base eight times in a game, passing Kenny Lofton (Game 3, 1995) and Stan Hack (Game 6, 1945), who each reached six times in a game. Four of those times came via an intentional walk — those four intentional walks are also a postseason record.

Marathons take a toll

Game 3 brought chaos long before it entered extra innings. There were blown strike calls, early pinch runners and history-making homers. But then it just kept going. The Jays emptied their bench and both teams sent endless relievers through the bullpen door. It’s the type of game that has a much bigger impact than one win. How will these teams bounce back from Monday’s marathon? We’ll find out in a few hours.

George Springer’s injury could be critical

A storyline before the game was the expected booing of Springer, the Astros’ World Series MVP against the Dodgers in 2017, the year of Houston’s notorious sign-stealing scandal. The fans did boo, but the much bigger story was that Springer had to leave the game after apparently hurting his right side on a swing in the seventh inning. Springer left mid-at-bat and was replaced by Ty France. In the 10th, France was replaced by Davis Schneider as a pinch-runner, and Schneider was nailed at the plate by Edman on a relay from Teoscar Hernández. While we don’t yet know the severity of his injury, there’s no replacing a player like Springer, no matter who you put in his spot.