TORONTO (AP) \u2014 In a World Series for the ages that went back and forth again and again, Will Smith delivered the biggest swing of all for the Los Angeles Dodgers.<\/p>\n
Smith connected in the 11th for the first extra-inning homer in a winner-take-all title game, and Miguel Rojas became the first player to hit a tying home run in the ninth inning of a Game 7. On a roller-coaster night of see-sawing emotions, the Dodgers outlasted the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 Saturday to become the first repeat champion in a quarter century.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou dream of those moments,\u201d Smith said after the 4-hour, 7-minute thriller. \u201cI\u2019ll remember that for forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the type of dramatic Game 7<\/a> that kids conjure in backyards, the Blue Jays led 3-0 on Bo Bichette\u2019s third-inning homer off Shohei Ohtani and 4-2 before Max Muncy\u2019s eighth-inning solo homer off star rookie Trey Yesavage.<\/p>\n Toronto was two outs from its first championship since 1993 when Rojas, inserted into the slumping Dodgers lineup in Game 6 to provide some energy, homered on a full-count slider from Jeff Hoffman and stunned the Rogers Centre crowd of 44,713.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve cost everybody in here a World Series ring,\u201d Hoffman said.<\/p>\n Rojas hadn\u2019t homered since Sept. 19.<\/p>\n \u201cI had a conversation with my wife,\u201d he said. \u201cShe told me something big was waiting for me.\u201d<\/p>\n World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto escaped a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half, and Toronto reliever Seranthony Dom\u00ednguez stranded three Dodgers runners in the 10th.<\/p>\n Smith, who hit a go-ahead homer in Game 2, sent a 2-0 pitch from Shane Bieber into Toronto\u2019s bullpen in left field, where it bounced into the seats and gave the Dodgers their first lead of the night. Running between first and second, Smith raised his arms in triumph.<\/p>\n \u201cHe hung a slider,\u201d Smith said. \u201cI banged it.\u201d<\/p>\n Bieber, the 2020 AL Cy Young Award winner, was making his first relief appearance since 2019.<\/p>\n \u201cHe was looking for it and I didn\u2019t execute,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Of course, there had to be even more drama in just the sixth winner-take-all Series game to go extra innings. It matched the Marlins\u2019 3-2 win over Cleveland in 1997 as the second-longest Game 7, behind only the Washington Senators\u2019 4-3, 12-inning victory against the New York Giants in 1924. <\/p>\n Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled leading off the bottom of the 11th and was sacrificed to third. Addison Barger walked and Alejandro Kirk hit a broken-bat grounder to shortstop Mookie Betts, who started a title-winning 6-6-3 double play. It was only the second double play to end a Series, after the Yankees turned one in 1947 against the Dodgers.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought we had chances to sweep them,\u201d Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. \u201cGoing back to the beginning of the Series when people were calling it David vs. Goliath, it\u2019s not even close.\u201d <\/p>\n Smith set a Series record by catching 73 innings. Betts earned his fourth title in the finale of baseball\u2019s 150th major league season, the first that began<\/a> and ended outside the United States.<\/p>\n In the Dodgers bullpen for the last game of his decorated 18-year career, Clayton Kershaw lost track of the outs.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen he hit the double play, I thought the run scored and it was tied,\u201d he said. \u201cI thought I had the next batter.\u201d<\/p>\n Los Angeles and its $500 million roster<\/a> overcame a 3-2 Series deficit on the road. The Dodgers became the first repeat champion since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees won three in a row, and the first from the National League since the 1975 and \u201976 Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n With their ninth championship and third in six years, the Dodgers made an argument for their 2020s teams to be considered a dynasty. Dave Roberts<\/a>, their manager since 2016, boosted the probability he will gain induction to the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n \u201cTo do what we\u2019ve done in this span of time is pretty remarkable,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cI guess let the pundits and all the fans talk about if it\u2019s a dynasty or not.\u201d <\/p>\n After throwing 96 pitches in a Game 6 win Friday, Yamamoto tossed 43 more over 2 2\/3 innings for his third win of the Series. He finished the postseason<\/a> 5-1 with a 1.45 ERA.<\/p>\n \u201cBefore I went in, to be honest, I was not really sure if I could pitch up there to my best ability,\u201d Yamamoto said through a translator. \u201cBut as I started getting warmed up … I started making a little bit of an adjustment, and then I started thinking I can go in and do my job.\u201d<\/p>\n This Series produced the World Series\u2019 first pinch-hit grand slam<\/a>, its first complete game in a decade<\/a>, an 18-inning Game 3 featuring Shohei Ohtani reaching base nine times<\/a>, six outs on the bases and Freddie Freeman becoming the first to hit two walk-off homers,<\/a> the first back-to-back homers opening a game<\/a>, Yesavage striking out a rookie-record 12 just six weeks after his debut<\/a>, and the first game-ending double play in which an outfielder had a putout or assist<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThat game had every single thing you could possibly have,\u201d Freeman said. \u201cJust an absolutely incredible game, incredible Series.\u201d<\/p>\n Los Angeles used all four of its postseason starting pitchers, with Yamamoto joined by Ohtani and Glasnow (2 1\/3 innings each) and Blake Snell (1 1\/3 innings).<\/p>\n