Déjà Vu in October: Freeman’s Extra-Inning Blast Gives Dodgers 2–1 World Series Lead

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ mission to become the first repeat champions in 25 years has been a roller coaster of emotions. After a rough 11–4 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 1, a late-inning rally in Game 2 evened the series 1–1, setting the stage for a pivotal Game 3 in Los Angeles. On Monday night, the Dodgers sent out the hometown kid, Tyler Glasnow, while Toronto countered with veteran and former Dodger Max Scherzer. But the real story of the night wouldn’t unfold until the early hours of the next morning.

The Dodgers struck first in the second inning when Teoscar Hernández launched a towering home run into the left-field pavilion off Scherzer to make it 1–0. Shohei Ohtani followed an inning later, crushing a fastball into right field to extend the lead to 2–0. Toronto, however, answered quickly. A rare Tommy Edman error put two runners on for Alejandro Kirk, who crushed a Tyler Glasnow curveball for a three-run homer, flipping the score 3–2. The Blue Jays tacked on another run on an Andrés Giménez sacrifice fly, extending their lead to 4–2.

Los Angeles refused to stay down. In the fifth, Ohtani ripped an RBI double before Freddie Freeman followed with a sharp RBI single to tie the game 4–4. By the seventh inning, Toronto regained the lead with a two-out RBI single from Bo Bichette, but Ohtani once again delivered in the clutch, sending an opposite-field shot into the left-field pavilion to tie the game 5–5. From there, the fireworks turned into a marathon.

Both offenses cooled as the bullpens took over, and the game evolved into a test of endurance. With arms running thin, the Dodgers turned to Will Klein, a reliever who had spent the season bouncing between Triple-A and the majors and hadn’t been on the roster for the previous three postseason rounds. His assignment was simple: keep the game tied long enough for the Dodgers to find a way to win. And that’s exactly what he did.

Klein was sensational, throwing four scoreless innings, striking out five, and allowing just one hit over a career-high 72 pitches. He dominated Toronto’s lineup through innings 14 to 18, the final man standing in the Dodgers’ bullpen. “I really had to dig deep, a lot,” Klein said. “There were times when you start to feel down, thinking, ‘Who else is going to come save me?’ But I had to push through and do it myself. Hearing our guys in the dugout and the fans behind me kept me going.” Klein’s grit gave Los Angeles the chance they needed, and as the clock ticked past midnight, the moment finally came.

In the bottom of the 18th, Freddie Freeman stepped to the plate to lead off the inning. After working the count full, he turned on a 3–2 sinker and launched it to straightaway center field, a no-doubter the second it left the bat. The ball cleared the wall, Dodger Stadium erupted, and Freeman circled the bases as teammates poured from the dugout to celebrate. For the second consecutive year, Freeman had delivered a walk-off home run in the World Series , a feat no one, not even he, expected to repeat. “To have it happen again a year later, to hit another walk-off, it’s kind of amazing and crazy,” Freeman said. “I’m just glad we won. We’re up 2–1, and we’ve got our Shohei on the mound tomorrow.”

The Dodgers defeated the Blue Jays 6–5 in the longest game in World Series history, an 18-inning, nearly seven-hour epic. Freeman became the first player in Major League history to hit multiple walk-off home runs in the World Series, while Ohtani reached base in all nine plate appearances, the first player in postseason history to do so, recording four hits and five walks.