The 2025 World Series

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Rating sports events has never been my thing, but after this latest World Series, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything that had more.

Now, I’ve been watching baseball for 74 years so, to borrow a phrase, I think I might know a thing or two because I’ve seen a thing or two.

It ended with a one-run victory by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 11th inning of the 7th and deciding game. For the Dodgers it capped back-to-back titles, the first team to accomplish that since the Yankees won three in a row back in 1998-2000.

But if there were ever a groundswell of sentiment, and heartbreak for the losing team it was for the Toronto Blue Jays who didn’t spend anything like the mighty Dodgers, and took the world of baseball by storm playing the game like it used to be played, armed with a pitching staff that included a youngster who came up from the lowest minor league level to have huge moments on the biggest stage, and a lethal batting order led by a super-star whose dad was a nine-time All-Star.

Both teams could have won it so many times and there were countless instances when the timely hit, or smarter base running or a successful defensive play would have made the difference.  But as my friend and former partner Jim Kaat, who only won 283 games in just 25 years of pitching told me, “It’s an imperfect game played by imperfect people”.

Yes, there were mistakes galore, and opportunities missed, but that’s the beauty of baseball and of all sports.  It’s so much more than mathematical probabilities, where everything is clear on paper, but not in reality where the feel of the moment ultimately is what it’s all about.

In essence this World Series was like looking through a kaleidoscope, with ever changing and endless possibilities.  You could relate the happenings of the seventh game alone and wind up breathless. A 3-0 Toronto lead early, and a 4-2 advantage late, erased by LA home runs in the 8th and 9th innings to send it the finale to extra innings created a thrilling scenario itself.

The Jays still had a chance to survive it all with the winning run on third base, but they couldn’t do it, or the Dodgers wouldn’t let them, and a home run by their franchise catcher Will Smith in the 11th inning put LA ahead to stay 5-4.

That was the final glorious chapter in a World Series that had dramatic reversals in fortune and individual achievements that have never been seen and likely may never be witnessed again.

The World Series for the most part had really never touched the expanse of being a world event. In fact, in the 10-year period between 1947 and 1956, the World Series was actually a battle between two of New York City’s five boroughs. It was mostly the Bronx against Brooklyn six times, with the Yankees and Dodgers involved, and a year of the Bronx facing Manhattan, when the Yankees faced the Giants. The most local of the baseball championship 7 times in 10 years.

But this season, it was emphatically the WORLD SERIES, with a team from Canada dueling a team from the USA, with the Dodgers boasting several Japanese players including a pair of super stars Shohei Ohtani, who could hit and pitch, and a pitcher named Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Both those players did mind-boggling things unheard of in baseball history.

The Blue Jays crushed the Dodgers in the opening game before a delirious Toronto crowd that had observers wondering what happened to the LA magic. The Jays went against the recent baseball style of attempting to hit home runs no matter the game situation, how many runners were on base and what the count was.

This was a team that made contact, hitting to all fields, moving runners along and putting them in scoring position to score runs. This was the old-fashioned way, and what made the sport kind of a poetic and graceful pastime. But the Dodgers came back to tie the Series on the arm of Yamamoto who pitched a complete game limiting the Jays to just one run.

It has been an age-old practice to judge one game and cast doubts on the loser who may be so crestfallen there is no way they can mount a comeback. All that is a joke.

It’s one game. The next day is a new day. Different things happen. We saw this several times throughout the Series, where the feeling of the media and fans were emotional.

For the players it’s a different story. They just go back to work and try to win the next one. The next one was epic. With the scene shifting to LA, the game went 18 dramatic innings tying the World Series record. The Dodgers triumphed 6-5 on a walk-off home run by Freddie Freeman who has done this kind of stuff before. Amazingly enough, that wasn’t the big story. Shohei Ohtani, who was the lead-off batter in every game, hit two home runs and reached base an amazing nine times. He was walked intentionally four times. This doesn’t happen. So how do you respond to such a bewildering defeat? Not only do you win the next one, but you grab the series lead beating LA again in their ballpark.

Toronto was riding high, thanks to a horde of productive players, in particular pitcher Trey Yesavage, who started the year in the lowest minor league classification struck out 12 in game 5 to tie the Series record for rookie strikeouts. But mostly the presence of Vladimir Guerrero, Jr, the heart and soul of the Blue Jays attack spearheaded their valiant effort. Guerrero even outslugged Ohtani and proved to be the most prominent offensive threat in the Series.

The Dodgers had to win the last two games on the road to retain their title. Masterful manager Dave Roberts chose Ohtani to start the 7th game on the mound and remain in the game as the leadoff batter when he was relieved. Incredible stuff. But this is where the Most Valuable Player of the Series, Yoshinobu Yamamoto did the virtually impossible. Yamamoto threw 96 pitches in six innings, dominating game 6. as the Dodgers survived to set up game seven. Normally that calls for 4 days rest for a pitcher,  but Yamamoto came back the very next day, and the 27-year old threw more pitches than any other Dodger and was looking to the heavens on the mound after the double play grounder finally ended the most stunning and entertaining Series in history.

Baseball, which had lost its national pastime reputation to the NFL, grabbed it back for a moment after that unforgettable seven game saga.