Dodgers stun Blue Jays to win World Series, a breakdown
What Happened
The stage is set for a thrilling conclusion to the World Series as the Toronto Blue Jays hold a narrow one-run lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the bottom of the ninth inning. Miguel Rojas of the Dodgers steps up to the plate, with the game-tying run on base and two-outs remaining. Rojas works the count full against Blue Jays pitcher Blake Snell, and on the payoff pitch, he hammers a deep fly ball that clears the fence, knotting the score at 6-6 and sending the Dodger Stadium crowd into a frenzy. Blue Jays manager Dave Roberts is visibly stunned, unable to believe the turn of events that have unfolded. Snell, the pitcher, maintains his composure on the mound, knowing he must refocus to face the heart of the Dodgers' lineup. Up next is the dangerous Vlad Guerrero Jr., who represents the potential game-winning run for Toronto. Snell battles Guerrero, eventually getting him to fly out to center field, setting the stage for extra innings. In the top of the 10th, the Blue Jays load the bases with one out, putting themselves in prime position to regain the lead. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts makes a strategic move, replacing center fielder Edmond with the stronger-armed Pice to improve the team's defensive positioning. On the very next pitch, Dodgers reliever Yamin Yamamoto induces a ground ball to third baseman Miguel Rojas, who fires home to catcher Will Smith, who applies the tag to nail the Blue Jays' runner and preserve the tie. The tense back-and-forth continues, with both teams threatening but unable to break through. In the bottom of the 10th, the Dodgers have runners on the corners with one out. Rojas steps up again, hitting a sharp ground ball to the right side. The throw home appears to beat the runner, Ike, but the umpire calls him safe, sparking wild celebrations from the Dodgers and their fans. However, the play is reviewed, and upon further inspection, Ike's foot is shown to have lifted off the plate before the tag was applied. The out call is upheld, and the Blue Jays emerge victorious, capturing their first World Series championship in franchise history.
Full Transcript
Click timestamps to jump to that momentThe Blue Jays are three outs away from
winning the World Series. Strike that.
Correct it. The Blue Jays are two outs
away from winning the World Series. They
are excited. This breakdown is brought
to you by DraftKings. It's got tons of
extra footage you've never seen before.
It's maybe the best ending to a World
Series we've had. Definitely in recent
history. Migy Row is up. He was hurt the
day before. They didn't think he was
going to play. Otani is on deck. You do
not want a base runner when you face
Otani. You need to get Miggyro out. He
expects pitches in the zone because of
that and chases but doesn't chase the
next one. Says, "Nuhuh. You got me once,
not twice." That is low. Now you're
behind. Two and one. Fast ball. Nice
pitch. Fouled back. Two strikes. Stays
alive on the fast ball again. Three fast
balls in a row. No, they tried to freeze
him with the slider. It missed. Oh, the
crowd can't believe it. Now it's a full
count. And Miggy Rose at bat before this
one. He also got to a full count. Show
on deck behind him. You can't give Shihi
base runners. If you give the base
runner to Show, he hits a home run. It's
not a tie game. You're losing. You got
to come in the zone here. Everybody
knows it. So, what do you do? You say,
"Okay, he knows I'm coming in the zone,
but I'm not going to give him the fast
ball in the zone. I'm going to try and
trick him and throw a slider in the
zone, but I have to make sure it's in
the zone. So, it's not going to be the
best slider. It's not a great slider."
Mickey Row takes it deep into that fan's
glove. Ties the game. They were four
strikes away from winning, from being
World Series champs. Oh, Hoffman can't
believe it.
Dave Roberts.
He can't believe Oh my god. Oh, he
cannot believe it. What just happened?
Megiro, look at the focus. Look at the
eyes. Look at the hope. Look at the
wishing. Look, let's go. this fan
catches it and then it's like [ __ ] damn
cool that I caught it. I mean, yeah, I
did catch it, but cool. I love Blake
Snell's reaction cuz he's the pitcher.
So, he can't go crazy. He's got to
maintain composure. He's got to go back
on that mount. Everyone is screaming and
yelling around him, just going nuts and
he's like, "Nope, I can't do this. I
have to stay composed. I'm going on the
mount. I got to sit down. I got to get
my change up ready." Going to be facing
Vlatty. The Dodgers don't have the lead.
They just tied it. The Blue Jays can win
the World Series with a walk-off.
Amazing.
That would be amazing. And that's what
Vlatty wants to do. But change up is
outside. Sliders low. Next slider's low.
3 and 0. Crowd's like, "Just do it,
Vlatty. We don't want you to walk. Come
on. Just hit that homer. We don't care
if you swing three 0. Just do it."
What's he going to get? 3 0 change up.
Did he get it? Oh,
no. He did not. First out of the inning.
Oh my goodness. They thought they had
it. The pain would get worse. The false
hope. But Bette was injured. Not on the
roster for the earlier series. Comes on
hitting machine in the World Series.
Like kudos to him. But he's injured. So
they pinch run. Ike. Ike is not a
speedster. He's got average speed, but
he's going to pinch run because Bett is
hurt. Now Barger's up. And this atbat is
going to be a lot of pitches. He's
fouling him off. He's staying alive.
It's 2-2. He fouls it off. He eats it.
Three and two.
Snell wanted it as a strike. Didn't get
it. It was just off the plate. Snell
just goes, "Damn, man. Come on, man.
Damn."
Roberts says, "You got to go out. We're
going to bring in Yamamoto Blue Jays.
This guy again." Oh my goodness. He
pitched yesterday, but Vlad's praying.
We got it. We got it. This is our shot.
Yamamoto pitched the game before.
Unbelievable. He's got Kirk up and with
the second pitch, he hits him to Oh, to
load the bases.
Now the odds are heavily in the Blue
Jays favor. A ball in play and they win.
Another hit by pitch and they win. A
walk and they win. Dave Roberts says,
"All right, got to got to make some
changes with the bases loaded. I'm going
to take Edmond out of center field. I'm
going to bring Pice in because he got a
better arm, better fielder." Yeah, watch
this. Watch this. This one's going to
work. You're you're gonna be impressed
with this move. Okay. All right. Cool.
Here we go. Vars shows up. Bottom ninth.
Snell spectator now. Vlatty Springer.
Blue Jays watching. First pitch to
Vario. Low and away. Next pitch put in
play but foul. Wow. So close. And then
dots a 97 mph fast ball. This is the
play of action. Rojos grabs it. Throws
home. They get him if he's safe. They
win the World Series. The Dodgers
brought the infield in
and it works. And the fans are confused.
Wait, what? The Blue Jays fans very
confused. They celebrate. Yes. Yeah.
Whoa. What do you mean? They didn't tag
him. Oh, what? What are we talking? No.
No. No. Wait. Wait. Wait. No. No. No.
No. He's got to review it. No. No. Wait.
Wait. Wait. Wait. Watch. He's gonna Yes.
Yes. He's reviewing it. Yes, he's
reviewing it. But reviewing what? Hm. I
thought he had to tag him. What the heck
is going on here? Do I What is this
about the ownership? They celebrated as
if they were World Series champs. This
freeze frame. No, it's like an alternate
universe. Look at this. They thought
they won. And then it's like, uh, wait,
we did it. What' he say? We Huh?
What? Oh, we He is reviewing it, so we
will get another look. The ball clearly
beat him. I Miggy Rojas makes the play.
That little Hezi right there,
but he gets it. He fires it. Will Smith
catches it like, you know, he's out by
two feet there. So, you got to Oh, wait.
Did you see his foot? Watch this. He
catches it, but his foot is in the air.
Uhoh. Is a World Series going to end on
a ticky tacky replay?
I hope not. I was hoping not. But here
we go. That spike of his cleat just
comes down before Iv's foot reaches the
bag. Thank god. Not for Blue Jays fans,
thank God, but for like the state of
baseball and the drama around it. You
don't want to win on that play. Although
I fully understand Blue Jays fans want
to win on that play. Um, so there was a
lot of discussion around this play,
around two things. IKF, should he have
gotten a bigger lead? You are the World
Series winning run. You were in there to
pinch run. Should he have gotten a
bigger lead off third base? Should he
have gotten a secondary lead? And the
other part, should he have slid? Should
he have not slid? Should he have slid
head first? Well, these are all the
leads he got in the at bat. They're
pretty consistent. Now, the one on the
bottom is when he runs home. The second
one is the foul ball. So, he got the
best jump.
You better jump than on the foul ball,
but yeah, it's not that deep of a lead.
Here it is. Usually, you want to match
the third baseman because if they run a
play to back pick you, which I'll show
you, you want to match him. He's really
close. Uh the other angle shows it and
he's it doesn't look as different here.
It looks like he's a little similar to
Muny at third. Now, me personally, I
don't I don't have any gripe with being
tight at third there. I don't think you
need a big secondary lead. Most players
and most teams don't have big secondary
leads at third base because if the ball
gets through the infielder, you're
scoring with these. If the ball goes to
the outfield, you're scoring with ease.
The majority of balls in play, you're
scoring with ease, especially if they
bobble it. What you don't want to happen
is get backpicked, which happens
decently a good amount. If you get a big
secondary lead and the catcher and the
third baseman are aware of it, it'd be a
risky move for the Dodgers to do this in
the World Series. But it also was a
lefty batter up, which means the catcher
has a clear throwing lane. And when a
lefty's up, you get a little less big
leads. Uh, this would have been
devastating if this happened. People
would have been like, "Where are you
going? You score so easily? A sack fly
and you score. Why would you risk the
lead if this happened?" That's what
everyone would be yelling if they
backpicked him. If there was a hot shot
to Muny and he was able to grab it and
and get the bag for the double up. Uh,
and this was Ernie Clement on the Blue
Jays getting backpicked in Toronto,
which is good for this exercise because
I can show you the overlay of where he
was and where I was. And that's McMahon
at third when they ran this play. Here's
the overlay. And you can see McMahon,
the third baseman. He's way farther away
than Max. And then you can see Ernie
Clement, the runner, gets a bigger lead
and they put on a play and they get him
with ease. That can't happen. If that
happens and he's out there, the loudness
of dude, you score on a sack fly, you
score on a hard hit ball that gets
through the infield, why would you risk
a secondary lead is way louder than what
we're currently having without getting a
second lead in my opinion. And also, I
did some research. getting backpicked at
third base by the catcher has happened
way more times than the runner on third
has beat the play. By beat the play, I
mean there's not a big error by the
infielder or the catcher on this play
and they they stop the ball, they throw
it home and the runner just was faster
than the play. The amount of times that
has happened in the last 10 years that I
did research on is zero. It is it has
not happened. You don't just be faster
than the play. You're hoping they bobble
the ball. It's an error. It gets through
the infield. They got a ball right to
second. Now, this is the play here.
Miggy Row. It they just it goes right to
him and he makes the throw and Smith
gets his foot back down. Every single
ball hit to a second baseman where this
play is on. Base is loaded, zero or one
out, the play is at home. Every single
time the runner is out easily, actually,
I've watched all of them. So that's a
ball to second. He throws home. They've
never beat the play. The only time they
score is when the second baseman
mishandles the ball, drops it, it gets
by. He spikes it to the catcher and he
can't catch it. He airmails it over the
catcher's head. But anytime it's
fielded, you know, relatively cleanly by
both players, the runner has been out.
So it's not a play that I is going to
score on a lot. He needs a bobble. He
needs a misplay.
They got that. They got the slightest
misplay. The throw took Will Smith's bag
foot off the bag this much. So, where my
big gripe is the slide. You don't have
to slide. You can run right through that
bag. You don't have to slide. You don't
have to start your slide this far away.
You know, some people slide and they
touch the plate with their hand because
that gives you like two more steps
before you go down. But I mean, all of
this, as soon as his friction is
happening, he is slowing down. Like,
even if he slides and his foot lands on
the plate, he's safe because of that
bobble, which is heartbreaking for
Toronto fans. That slide is like a
I don't know. The IF slides like that
all the time. I looked up footage. Even
if there's not a play at home plate, he
just slides in. I used to talk about it
when I covered him on the Yankees. I was
like, he does the same slide. It's just
like a video game. Just that's his
slide. Anyway, the game continues and
Ernie Clement can still win this thing
for the Blue Jays. They still have the
go-ahad run on third base. He just needs
to put a charge into one, which he does,
which he does to the warning track.
Who's going to catch it? Anyone? Oh my
god. What?
the defensive replacement that Dave
Roberts put into the game makes the
incredible play. He covered 123 feet. He
bulldozed his left fielder to the
ground. Ernie Clement cannot believe it.
What? Huh?
Oh.
Oh my god. And the sick thing about this
replay, I think Kik was going to catch
it too. I think if Pi's got a later
jump, I think he's basket catching this
ball. I think the Dodgers were making
this play. They were just uh they were
just in a special mode of baseball. What
an absolutely amazing catch. But I do
think that Hernandez was going to catch
that basket style. So much tougher, but
he had he was there. He had the read on
it. He's underneath it. If you freeze
frame it and look at the ball going, I
think he's you know tracking it.
Instead, he gets bulldozed. Pies makes
the grab. Keeps the game tied.
Unbelievable.
Unbelievable. Watch Yamamoto's reaction.
He's like, "Oh shit." Oh boy. Oh no. Um,
what? Oh,
did he still a little confused? He c
out. That's an Oh, okay. Wow.
All right. Okay. Good stuff.
[ __ ] Vlatty can't believe it. No way we
didn't score. Bases loaded, one out.
Oh my goodness. The game continues.
Let's jump ahead to the 11th inning.
We're still tied. Shane Bieber is in the
game for the Blue Jays. Miguel Rojos at
the plate. The hero takes a strike. It's
outside. And then swings over that one.
Puts it in play. Ernie Clement gobbles
it up. Throws it to first. One out. All
right. Show's up. Dangerous guy. First
pitch. One hopper. IKF. Bam. One out.
Two outs. Okay. Let's push it to the
bottom of the 11th. Let's win this game.
All right. Will Smith is up. He was on
the other end of the Miguel Rojas play.
He kept the game tied. He got moved up
in the batting order by Dave Roberts a
couple games ago because he was sick of
people walking show and then Mookie was
up and he was going through a tough
time. Now Will Smith is in this spot.
First pitch,
curveball takes it. Next pitch,
curveball takes it. Okay, two and 0. Two
and 0 is a fast ball count. Blue Jays
are like, let's not give in and throw a
fast ball and a fast ball count. Let's
throw a another slider. It's three in a
row, but it's got to be in the zone.
Same thinking with the last home run. Oh
boy, it happened again. And it goes to
the same exact spot in the crowd. And
now the Dodgers have the lead. They have
flooded out of the dugout. They're
screaming. Look at Kershaw's reaction.
He's going. Is he going? Oh. Oh god. Oh
my god. Oh my god. Oh my god. And then
he just runs. Who do I celebrate with?
Oh my god. I got to tell someone.
Everybody already knows. Oh my god. Um,
am I gonna go out a winner? Oh, okay.
Let me get back to my spot. Oh, that's
crazy, man. Oh, crazy. Wow. Collect
myself.
Oh, and then a little smile. Little
looked like a tearful. Look at that
emotion.
Oh, is it Oh, is that real? I think he
just got chills. I think we're just
witnessing someone get chills right
here. Yep, it's real. Bang. Freddy says
turns around. Tay Oscar's got the seeds.
Boom. In the in the face.
Bam. Show's slapping him on the butt.
Slapping them back. Let's go. Show with
a bunch. Let's go.
Oh, let's go.
Blue Jays fans having different emotions
and thoughts and feelings.
Heartbreak in Toronto. And yeah, the
same family got the ball again. And once
again, full effort to gobble up the
ball, grabs it, happy, and then a sudden
realization like, damn, I don't want it.
Like, you know what? I really, we
already got the last one. We'll throw
this one back. Watch how similar these
home runs are. It's insane. Boom. They
go to the same spot. Look at all the
fielders. Besides second base, everyone
else does the same thing. Look at the
left fielder, center fielder. They're
little different starting places. Look
at all this. It's crazy.
They basically touched first base at
similar times. Now they're running
around the bases and they're going to
touch second at the same time. It's
wild.
Okay, now they're going to touch third
like this. They're like one person here.
Third base coach, he's in sync. Look at
his legs.
Unbelievable.
That is wild. And my favorite thing
about being a catcher, got to strap the
pads on, get back to work. Job's a
grind. Can't celebrate too long. Can't
stay in the moment. Got to get my
pitcher through it. Yamamoto still out
there. Bottom of the 11th. Vlatt's
leading off. Got to be a little careful.
Little cut fast ball outside. Okay, ball
one. Next pitch, little like sinker
outside. Ball two. Then he comes in the
zone and Vlad takes. That's the pitch
everyone else on the Dodgers got swung
at. I mean, it's a better pitch, but
it's there. Two and one strike on the
inside. Two and two. That one's inside
now. He's been inside the last three.
Vlatty's like, I do not want to walk. We
need a runner in scoring position. I got
out last time and I watched him lose.
I'm hitting this damn ball. It's inside.
It's a jam shot. He's able to keep his
hands on it while being quick enough.
Puts it in play. The tying run is on
second. Bamo. Bamo. Bamo.
Let's go. He's leading the team. IKF up
again. They say, "We're going to play
for the tie, not to take the lead." They
bunt. He gets it down. It's textbook.
The tying runs at third. You did give
them a free out, which I'm sure the
Dodgers appreciate. Okay, now you got to
do a lot of thinking. The tying run is
on third. Barger is up, the lefty, and
then you have the righty Kirk who's
righty on righty and he's slower. Blue
Jays fans are praying. Please, please.
Now, I was surprised they didn't
intentionally walk Barger here to set up
the double play, but they they kind of
did without doing it. They threw the
pitches. I would have just put him on
first base and set this up, but they
risk it. He doesn't chase. It's a four
pitch walk. There's a runner on first.
The double play is set up. Oh, but we're
still praying. We're in deep prayer.
Please don't end. Please don't end.
Alejandro Kirks up. Fouls that one.
Strike one then takes that such a
dangerous pitch. Oh, the balls to throw
that pitch.
Ow and two now. He's got to protect the
zone. They throw the splitter which
misses barrels but gets balls in play.
Steps on second. Throws at the first.
The Dodgers go back to back. They win.
Look at the reaction from Yamamoto here.
People saying, "Oh, he's going to LA to
be an Otani shadow." He says, "No, I'll
create my own. I'm good." Just
incredible. Ha!
Everyone's mouth's open. Everyone's
screaming. The dog piles on the coaches.
Look at Look at Dave Roberts in the
coaches pile. Look at him. Oh my god. I
can't believe it. He's like reflecting
too early. Oh, Magic is pumped in the
suite. Then they're just giving hugs,
celebrating, and screaming. Every move
he did worked. Unbelievable. Maybe the
best managed end of a series I've ever
seen. I really like this shot. So, I'm
just going to show it to you because
this is the players running on the field
to celebrate, but then you've got this
crew. Now, I'm sure Dodgers fans know
who these guys are. I'm not familiar,
but you got this crew. They're going to
do their own hug and celebrate. And then
the whole crew is going to run to the
coaches and celebrate over there with
the coaching staff. And there's two
different parties going on. Players on
the field, coaching staff, support staff
over there. They're just as excited.
They've been just as in it.
Unbelievable. Maybe one of the best
World Series we've seen in a long time.
Thank you for tuning in. Appreciate you.
This one was brought to you by
DraftKings.
I still have many more videos to come
about the World Series in the playoffs.
Hopefully I get to them and hopefully
you guys enjoy them even though they're
a little