Shohei Ohtani lifts the Commissioner's Trophy as the Dodgers celebrate after defeating the Blue Jays on Sunday. Ohtani joined the Dodgers after the Blue Jays pursued him to join their roster.Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press
The Dodgers did it again on Saturday night – actually early Sunday morning – when they won their second straight World Series.
They are the team that most everyone else loves to hate and they enjoy it. They spend money like sailors on furlough and just win, baby – this time, breaking the hearts of Blue Jays fans with a 5-4 victory in 11 innings at Rogers Centre.
They are good and they know it. After they won the National League Championship Series, Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts exclaimed, “Before the season started, they said, ‘The Dodgers are ruining baseball’ … Let’s get four more wins [in the World Series] and really ruin baseball. Let’s go!"
Of course, that’s just what they did. They boast like the Dallas Cowboys – but they back it up.
Dodgers clinch World Series after 5-4 win over Blue Jays
Perhaps losing to them might hurt more in Toronto than somewhere else.
In 2023, the Blue Jays were outbid in their pursuit of Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani who eventually agreed to a long-term contract to play on the Left Coast for more than $1-billion (US$700-million). Toronto opened its wallet like never before and felt like they were the winning suitor and ended up humiliated in the end. It might have been a horse race, but maybe it wasn’t really one at all.
Ohtani was booed at every opportunity during the four games here. At one point, he was serenaded by the crowd with chants of “We don’t need you.”
Ohtani was fine in the best-of-seven series but he was not as good as his Japanese pitching teammate, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who won three times and was chosen most valuable player.
The Blue Jays came so close. They led 4-2 in the seventh inning but after that, things went sideways. Max Muncy homered off of rookie Trey Yesavage to make it 4-3 in the eighth.
With Toronto just two outs away from claiming its first World Series in 32 years, Jeff Hoffman allowed a line-drive home run to left field by Miguel Rojas to tie it at 4-4 in the ninth.
Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts takes the ball from Ohtani on Saturday.Patrick Smith/Getty Images
You could look down the Dodger lineup and find a half-dozen more likely candidates to do it and suddenly the air was sucked out of the stadium.
Toronto loaded the bases in the ninth with one out but was unable to plate the winner. Then, Will Smith sent a pitch by Shane Bieber into the stands in the 11th, a heartbreaker that would become the winner.
Again, the Blue Jays mustered a rally. They had runners on first and third with one out against Yamamoto in the bottom of the 11th but he induced Alejandro Kirk to bounce into a double play.
A gut punch, and the end of what had turned into a storybook season.
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As the Dodgers celebrated on the field, Blue Jays fans booed them. At the same time, team members shed tears in their clubhouse. John Schneider’s face was beet red. Clearly, the manager took it hard.
Pete Walker, the pitching coach, hugged George Springer and then Daulton Varsho. The players looked numb.
Ernie Clement, who set a major-league record with 30 hits in the postseason, acknowledged he had spent the past hour crying.
“It’s my last night with all of the boys and I’m going to miss them,” he said, voice wavering. “I feel for all of the guys. I’d go to war with Jeff Hoffman every day of the week.”
Not far away, Myles Straw, the reserve outfielder, quietly faced questions in front of his dressing stall.
“These people mean more to me than baseball,” Straw said. “It sucks to come close to signing the free agents we came close to. That’s the hardest part.”
He didn’t mention the Dodgers or Shohei Ohtani by name. He didn’t have to.