Freddie Freeman opened the bottom of the 18th with a home run to center that sealed a 6–5 Dodgers win over the Blue Jays in Game 3, giving Los Angeles a 2–1 lead in the World Series. The marathon lasted 6 hours 39 minutes at Dodger Stadium and tied the Fall Classic record for most innings played. Both clubs cycled through double digit pitchers and full benches, and several near walk offs died on the warning track before the decisive swing. It also arrived on a night when Shohei Ohtani produced one of the greatest postseason hitting performances ever seen.
A record-length grinder and an early Dodgers surge
Los Angeles jumped ahead 2–0 when Teoscar Hernández went deep in the second and Ohtani curled a towering shot inside the right field pole in the third. Toronto flipped the script in the fourth. A defensive lapse extended the frame and Alejandro Kirk punished a hanging curve from Tyler Glasnow for a three run blast. A sacrifice fly pushed the Jays ahead 4–2. The Dodgers answered in the fifth as Ohtani split the left center gap for an RBI double and Freeman lined in the 4–4 equalizer.
Ohtani’s historic night
Ohtani reached base nine times, a feat not seen in any MLB game since 1942. His line featured two homers, two doubles and five walks, four of them intentional. He became the first hitter with four extra base hits in a World Series game and the first to draw that many intentional passes in a postseason contest. After the game he said he wanted rest as soon as possible to prepare for his Game 4 start.
Plays that stretched belief
The seventh swung back to Toronto when Vladimir Guerrero Jr sprinted home from first on a right field carom for a 5–4 lead. Ohtani erased it one plate appearance later with a 401 foot drive to left center. Chaos reigned on the bases. Six runners were erased across the late innings and extras, including two perfect Tommy Edman throws that cut down one runner at third in the ninth and another at the plate in the 10th. Earlier, Bo Bichette misread a delayed strike signal as ball four and drifted toward second, only to be picked off at first by Glasnow.
Bullpens on the brink and strategic choices
Toronto repeatedly refused to let Ohtani beat them, issuing intentional walks in the ninth, 11th, 13th and 15th, and once putting both Ohtani and Mookie Betts on to load the bases before wriggling free. The Blue Jays lost George Springer to injury in the seventh and turned to emergency bats, yet kept finding exits. The Dodgers answered with volume and nerve, using 10 pitchers for a World Series single game record. Clayton Kershaw entered with the bases loaded in the 12th and induced a groundout. Rookie Will Klein supplied four scoreless frames, with Edgardo Henriquez and others matching zeroes as the night dragged on.
Freeman ends it at last
Freeman twice came close to ending it, first in the 13th and again in the 15th, only for deep flies to die shy of the wall. Leading off the 18th against left hander Brendon Little, he worked a full count and got a sinker that stayed up. He launched it 406 feet to straightaway center, dropped the bat and started the celebration as his teammates poured from the dugout and Ohtani pointed from the on deck circle.
What comes next
The Dodgers sit two wins from a championship and can clinch at home for the first time since 1963. Game 4 is Tuesday night, with Ohtani scheduled for his first World Series start on the mound after spending nearly seven hours in constant action during Game 3. Los Angeles will wake up tired and a step closer to history.
