It took 18 innings, nearly six hours and 40 minutes, and every reliever in both bullpens before Freddie Freeman finally ended the longest game of the 2025 World Series, smashing a walkoff home run to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a thrilling 6-5 win over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night — and a 2-1 series lead.
The marathon at Dodger Stadium stretched deep into the night, finishing just before midnight local time, with exhausted players and fans celebrating a contest that was equal parts dramatic and sloppy.
“I’m spent emotionally,” admitted Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “We’ve got another ball game later tonight — which is crazy.”
The game was the first in Fall Classic history where both teams tallied at least 15 hits, and the longest since 2018. Despite the offensive fireworks, both clubs stranded opportunities — the Blue Jays left 19 runners on base, one more than the Dodgers.
Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani dominated early, crushing two home runs and adding two doubles before Toronto began intentionally walking him — five times in total — a postseason record. Ohtani, set to pitch in Game 4, reached base an unprecedented nine times.
“We’re still running out of words to describe a once-in-a-10-generational player,” Freeman said afterward.
The Blue Jays looked poised to steal the game multiple times but paid for over-aggressive base running. Bo Bichette was picked off in the second inning, Isiah Kiner-Falefa was thrown out at third in the ninth, and Davis Schneider was nailed at the plate in the 10th.
Earlier, Alejandro Kirk gave Toronto a 4-2 lead with a three-run homer off Tyler Glasnow in the fourth inning, before L.A. tied it in the fifth. After George Springer left the game in the seventh with a side injury, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored from first on a Bichette double to put Toronto ahead — only for Ohtani to tie it again in the bottom half with his eighth postseason homer.
From there, it became a war of attrition. Both bullpens threw scoreless frame after scoreless frame — ten straight innings of zeros — until Brendon Little left a fastball up that Freeman sent over the center-field wall to end it.
Toronto manager John Schneider praised his pitchers’ resilience but admitted the team’s miscues proved costly. “It’s not the easiest thing in the world to just walk [Ohtani] and face Mookie [Betts] and Freddie,” he said. “You’ve got to execute at a high level against those guys.”
Blue Jays infielder Kiner-Falefa summed up the night bluntly: “It felt like a sloppy game on both sides. They just got the big hit at the end.”
Despite the heartbreak, Schneider said the team’s confidence remains intact. “The Dodgers didn’t win the World Series today — they won a game,” he said. “These guys are going to be ready to go tomorrow.”
Game 4 is scheduled for Tuesday night in Los Angeles, with Shane Bieber starting for Toronto against Shohei Ohtani — a matchup that promises another high-stakes chapter in what’s already shaping up to be a classic World Series.