This is the second in a series of list stories looking back at the great Dodger moments of 2025.
Previous story:
Top 10: The longest home runs by the Dodgers in 2025
by Megan Garcia
The old adage that “defense wins championships” is true for the 2025 Dodgers.
A handful of plays in the final two games of the World Series emphasized that. In fact, the postseason was a display of exceptional Dodger defense. We take a look back at some of the most memorable defensive plays of the season here.
1. Andy Pages’ running grab against the Angels
Date: May 17
The Dodgers and Angels were in a tight game with Clayton Kershaw on the mound. The Angels were threatening to break the game open when Zach Neto hit a slicing fly ball to right field in the fourth with runners in scoring position and one out. Pages had a 10% catch probability on the ball, but he covered 99 feet to make the play — a 100% catch.
2. Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s running tag against the Twins
Date: May 26
Yoshinobu Yamamoto retired the first six Twins batters of the game with four swinging strikeouts, a ground ball and fly out. When the first two batters in the third inning got on base, Yamamoto showed off his athleticism to get out of the jam.
He fielded a bunt hit into no-man’s land by Will Wilson. His fleet footwork enabled him to tag out Wilson before he reached first base. Minnesota scored only one run in the inning.
3. Pages fires a 99-MPH assist against the Padres
Date: June 11
The Padres attempted to score their first run by Gavin Sheets attempting to score from second base on a single up the middle. Pages fielded the hit in center field and unleashed his hardest Dodger outfield assist of 2025 at 99 mph. Will Smth caught Pages’ throw at home plate and tagged out Sheets.
4. Mookie Betts goes along the net to make a catch against the Giants
Date: Sept. 20
Betts made jaw-dropping plays all season in his first full season at shortstop. One of them was going up against the protective netting to make a catch on a foul ball as he fell onto his back.
5. The wheel play against the Phillies
Date: Oct. 6
The Dodger infield executed an impressive wheel play with their lead on the line in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the National League Division Series. With one out and Nick Castellanos on second, Bryson Stott put down a bunt to move him over. Mookie Betts broke early to cover third base. Max Muncy, anticipating bunt, charged in, grabbed the bunt and fired to third base to get Castellanos.
6. Freddie Freeman’s game-ending scoop against the Phillies
Date: Oct. 6
With the Phillies threatening a comeback in the ninth in Game 2 of the NLDS, the Dodgers made a couple of defensive gems to thwart Philadelphia.
The last was by Freddie Freeman. When Tommy Edman fielded a grounder by Trea Turner, he fired the ball to Freddie Freeman at first base. Freeman dropped to his knees to scoop the ball of the dirt as the tying run charged to the plate.
7. Kiké Hernández’s over-the-wall catch against the Blue Jays
Date: Oct. 28
The first out of Game 4 of the World Series brought about an acrobatic catch from Hernández in left field foul territory. Hernández’s catch was pivotal as Bo Bichette and Addison Barger got on base with a walk and a single. Starting pitcher Shohei Ohtani walked off the mound the first inning unscathed.
8. Hernandez to Miguel Rojas’ game-ending double play in World Series Game 6
Date: Oct. 31
With one out in the ninth in Game 6 of the World Series, Hernández lost Andrés Giménez’s line drive in the lights, but he snagged the ball in the final second to make the second out. The left fielder was charging into the infield when he made the catch.
As Toronto’s Addison Barger retreated to second base, Hernández fired the ball to second base and Miguel Rojas to complete the double play.
9. Rojas to Will Smith in World Series Game 7
Date: Nov. 1
After he hit his game-tying home run in the ninth of Game 7 of the World Series, Miguel Rojas followed up with a game-saving play in the ninth. Rojas snagged Daulton Varsho’s ground ball and fired it to home plate to nail Isiah Kiner-Falefa, which would have been the World Series-winning run.
Rojas’ throw beat the runner by mere inches. But it was Will Smith’s presence of mind to put his toe back on the plate after making the catch that completed one of the most important defensive plays in Dodger history.
10. The Andy Pages catch in World Series Game 7
Date: Nov. 1
Pages was a defensive substitution in the ninth for starting center fielder Tommy Edman in Game 7. Toronto had the bases loaded with two outs and could win the World Series with a base hit. Kiké Hernández covered 113 feet to reach the warning track, where Ernie Clement’s fly ball was headed.
Hernández needed to pull off an over-the-shoulder catch for the Dodgers to come out of the inning unscathed. Pages, however, had a better angle to make the catch sprinting from center field. He covered 123 feet, trampling Hernández to make the play and held onto the ball during the collision.
It sent the Dodgers into extra innings, where they eventually won 5–4.
Sportswriter Tom Verducci called it the greatest catch in World Series history.
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