2025 World Series: What do two championships have in common? Incredible comebacks
by Mark Langill
Technically, they were both epic World Series comebacks that led to Dodger championships in 2024 and 2025.
Same shiny trophy prize.
Same swirling confetti.
Same downtown Los Angeles parade.
Different blood pressures.
When the 2024 Dodgers overcame a 5–0 deficit in the fifth inning at Yankee Stadium in what turned out to be the deciding Game 5, an eventual 7–6 victory by Los Angeles, rolling pebbles morphed into a Bronx landslide.
A dropped fly ball in center field opened the door for a Dodger rally that included Mookie Betts safely reaching first on a well-placed dribbler and an aggressive slide into third base by Kiké Hernández, who was hit by a throw from shortstop.
Five runs later, the Yankees’ bandwagon started to overheat. It finally ran out of steam, stranded on the side of the road, preventing the series from resuming back in Southern California.
Although an exciting ending in 2024 with Walker Buehler, a starting pitcher by trade, assuming the role of a ninth-inning closer, the Dodgers never had a sense of panic or despair.
Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in Game 1 at Dodger Stadium set off the tone. Los Angeles roared to a 3–0 lead in the series. It wasn’t a question of if, but where the Dodgers would win the title.
They added a touch of history with the largest deficit to overcome — five runs — in a World Series clincher.
For their 2025 sequel, the Dodgers made quick work of their first three postseason opponents, dispatching the Reds (2–0), Phillies (3–1) and Brewers (4–0) in businesslike fashion.
Surely, the World Series against Toronto — which barely survived a seven-game American League Championship Series against Seattle, was just the final hurdle to a Dodger dynasty. Three championships in six years.
The final hurdle, though, turned into Mount Everest.
And this time around, there was no doubt where the Dodgers would win the title — if they won the title — in 2025.
Toronto’s Rogers Centre was the only option after Los Angeles wasted a 2–1 series lead with losses in Games 4 and 5 at Dodger Stadium.
In their Brooklyn/Los Angeles history, the Dodgers were 0–7 when trailing 3–2 in a World Series. After a 3–1 victory in Game 6, the “all hands on deck” motto was already implied.
But Game 7 was ridiculous.
The Dodgers appeared to be on thin ice from the moment Bo Bichette’s three-run home run off Shohei Ohtani sailed into the center field stands in the third inning.
Trailing 3–0, the Dodgers suddenly faced a bullpen game.
But a “bullpen” game with starting pitchers Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto?
Two outs away from losing in the ninth inning, Miguel Rojas joined the ranks of Dodger postseason home run heroes that include Rick Monday, Mike Scioscia, Kirk Gibson and Freeman with a game-tying homer off Toronto’s closer Jeff Hoffman.
It was the first game-tying home run in the ninth inning of a Game 7 in World Series history.
In the bottom of the ninth, another crisis was just around the corner. Somehow, the defense kept the 4–4 deadlock intact with a pair of plays guaranteed to make any Toronto fan blue in future retellings.
Take your pick: Catcher Will Smith’s shoe barely touched home plate after Rojas at second base made a stumbling stop of a bases-loaded grounder and threw to Smith for a force play.
And a moment later, the fly ball to left field. Hernández tried to maneuver something of the over-the-shoulder variety.
Andy Pages, who didn’t start because of lengthy offensive struggles, was just inserted into the game in center field because his glove and arm still worked well. The pair collided while Pages was making the catch.
Pages then turned around and picked a stunned Hernández off the ground.
Remember the final out of Game 6? Actually, the final two outs.
Hernández started a 7–4 double play to Rojas after catching a fly ball on the run and doubling off Addison Barger attempting to return to second base. But Hernández admitted he briefly lost sight of the ball but kept charging because he had a general idea of the ball’s flight.
One day later, another fateful flyball with Game 7’s outcome in the air.
Now imagine Hernández and Pages knowing if the ball had dropped; the World Series is over. Reenacting a scene from “The Sandlot” or “Bad News Bears” was just a bonus for the highlight reels.
In the 11th inning, Smith hit the go-ahead home run, and Yamamoto won his third game of the series, clinched on a 6–3 double play started at shortstop by Betts on Alejandro Kirk’s broken-bat grounder.
Freeman at first base caught the throw from Betts with a mix of shock and delight. Suddenly, the Dodgers got to keep their crowns.
When the dust had settled, pundits called it the greatest Game 7 in World Series history.
But for Dodger fans, it could only be the greatest game if they were invited to a parade.
2025 World Series: Comparing the back-to-back clinchers was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.