2025 World Series: Will Smith powers the Dodgers to a repeat title
by Mark Langill
A revolving-door of heroes, both likely and unlikely, kept the Dodgers alive on Saturday in the late innings of World Series Game 7 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre.
The backbone of the defense finally delivered the clinching blow with his bat.
Will Smith’s solo home run in the 11th inning off reliever Shane Bieber was the difference in the Dodgers’ 5–4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. The incredible roller coaster finale lifted the Dodgers to their first back-to-back World Series titles in franchise history.
In the ninth inning, a force play prevented Toronto from a walk-off victory when Smith’s shoe barely touched home plate when catching a ball from second baseman Miguel Rojas for the second out of the inning.
The Dodgers continued to walk a dramatic tightrope, including teammates Andy Pages and Kiké Hernández colliding in left field on a game-saving catch to end the 10th inning.
With two out in the 11th, Smith pulled a pitch from Bieber and drove the ball over the left-field fence. The usually stoic Smith clapped his hands as he circled the bases as the Toronto crowd watched with disbelief.
Suddenly, the Dodgers had their first lead of the night. Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto closed out the game, capping 2 2/3 innings of relief thanks to a 6–3 double play started by Mookie Betts on Alejandro Kirk’s broken-bat grounder.
A weary Smith, who caught all seven games of the World Series, including all 18 innings in the Dodgers’ Game 3 marathon win at Dodger Stadium, smiled as he slowly walked toward the pitcher’s mound with his stunned teammates.
From near extinction to exuberance.
It was Smith’s third career World Series title, the first in 2020, before adding more hardware in 2024 and 2025.
“I was fired up — I knew we needed a run,” Smith said. “To be able to come through in the clutch was huge. You dream of those moments. Extra innings, put your team ahead. I’ll remember that forever.”
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When the Dodgers left Los Angeles trailing 3–2 in the series, the franchise record was 0–7 in such World Series situations. They became the first Dodger team to win World Series Games 6 and 7 on the road.
Of the nine championships in Dodger history, three have occurred in a Game 7 on the road; the others 1955 at New York’s Yankee Stadium and 1965 at Minnesota’s Metropolitan Stadium.
In World Series history, the Dodgers entered Game 7 with a 2–65 record when trailing after eight innings. The last victory was Game 1 of the 1988 Fall Classic when Kirk Gibson’s two-run, walk-off home run as a pinch-hitter erased a 4–3 deficit against the Oakland Athletics.
“This is a special group of guys, we just never gave up,” Smith said. “We had great at-bats and finally pushed through. Man, that was a fight for seven games. That’s a really good Blue Jays team. There’s nothing better than this.”
2025 World Series: Smith powers Dodgers to repeat title was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.