Once again, Freddie Freeman was the walk-off hero. Freeman ended Monday's World Series Game 3 marathon with an 18th-inning walk-off home run to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 2-1 series lead over the Toronto Blue Jays (LAD 6, TOR 5). Freeman, of course, also hit a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of last year's World Series.
Here is Freeman's game-winning homer. He is the only player with multiple walk-off homers in World Series history:
Game 3 is tied for the longest game in World Series history. Here are the longest:
- 2018 Game 3: 18 innings (Dodgers 3, Red Sox 2)
- 2025 Game 3: 18 innings (Dodgers 6, Blue Jays 5)
- 1916 Game 2: 14 innings (Red Sox 2, Dodgers 1)
- 2005 Game 3: 14 innings (White Sox 7, Astros 5)
- 2015 Game 1: 14 innings (Royals 5, Mets 4)
Historically, teams with a 2-1 lead in a best-of-seven have gone on to win the series 71% of the time. The World Series is far from over, but the Dodgers have put themselves in good position. They only need to win two times in four games. The Blue Jays must win three times in four games to complete the comeback and capture a championship.
Here now are five takeaways from the marathon Game 3.
1. Ohtani is from another planet
It is not fair one person can be that talented, that handsome, and have hair that good. Save some for the rest of us, man. Shohei Ohtani, the game's greatest player, had another game for the ages in Game 3. He went 4 for 4 with two home runs and two doubles, and they weren't empty calories. His second double got the Dodgers to within 4-3, and his second homer tied the game 5-5.
Here's the game-tying home run. Seranthony Domínguez made about as bad a pitch as you can make -- 98 mph center-cut -- and Ohtani did what Ohtani tends to do with pitches like this:
Ohtani is only the second player in World Series history with four extra-base hits in one game, joining Frank Isbell, who went 4 for 5 with four doubles for the White Sox in Game 5 of the 1906 World Series against the Cubs. Ohtani is also the only player in history with three multi-homer games in a single postseason, and his eight homers are tied for the second most in a single postseason:
1. Randy Arozarena, 2020: 10 HR
2. Shohei Ohtani: 2025: 8 HR and counting
3. Adolis García, 2023: 8 HR
4. Corey Seager, 2020: 8 HR
5. Nelson Cruz, 2011: 8 HR
6. Carlos Beltán, 2004: 8 HR
7. Barry Bonds, 2002: 8 HR
Dating back to his historic performance in Game 4 of the NLCS, Ohtani's last 13 plate appearances at Dodger Stadium have gone home run, walk, home run, home run, double, home run, double, home run, intentional walk, intentional walk, intentional walk, intentional walk, walk. Add the five walks to the two doubles and two homers, and Ohtani is the first player in history to reach base nine times in a postseason game (or seven or eight times for that matter). He's only the fourth player to reach base nine times in a game (regular season or postseason) and the first since Stan Hack in 1942.
It should be noted there was a minor scare in the 11th inning when Ohtani pulled up a bit lame going first to second on a Mookie Betts single. He stretched out his calf and stayed in the game, and the Dodgers say it was just a cramp. Remember, Ohtani is the scheduled starting pitcher for Game 4. He homered twice and reached base nine times in Game 3, and will pitch Game 4. The man is simply unbelievable.
2. Kershaw got a big out
Maybe the final out of his career? After warming up in every inning from the eighth to the 11th, Clayton Kershaw finally entered Game 3 in the 12th inning, and he entered into the highest of high-leverage situations: bases loaded with two outs. He coaxed an inning-ending ground out from Nathan Lukes, and it was a close play at first base:
That was ball four, but Kershaw has a Hall of Fame slider, and Lukes was unable to lay off. Kershaw threw his fastest pitch since last July in that at-bat, a 91.9 mph fastball at the top of the zone to change Lukes' eye level. That helped set up the chase slider for the final out. Lukes was the only hitter Kershaw faced. If that's it for him, his final act is getting a huge out for the Dodgers in the World Series. Pretty cool, I'd say.
3. A bad call cost the Blue Jays
We cannot say for sure this cost the Blue Jays a run, but it was certainly a bad and costly call by home plate umpire Mark Wegner. His delayed strike call on an elevated 3-1 fastball led to Bo Bichette wandering too far off first base -- he assumed it was a walk because the pitch was high and Wegner's call was delayed -- and getting picked off for the first out of the second inning.
Here's the play:
"Very delayed call. Pretty deliberate," Blue Jays manager John Schneider said during an in-game interview. "(Wegner) just didn't say anything, so Varsh assumed it was a ball and Bo assumed."
The batter, Daulton Varsho, did eventually draw the walk, then the next batter, Alejandro Kirk, singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Bichette is not running well because of his knee injury, but the walk would have moved him to second base, and it is conceivable he would have scored on Kirk's single. Instead, Toronto did not score in the inning.
We can't assume the inning would have played out exactly the same way had Wegner made the correct call and Varsho walked, but clearly it was costly. At minimum, it gave Tyler Glasnow a free out and saved him some pitches. At worst, it sabotaged a potential big inning and cost Toronto at least one run. The Dodgers caught a break.
4. Edman made up for his error
Tommy Edman is playing through an ankle injury this postseason, though I'm not sure he can blame it for his costly fourth-inning error. He straight up whiffed on Bichette's potential 4-6-3 double play ball. With the way Bichette is running (or isn't running), I'm pretty sure the Dodgers could have turned two to snuff out the rally. Instead, they got no outs on the play.
The error only set up the rally. It was on the Blue Jays to actually capitalize. Sure enough, Alejandro Kirk made Edman and the Dodgers pay two batters later with a three-run home run to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. This is about as hangy as hanging curveballs get:
The Blue Jays are way too dangerous to give them extra outs, or in this case, two extra outs. That's a double play you can reasonably assume given Bichette's knee injury/running issues, and Edman didn't make the play. Some errors you can get away with. Not this one. Edman's error is a play that has to be made, full stop.
To his credit, Edman atoned for his error with a pair of tremendous throws later in the game. He threw Isiah Kiner-Falefa out at third after a line drive deflected in and out of Freeman's glove at first base, then he threw Davis Schneider out at the plate to end the 10th inning. The relay throw from Teoscar Hernández was on the money to end the inning.
One very bad, very costly error, then two great plays to make up for it. Eventful game for Edman.
5. Both bullpens got taxed
With Max Scherzer going 4 ⅓ innings and Tyler Glasnow going 4 ⅔ innings, both bullpens saw a lot of work in Game 3. A lot as in every single reliever for both teams pitched, several for multiple innings. For Toronto, swingman Eric Lauer soaked up 4 ⅔ innings on 57 pitches, his most since his last start on Aug. 27. Will Klein was the hero for the Dodgers. He threw four scoreless innings on 72 pitches.
Klein is not a long man. He's a traditional short reliever whose regular-season high was 45 pitches in a Triple-A game. Klein was clearly on fumes in his fourth inning of work, but he was able to gut through it and strand runners on second and third. From now on, he'll known as World Series hero Will Klein. Just a tremendous performance from the last guy in L.A.'s bullpen.
Had there been a 19th inning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto would have pitched for the Dodgers. He warmed up in the bullpen two days after throwing a 105-pitch complete game in Game 2 and was ready to enter the game.
Remember, Game 3 was the first of three games in three days. These 18 innings will have a domino effect on Games 4 and 5, and how those games are played and managed. There will be some tired arms on the mound these next two days. Getting length from starters Ohtani and Shane Bieber in Game 4 will be imperative.
