Blue Jays Lose WS Game 3 to Dodgers as MLB Fans Celebrate Historic 18-Inning Thriller

It took 18 high-drama, emotionally exhausting innings, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are two wins away from back-to-back World Series titles thanks to a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Monday's Game 3 of the 2025 Fall Classic.

Freddie Freeman played the role of hero with a walk-off home run off Brendon Little to give the Dodgers the 2-1 lead in the series, but he was one of many players who deserved recognition for their efforts.

Will Klein was credited with the win thanks to four brilliant shutout innings in extras, while Shohei Ohtani turned in one of the best individual performances in baseball history by reaching base safely in all nine of his plate appearances and adding two home runs just for good measure.

As for Toronto, Eric Lauer pitched 4.2 shutout innings to preserve the tie while the visitors' offense went missing in action and finished 2-of-12 with runners in scoring position.

Social media had plenty of reaction to what ended up tying for the longest game in World Series history:

It seemed like the Dodgers had the advantage on paper given the starting pitching since Tyler Glasnow entered play having allowed a single earned run in 13.1 innings of postseason work. His counterpart, Max Scherzer, is an all-time legend with two World Series titles and three Cy Young awards, but he is also 41 years old and made just one playoff appearance prior to Monday.

That advantage on paper became reality in the early going when Teoscar Hernández and Ohtani launched solo homers off Scherzer in the first three innings to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead.

Los Angeles chased Scherzer from the game in the fifth and then quickly scored two more runs with an RBI double from Ohtani and an RBI single from Freeman off Mason Fluharty. That only tied the score, though, because Toronto also forced Glasnow from the game in the fifth thanks to a four-run fourth.

Alejandro Kirk's three-run homer provided the fireworks in that frame and was a major reason the game became a battle of the bullpens for the remainder.

Bullpen battle or not, it didn't matter who Toronto pitched against Ohtani. 

His first double and homer came off Scherzer, his second double came off Fluharty, and his second homer came off Seranthony Domínguez. That second long ball tied the game at five in the seventh after the resilient Blue Jays responded to George Springer exiting with an in-bat injury by taking the lead when Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored from first on a hit by Bo Bichette.

It turned into a game of missed opportunities for Toronto from there with Roki Sasaki retiring Ty France and Nathan Lukes with two runners on in the eighth and then retiring Myles Straw with two runners on in the ninth after Isiah Kiner-Falefa was thrown out at third base.

The trend didn't stop in extra innings, as Davis Schneider was easily thrown out at home on a Lukes hit in the 10th before Lukes grounded out with the bases loaded against Clayton Kershaw in the 12th.

Los Angeles missed its fair share of opportunities as well after the Blue Jays started intentionally walking Ohtani every time he came to the plate. The biggest of those was when Freeman flew out to the warning track with the bases loaded in the 13th, but Will Smith and Hernández also just missed long balls against Lauer.

Klein went pitch for pitch with Lauer and had his biggest moment in the 18th inning when he struck out Tyler Heineman with runners on second and third.

That set the stage for Freeman to finally break the tie.