LOS ANGELES — On a night when Shohei Ohtani could not be subdued, on a night when one of baseball’s cathedrals offered its entrants a baptism in the sport’s capacity for agony and ecstasy, on a night when the shame that the game had to end morphed into the fear that it never would, the Los Angeles Dodgers captured control of the World Series in a 6-5 Game 3 victory in 18 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays.
At 11:50 p.m., six hours and 39 minutes after the first pitch arrived, Freddie Freeman supplied the walk-off home run off Toronto reliever Brendon Little to send the Dodger Stadium crowd into the sort of rapture possible only after two full games’ worth of teeth-grinding, stomach-turning, heart-rending baseball. At the end of the joint-longest game in World Series history, the fans were exhausted. They were exhilarated. As Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” blared across Chavez Ravine, they were heading to the parking lots knowing the Dodgers were two victories away from a second consecutive world championship.
Seven years after Game 3 of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium lasted 18 innings, that marathon now has company. The evening overflowed with activity, too much for one scorecard to contain, too much for the brain to process, just barely enough for the teams to survive and play another game tomorrow, a tomorrow that officially arrived 10 minutes after Game 3 ended.
“I’m spent emotionally,” Roberts said. “We’ve got a ballgame later tonight. Which is crazy.”
There were outs on the bases and precise throws across the diamond. There was heroism in relief pitching by legends and rookies alike. And there was so much Ohtani, who will be the starting pitcher in Game 4. He reached base nine times, including four extra-base hits in his first four at-bats. From there, the Blue Jays intentionally walked him four times and pitched around him a fifth.
With Ohtani placed in drydock, the game stretched into agonizing extras. The winning pitcher for Los Angeles was Will Klein, a rookie reliever with a career 5.16 ERA who had never thrown more than two innings in a big-league game. On Monday, he supplied four. The game ended with Yoshinobu Yamamoto warming to pitch a potential 19th inning, only two days removed from his nine-inning masterpiece in Game 2.
“We weren’t losing that game,” Klein said. “I just had to keep going back out and keep doing that.”
Klein was the 10th Dodger to pitch. The Blue Jays used nine. Eric Lauer dragged the game deeper into the night by recording 14 outs. When Little fed Freeman a belt-high sinker to lead off the bottom of the 18th, the reliever was pitching for a second inning. Blue Jays manager John Schneider and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts found themselves caught in the misery of navigating a night that could never be foreseen.
“I love the way we played,” Schneider said. “I love the way we fought. I think every single player had the right intentions on both sides tonight.”
Neither Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow nor Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer finished the fifth inning. Trailing by two runs, Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk sparked a four-run fourth inning with a three-run homer. The two clubs traded thrilling rallies and spectacular throws as the game stretched into extras. Ohtani smoked an RBI double in the fifth. After Vladimir Guerrero Jr. scored from first on a single by Bo Bichette in the seventh, Ohtani tied the game in the bottom of the frame with his second homer of the night.
Alejandro Kirk delivered to give the Blue Jays the lead in the middle innings. (Luke Hales / Getty Images)
The later innings felt frenzied, impossibly tense, the sort of baseball only possible in October. Schneider emptied his bench. In the top of the 10th, pinch-runner Davis Schneider barreled toward the plate, desperate to score on a hit by outfielder Nathan Lukes. The relay from outfielder Teoscar Hernández to second baseman Tommy Edman beat Schneider by several steps. The crowd could not believe its luck.
In the top of the 12th, the ballpark cowered with worry as the bullpen door opened. Into the fray came Clayton Kershaw, the Hall of Famer only a few games away from retirement, looking to avoid one more postseason nightmare. The bases had been left loaded by youngster Emmet Sheehan, who had pitched into his third inning. Kershaw managed to put out the fire by inducing a groundout by Lukes. The broadcast captured his wife, Ellen, holding back tears and his friend, franchise icon Sandy Koufax, saluting the effort. In the dugout, Roberts swaddled Kershaw in a hug.
It looked like the final at-bat of Kershaw’s career. Now the Dodgers may need him for Game 4.
Each team will spend the intervening hours sifting through its rosters to see who can answer the bell for Game 4. Ohtani experienced cramping on the bases in extra innings. In a moment that could play a larger role as this series continues, Toronto designated hitter George Springer left the game with discomfort in his right side after taking a painful swing in the seventh inning. It was the only moment on Monday in which Springer received cheers from the Dodger Stadium faithful. Springer had already been dealing with significant knee discomfort throughout October. Dodgers fans were unlikely to feel sympathy.
On the path to a potential dynasty, the Dodgers acquired scar tissue. Some of the wounds were external, some were internal. One of the foremost antagonists batted leadoff for Toronto on Monday. Springer was the World Series MVP in 2017, when the Houston Astros downed the Dodgers in a seven-game classic. The subsequent sign-stealing scandal infuriated Angelenos and cast a shadow over the five homers Springer swatted.
For Game 3, Springer was joined in villainy by Toronto’s starting pitcher. The antipathy toward Scherzer stemmed less from his years of excellence as a Dodgers opponent and more from his brief stint on the team in 2021. When Scherzer declared his right arm “overcooked” and unable to function before an elimination game that October, homegrown Dodger Walker Buehler volunteered to pitch on short rest. The Atlanta Braves manhandled Buehler and ended the Dodgers’ season. Buehler underwent his second major elbow operation the next year. Scherzer inked a $130 million contract with the New York Mets.
Springer, a four-time All-Star, is one of the greatest postseason hitters ever. Scherzer, the 41-year-old, three-time Cy Young award winner, should earn induction to Cooperstown after he retires. But in Los Angeles, their resumes merit derision rather than respect.
Springer absorbed a resounding round of jeering as he stepped into the box to open the game. The booing did not relent until Springer swung through a 97 mph fastball from Glasnow for the evening’s first out. The Dodgers greeted Scherzer with similar viciousness, in the form of a leadoff double by Ohtani. But Scherzer steeled himself to retire the next three batters.
Glasnow benefited from a generous and delayed strike call in the second. After a leadoff single by second baseman Bo Bichette, Glasnow threw a 3-1 fastball to outfielder Daulton Varsho that looked above the strike zone. Varsho certainly thought so — he turned toward first base and flung his bat. As he did, home-plate umpire Mark Wegner called the pitch a strike. By then, Bichette was caught on his way to second. Glasnow picked him off for a free out.
Glasnow needed the help, as Varsho eventually walked and Kirk followed with a single. Glasnow managed to strand the runners by striking out outfielder Addison Barger and getting third baseman Ernie Clement to fly out.
To reach this stage, the Blue Jays offense drove the team’s bus. The Dodgers lineup has mostly ridden shotgun as the starting rotation has smothered opponents. The quality of his team’s at-bats has bugged Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I guess they have made good pitches, but we have missed pitches as well,” Roberts said on Sunday. “So I do think that coming home, I feel that we’re back into a little bit of a rhythm offensively that should show itself here these next three games.”
The first sign of life came in the form of outfielder Teoscar Hernández, who had struck out four times in Game 2. Fed a hanging slider by Scherzer in the second inning, Hernández made contact this time. He waffled the pitch over the left-field fence for the game’s first run.
Ohtani provided the second Dodgers run an inning later. If there is a hole in Ohtani’s swing, scouts believe, it can be found by throwing elevated fastballs near his hands. Scherzer spotted a two-strike, 95.1 mph fastball in that exact area. The sound made by his bat suggested Scherzer had jammed him. The sound made by the crowd relayed the reality: Ohtani had muscled the baseball into the Toronto bullpen for a homer.
“He’s a great player and took some really good swings today,” Schneider said.
To reverse the tide, at last Toronto caught a break. After a fourth-inning leadoff walk by Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Dodgers second baseman Tommy Edman muffed a grounder off Bichette’s bat. Rather than turn two, Edman placed runners at the corners with the error. Kirk punished the Dodgers for the mistake. He demolished a curveball for a three-run blast that left Glasnow staring at his feet in disbelief. The Blue Jays pushed across another run before Glasnow escaped.
Scherzer would exit the stage soon after Glasnow departed. Toronto manager John Schneider would not permit Scherzer to face Ohtani a third time. Yet lefty reliever Mason Fluharty could not contain Ohtani, either. Ohtani smoked an opposite-field double to bring home outfielder Kiké Hernández. Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman tied the game with a single.
The clubs traded runs in the seventh. Guerrero raced all the way home from first on a single by Bichette off Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen. Guerrero slapped the plate moments before catcher Will Smith swept in with a tag after a wayward throw by Hernández.
The crowd was at a low ebb until Ohtani came up in the bottom of the frame. His latest victim was hard-throwing right-handed reliever Seranthony Dominguez. A first-pitch fastball might as well have been on a tee. Ohtani pulverized the baseball for an opposite-field homer, a rarity for him. Ohtani howled as he rounded the bases. His voice was lost in the din all around him.
SHOHEI OHTANI, YOU ARE RIDICULOUS. #WORLDSERIES pic.twitter.com/nujmHmhC6p
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 28, 2025
That was the last time the Blue Jays let Ohtani swing the bat, at least until Little pitched around him in the 17th. It was also the last time the Dodgers scored until Freeman took Little deep. The additional proceedings were colored by fruitless at-bats by the Blue Jays and missed opportunities for the Dodgers.
Because he used a variety of pinch runners and pinch hitters, Schneider found himself with a lineup that resembled something found on a Grapefruit League split-squad day. Toronto batted 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position and stranded 19 men. The Dodgers looked much the same: 2-for-14 and 18 runners stranded.
After Kershaw escaped the 12th, the Dodgers teased their fans for several innings. Edman led off the 13th with a double, only to be stranded at third with the bases loaded when Freeman flied out. Will Smith thought he smashed a walk-off homer in the 14th.
“Come on,” Smith yelled as he ran to first base. “Get out!” It did not. The ball landed in Varsho’s glove. Varsho made another sprinting catch to flag down a 104.4 mph drive by Freeman in the 15th.
It was Varsho who ultimately came the closest to the final ball of the evening, a drive that cleared his outstretched glove and 395-foot marker in center field. Freeman pointed to the sky and looked to the bullpen for affirmation. In normal times, he likes to signal to the relievers as he rounds the bases. On this night, as the next night crept in, he realized the bullpen was all but empty. His teammates were waiting for him at the plate.
