Toronto
\nThe Los Angeles Dodgers conjured a stunning come-from-behind victory in extra innings to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 and clinch back-to-back World Series on Saturday in one of the greatest Major League Baseball championship deciders in history.
\nA night of jaw-dropping drama at Toronto\u2019s Rogers Centre saw the reigning champions stave off defeat with a game-tying home run from Miguel Rojas in the ninth inning before Will Smith\u2019s home run in the 11th put the Dodgers into the lead.
\nJapanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto \u2014 who had started Friday\u2019s game six victory \u2014 then closed out the win by getting the final three outs to crown a heroic personal contribution to the series win and leave the Blue Jays heartbroken.
\n\u201cWe just never gave up,\u201d Dodgers home-run hero Smith said. \u201cKept fighting, you know, pitching our asses off, taking great at-bats, finally punched through there.
\n\u201cWe know we needed to get a run there. To be able to come in clutch, that was huge. You know, you dream of those moments \u2014 extra innings, put your team ahead. I\u2019ll remember that forever.\u201d
\nYamamoto \u2014 who had thrown a complete game last week in a game two win before helping the team level the series in Friday\u2019s pulsating game six win in Toronto \u2014 was named the World Series Most Valuable Player.
\n\u201cI was not sure I could pitch until I went to the bullpen tonight, but I\u2019m glad I was able to,\u201d said Yamamoto, who had re-emerged to join the Dodgers all-hands-on-deck effort in the ninth inning just 24 hours after thowing 96 pitches in Friday\u2019s game six win.
\n\u201cI did everything I could do, everything I was supposed to do and I\u2019m so happy that I was able to win this with these teammates,\u201d the 27-year-old right-hander said.
\nThe Dodgers are the first team to win back-to-back World Series since the New York Yankees completed a hat-trick of titles in 2000.
\nBlue Jays manager John Schneider admitted that defeat was hard to stomach.
\n\u201cIt will hurt for a few days, a few weeks, when you\u2019re that close. The positive person in me will take some time to digest it,\u201d said Schneider, whose team had outplayed the Dodgers on their way to building a 3-2 series lead earlier this week.
\n\u201cI thought we had chances to sweep them,\u201d Schneider said. \u201cI thought that we played our game, and our game is as good as anybody in baseball. So is it two heavyweights going back and forth, going back to the beginning of the series when people were calling it David versus Goliath, it\u2019s not even close.\u201d<\/p>\n
Late comeback
\nThe Blue Jays had looked poised to win their first MLB championship since 1993 after taking an early 3-0 lead after Bo Bichette\u2019s third inning three-run home run with Dodgers ace Shohei Ohtani struggling from the mound.
\nToronto, buoyed by a superb performance from starting pitcher Max Scherzer, had led 4-2 heading into the eighth inning and were just six outs from victory.
\nBut Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy crushed a home run to make it 4-3 and give the defending champions a flicker of hope.
\nThen Rojas punished a loose pitch in the top of the ninth to suddenly knot the score at 4-4.
\nToronto then appeared set to seal a walkoff win in the bottom of the ninth inning when Yamamoto loaded the bases after taking over from reliever Blake Snell.
\nBut Rojas\u2019s superb throw cut down Isiah Kiner-Falefa as he attempted to cross home plate.
\nThere was more drama to come when Ernie Clement\u2019s high fly ball deep into left-centerfield saw Dodgers outfielders Kike Hernandez and Andy Pages collide as they went for the catch. Pages though came up with the ball and somehow the Dodgers had survived.
\nToronto then flipped the script in the top of the 10th inning, escaping a bases-loaded situation of their own to leave the Blue Jays another chance to walk it off in the bottom of the inning.
\nYamamoto, though, mowed through the Blue Jays in order to take it to the 11th inning.
\nAfter Rojas and Ohtani were quickly out, it fell to Smith to grab his moment of history.
\nThe catcher demolished a loose pitch from Blue Jays reliever Shane Bieber 366 feet into left field to make it 5-4.
\nIn the bottom of the inning, the Blue Jays had runners on first and third base with only one out. But Alejandro Kirk grounded into a double play to end the inning and the Dodgers had clinched a sensational win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Toronto The Los Angeles Dodgers conjured a stunning come-from-behind victory in extra innings to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 and clinch back-to-back World Series on Saturday in one of the greatest Major League Baseball championship deciders in history. A night of jaw-dropping drama at Toronto\u2019s Rogers Centre saw the reigning champions stave off defeat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":512201,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-512181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n