Baseball
An Ode to Game 3 of the World Series
A rundown on a World Series game that seemed like it would never end. But eventually it did with a moment that will live forever in the sport's annals.
It lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes, longer than back-to-back viewings of Titanic. This epic World Series clash was, well, two games rolled into one.
Los Angeles Dodgers 6, Toronto Blue Jays 5.
Bleary-eyed announcers.
Fans with hoarse voices.
Exhausted players.
Dodger Stadium personnel who worked double duty.
An astonishing array of thrills and what-ifs.
Eighteen innings.
Nineteen pitchers (from Tyler Glasnow and Max Scherzer in the first to Will Klein and Brendon Little in the 18th).
And don't forget that retiring star Clayton Kershaw, a future Hall of Famer, had a very minor part in the Game 3 storyline (as the eighth of 10 Dodgers pitchers).
Six-hundred and nine pitches (a preposterous number that eclipses the total thrown by many relievers in a single season).
A combined total of 130 at-bats.
Twenty-nine strikeouts (including Dodgers catcher Will Smith's four).
Thirty-one hits.
Thirty-seven men left on base.
Ten consecutive scoreless innings (from the eighth to the 17th).
Overall, this baseball marathon was a statistical marvel when all the numbers are cobbled together.
Heroes of This Epic World Series Game
Indeed, there were also special moments in LA on this seemingly never-ending night.
And two guys who'll forever be linked to this contest's unique narrative: future Hall of Famers Freddie Freeman and Shohei Ohtani.
Freeman, the 2024 World Series MVP, slugged the walk-off blast over the center-field fence in the 18th on a 3-2 sinker.
Ohtani hammered his seventh and eighth homers of the 2025 MLB postseason in the third and the seventh innings.
And Ohtani smacked a pair of doubles and walked five times.
Being on base nine times in a single game is, well, unheard of (it hadn't happened in an MLB game since Stan Hack of the Chicago Cubs did it in August 1942).
Four of Shohei's free passes were intentional.
If you had Blue Jays manager John Schneider's job, would you have ordered the team's pitchers to walk him again and again and again and again?
A day later, the recollections of Game 3 occupy a thick file in my brain's baseball memory vault.
And the World Series marches on.
Another day, another assignment for Ohtani ― starting pitcher/designated hitter.
Play ball (again)!
RELATED:
- ODDS and EVENS | Yoshinobu Yamamoto Tosses a Gem in World Series Game 2
- World Series: Blue Jays Trounce Dodgers in Game 1
- Shohei Ohtani Leads Dodgers to NLCS Sweep with Amazing Game 4 Performance
Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.