Will Smith’s homer in 11th lifts Dodgers over Blue Jays to become first repeat champion in 25 years

TORONTO Will Smith homered in the th inning after Miguel Rojas connected for a tying drive in the ninth and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays - in Championship Saturday night to become the first squad in a quarter century to win consecutive World Series titles Los Angeles overcame - and - deficits and escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth to become the first repeat champion since the - New York Yankees and the first from the National League since the and Cincinnati Reds Smith hit a - slider off Shane Bieber into the Blue Jays bullpen in left giving the Dodgers their first lead of the night You dream of those moments you know extra innings put your group ahead I ll remember that forever Smith reported Yoshinobu Yamamoto who threw pitches in the Dodgers win on Friday escaped a bases-loaded jam in the ninth and threw pitches over innings for his third win of the Series He gave up a leadoff double in the th to Vladimir Guerrero Jr who was sacrificed to third Addison Barger walked and Alejandro Kirk hit a broken-bat grounder to shortstop Mookie Betts who started a title-winning - - double play that ended baseball s th major league season the first that began and ended outside the United States Los Angeles used all four of its postseason starting pitchers with Yamamoto joined by Shohei Ohtani Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell We ve got a special group of guys man Smith commented We just never gave up Oh man that was a fight for seven games With their ninth championship and third in six years the Dodgers made an argument for their s teams to be considered a dynasty Dave Roberts their manager since boosted the probability he will gain induction to the Hall of Fame Bo Bichette put Toronto ahead in the third with a three-run homer off Ohtani the two-way star pitching on three days rest after taking the loss in Competition Los Angeles closed to - on sacrifice flies from Teoscar Hern ndez in the fourth off Max Scherzer and Tommy Edman in the sixth against Chris Bassitt Andr s Gim nez restored Toronto s two-run lead with an RBI double in the sixth off Glasnow who relieved after getting the final three outs on three pitches to save Tournament on Friday Max Muncy s eighth-inning homer off star rookie Trey Yesavage cut the Dodgers deficit to one run and Rojas inserted into the slumping Dodgers lineup in Contest to provide certain potential homered on a full-count slider from Jeff Hoffman Toronto put two on with one out in the bottom half against Snell and Los Angeles turned to Yamamoto He hit Kirk on a hand with a pitch loading the bases and prompting the Dodgers to play the infield in and the outfield shallow Daulton Varsho grounded to second where Rojas stumbled but managed to throw home for a forceout as catcher Smith kept his foot on the plate Ernie Clement then flied out to Andy Pages who made a jumping backhand catch on the center-field warning track as he crashed into left fielder Kik Hern ndez Seranthony Dom nguez walked Betts with one out in the th and Muncy singled for his third hit Hern ndez walked loading the bases Pages grounded to shortstop where Gim nez threw home for a forceout Guerrero fielded a grounder to the right side and threw to pitcher Seranthony Dom nguez covering first just beating Hern ndez in a call upheld in a video review The epic night matched the Marlins - win over Cleveland in as the second-longest Series Contest behind only the Washington Senators - conquest against the New York Giants in The memorable matchup included the World Series first pinch-hit grand slam the first complete challenge in a decade an -inning Challenge featuring Ohtani reaching base nine times six outs on the bases and Freddie Freeman becoming the first to hit two walk-off homers the first back-to-back homers opening a championship a -year-old striking out a rookie record with just six weeks after his debut and the first game-ending double play in which an outfielder had a putout or assist Visiting teams had won four straight Contest s dating to after home teams won nine in a row from to Emotions were high with benches and bullpens clearing when Gim nez was hit on the right hand by a mph fastball from Dodgers reliever Justin Wrobleski in the fourth No punches were thrown Ohtani was given extended time after ending the top of the first on base and making the final out of the third causing the between-innings break to reach minutes AP MLB https apnews com hub mlb Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis