While the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series ended definitively off the gloves of shortstop Mookie Betts and first baseman Freddie Freeman with a double play, the series as a whole was anything but definitive. In the fight for the Commissioner’s Trophy, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays duked it out for seven games — the first seven-game series in the World Series since 2019 — and played one of the best, if not the best, game sevens in World Series history. On one side was last year’s World Series Champion the Los Angeles Dodgers attempting to win back-to-back championships to solidify their dynasty as a team that has dominated the postseason since the late 2010s. On the other side was the Toronto Blue Jays, who sought to become World Series champions for the first time in 32 years and end the 13th-longest active championship drought of any MLB team. In seven games, time and time again, both teams would defy the odds when an outcome seemed inevitable and subvert it for what resulted in a phenomenally entertaining World Series.
Statistically, the World Series matchup seemed lopsided in favor of Toronto, even as formidable as the Dodgers roster might have been. The Blue Jays boasted sluggers like Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and George Springer, along with steady hitters up and down the lineup in Bo Bichette, Alejandro Kirk and Ernie Clement. Toronto scored 105 runs total this postseason, setting a new record in MLB. Another record was set by Clement, who accumulated 30 hits in the postseason.
The first two games of this series were split evenly in Toronto in contrast to the domination that would come. The Blue Jays won game one easily, 11-4, before Los Angeles bounced back to win game two 5-1 with the help of World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitching his second complete game of the playoffs in a row, which hadn’t been done in the postseason since 2001.
The middle three games played in Los Angeles saw the Dodgers win game three after an 18-inning gauntlet, tying the record for the longest World Series game in history, before losing games four and five to the Blue Jays and then rebounding in game six to send the series to Toronto for a winner-take-all battle.
The Dodgers would need hits if they wanted to win it all, but their offense had gone deadly silent. Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts — who went three for 23 in a five-game stretch — expressed his disappointment with his performance in an interview with Fox Sports.
“For me personally, I’ve been terrible,” Betts said. “I wish it was from lack of effort, I really do, but it’s not.”
His sentiments summed up the feelings of the lineup, which was almost completely silent for the past two games.
Game six and seven were do or die for the Dodgers as they headed back to Toronto. But with another heroic six-inning, one-run start from Yamamoto and great defensive luck and skill in the ninth inning, they survived for a game seven. With everything on the line, both teams went all out. The Blue Jays got out to an early 3-0 lead before the Dodgers closed the distance and tied the game to force extra innings. In extra innings, the Dodgers would prevail by just one run to win their second World Series in a row and become the first repeat champions in 25 years. Despite the statistics favoring the Blue Jays, the Dodgers’ unfathomable win put the unpredictability and drama of baseball on full display and proved the ability of key moments of baseball games to completely swing broader narratives and become legendary or infamous for years to come.
In the aftermath of the World Series — and especially one as legendary as this one — other baseball narratives tend to get lost in the shuffle, but another riveting seven game series took place in the postseason between the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners. It would end in heartbreak for the Mariners, who choked a 3-1 series lead and once again fell short of their first World Series appearance in franchise history.
Mariners catcher Cal Raleigh discussed his feelings after the Mariners’ game seven loss in an interview with KING5 Seattle.
“I hate to use the word failure, but it’s a failure,” Raleigh said. “We expected to get to the World Series and win the World Series.”
Heading into 2026, the Mariners could see massive lineup changes, as three of their key players — first baseman Josh Naylor, second baseman Jorge Polanco and third baseman Eugenio Suárez — are set to enter free agency. While hopes remain high for the team, which will, at the very least, retain most key players, the question remains if the Mariners can catch lightning in a bottle once again and, this time, finally get over the hump.
