Ordinarily, I wrap up the calendar year with a countdown of the best games over the past 12 months, capped by my selection as No. 1. This year, I'm not doing that. Because No. 1 stands so far above the others that it's not even a contest. There are others worth mentioning, sure, but they all pale in comparison!
Don't get me wrong. Those honorable mentions were all exceptional in their own right. That epic French Open men's final. The championship game of the Four Nations Face-Off. Duke-Houston in the Final Four. Texas A&M and Nebraska in the NCAA women's volleyball tournament. But none of them are anywhere near the same level as Game 7 of the World Series.
The entire 2025 World Series will go down in history. Some experts think it was the best ever. I'm not willing to go that far. Not when you have 1991, 1975, 1986, 2001 and even 2016. Maybe I'll change my mind in the future, but, best of all-time or not, it's certainly up there among the best. Not only did the series go the distance, there were three epic games that were all classics in their own right. But, with all due respect to Game 3 and Game 6, it's Game 7 that will truly stand the test of time.
First, let's set the stage. The series went back to Toronto with the Blue Jays leading 3-2. The Dodgers had a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth when a ball got stuck in the outfield fence with a runner on first, going for a ground-rule double and preventing a run from scoring. Still, they had second and third with nobody out. After Tyler Glasnow got the first out, Andres Gimenez hit a line drive to left field that turned into a game-ending 7-4 double play! And on to Game 7 we went!
Game 7 featured two future Hall of Famers on the mound. For Toronto, it was Max Scherzer, who started the last World Series Game 7 for the Nationals in 2019. He became just the fourth pitcher all-time to start multiple World Series Game 7's. For the Dodgers, it was Shohei Ohtani, starting on three days' rest for the first time in his career. And, Ohtani being Ohtani, he also led off the game with a single and was on third base when the top of the first ended before he had even thrown a pitch.
Ohtani got out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the second, but gave up a three-run homer to Bo Bichette in the third. The Dodgers pulled within 3-2 on sac flies by Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman before Toronto made it 4-2 on Gimenez's RBI double in the sixth. It would stay that way until the eighth.
In the top of the eighth, Max Muncy crushed one to right field to make it 4-3. The Blue Jays then turned to closer Jeff Hoffman for a four-out save. He got the first two, but with one out in the top of the ninth (and Toronto two outs away from the championship), Miguel Rojas (who was on the back end of the game-ending double play in Game 6) hit one of the most improbably game-tying home runs in World Series history. Game 7 of the World Series was headed to the bottom of the ninth tied 4-4.
After Bo Bichette singled and Addison Barger walked in the bottom of the ninth, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts went to Yoshinobu Yamamoto out of the bullpen. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had pitched six innings and thrown 96 pitches to earn the win in Game 6 the night before. He hit Alejandro Kirk with a pitch, loading the bases with one out and setting up an absolutely insane sequence of events.
With the series-winning run on third, the Dodgers brought the infield in. The next batter, Daulton Varsho hit a ground ball to Rojas at second. His throw home just beat pinch runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa to the plate. The Blue Jays challenged, but the call was upheld. Toronto was literally inches from winning the World Series. Ernie Clement, who had a record 30 hits in the postseason, was up next and he hit one to the gap in left center. Andy Pages, who had just come in for defense after Kirk walked, tracked it down, literally ran over left fielder Kike Hernandez, and made the catch to send Game 7 into extra innings.
LA loaded the bases with one out in the top of the 10th (without the benefit of the stupid free runner), but failed to score. After a 1-2-3 bottom of the 10th, the Blue Jays turned to their Game 4 starter--Shane Bieber--in the 11th. With two out, Bieber gave up a solo home run to Will Smith that landed in almost the same spot as the Rojas homer two innings earlier. The Dodgers had their first lead of the game and were suddenly three outs away from repeating as World Series champions.
But, of course, the bottom of the 11th couldn't be straightforward. Vlad Guerrero Jr. led off with a double, then Kiner-Falefa bunted him over to third. Yamamoto wanted no part of Addison Barger and walked him on four pitches, putting the winning run on first, but also setting up the double play. On an 0-2 pitch, Kirk sent a broken-bat ground ball towards short. Mookie Betts stepped on second, fired to first to complete the double play, and the Dodgers became the first team in 25 years to win back-to-back World Series.
For a World Series that had a little bit of everything, it was a fitting conclusion. The two best teams in baseball put on a show that was worthy of the stage. The World Series as a whole, and Game 7 in particular, were baseball at its absolute best. And the fans agreed. Game 7 was the most-watched MLB game since Game 7 in 1991, with a combined 51 million viewers in the United States, Canada and Japan.
Part of what made the game (and the series) so spectacular was how it could've gone either way. It didn't just go down to the wire. If one or two plays had gone differently, it would've been the Blue Jays celebrating their first title in 32 years. Instead, the Dodgers did something that hadn't happened in baseball since the 1998-2000 Yankees...defend a World Series title. They became the first National League team to do it since the 1975-76 Reds.
So, there really was no other choice. A spectacular ending to a spectacular World Series between the two best teams in baseball. Game 7 wasn't just the best game of 2025 across all sports. It was one of the greatest World Series games of all-time.
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