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Remembering the 2025 World Series, the best World Series of the 21st century
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Photo credit: © Kevin Sousa-Imagn Images
Cynthia Ryley Delaney
Oct 23, 2026, 17:00 EDT
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The 2026 World Series begins on Friday evening.
This year, the Milwaukee Brewers take on the Tampa Bay Rays. It’s a World Series featuring a pair of small market ball clubs in the hunt for the first World Series in franchise history, a far cry from the 2025 World Series which featured two high-payroll teams.
The 2026 season was a disappointing one for the Toronto Blue Jays, but memories of the last Fall Classic are unforgettable, for good and bad reasons. At the end of the day, if you look at the 2025 World Series as an outside observer, it shouldn’t be a hot take to say it was one of the best in the 21st century.
Moments and performances define a World Series. Every World Series has one game that stands out because of these moments. For the 2025 World Series, you can point to pretty much any game and say “that was the best game of the series”. It didn’t go the Jays’ way, but what a series it was.
Editor’s note: This article will be a deep dive into the 2025 World Series, featuring clips of Game 7.

Game 1

Thanks to a better record, the Blue Jays hosted Game 1 of the World Series and managed to win 11-4.
Moment/Performance: Addison Barger’s pinch-hit home run
Coming into the bottom of the sixth, the two teams were deadlocked at two apiece. The first three Blue Jays reached, chasing southpaw Blake Snell with Clement coming up to at-bat with the bases loaded. Righty or lefty, it didn’t matter, as Clement drove in a run with a single. Lukes walked to drive in another run, followed by an RBI single courtesy of Andrés Giménez.
After George Springer grounded out, the Blue Jays turned to Barger to pinch-hit for Davis Schneider, with the Dodgers countering with southpaw and former Blue Jay Anthony Banda. It didn’t matter, as on a 2-1 pitch, Barger hit the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history, blowing the game wide open.
The Jays added two more runs that inning thanks to a two-run shot by Alejandro Kirk, hanging a nine-spot on the defending World Series champions. Shohei Ohtani hit a two-run blast in the seventh, but it was far too late as the Jays took Game 1.

Game 2

Game 2, also at the Rogers Centre, saw the Dodgers collect a 5-1 victory to send the teams to California knotted up at one.
Moment/Performance: Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s gem
Not all moments and performances from the 2025 World Series belonged to the Blue Jays. Game 2’s performance belongs to the Dodgers, as starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto went the distance, allowing just four hits, one earned run, and striking out eight.
The Dodgers gave him an early, but the Blue Jays responded with a run in the bottom of the third thanks to a hit by pitch, single, and sacrifice fly. Following that single, the Blue Jays didn’t get another base runner, as Yamamoto retired the next 20 batters in a dominant display.
However, Blue Jays’ starter Kevin Gausman had a strong start as well. After six, the teams remained tied, but a solo home run by Will Smith in the top of the seventh turned out to be the game-winner, with Gausman surrendering another run that inning. Two more Dodger runs in the top of the eighth didn’t matter, as Yamamoto cruised to a 5-1 Dodgers’ victory.

Game 3

Game 3 was the first instant classic game the two teams played, lasting 18 innings before the Dodgers hit a solo home run to take a 2-1 series lead.
Moment/Performance: Freddie Freeman’s walk-off home run
There are three games I’d describe as a classic in this World Series, with Game 3 being the first one. It was an 18-inning affair to decide who took a 2-1 series lead. With the Blue Jays lineup decimated due to using pinch hitters, the Dodgers ended up outlasting the Blue Jays thanks to a walk-off home run by Canadian Freddie Freeman.
That was the moment, but there were plenty of performances as well. On the Blue Jays’ side, Alejandro Kirk hit a massive three-run home run to turn a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. When the game went to extras, Eric Lauer pitched four and two-third scoreless innings to keep the Blue Jays alive.
On the Dodger side of things, Will Klein pitched four scoreless innings, giving up a hit, two walks, and striking out five, picking up the victory. No player had a performance like Ohtani, who reached base in all nine of his at bats, hitting two home runs, two doubles, and earning five free passes.
Freeman gave us the moment, but there were so many performances in this game.

Game 4

Of the seven games played in the 2025 World Series, I’d say that Game 4 is the only one lacking a performance or a moment. In the end, the Blue Jays won 6-2 to even up the series at two.
Moment/Performance: Nothing
The closest thing to a moment was Guerrero Jr.’s third inning, two-run home run, giving the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead. They never relinquished the lead, instead stringing a few hits together in the top of the seventh to expand their lead to four. In the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers scored a run off Louis Varland, but this was a pretty comfortable win.

Game 5

The final game played in Los Angeles in 2025 was a vital Game 5, determining who went back to Canada with a 3-2 series lead. In the end, the Blue Jays were the victors, defeating the Dodgers 6-1.
Moment/Performance: Davis Schneider and Guerrero Jr. go back-to-back
Before I even had a moment to sit down, lead-off hitter Davis Schneider took the first pitch of the ball game over the left field wall to give the Blue Jays a 1-0 lead. This also happens to be my favourite Dan Shulman calls. Two pitches later, Guerrero Jr. took Snell deep to give the Jays a 2-0 lead. This was the moment.
Like Game 4, the Jays ended up winning this one comfortably, thanks in large part to a historic performance by Trey Yesavage. Over seven innings of work, the rookie struck out 12 and gave up just three hits and an earned run. By striking out 12, Yesavage set a new rookie record in the World Series, one that lasted nearly 70 years.
It was a fantastic game, likely the best in many World Series, but it wasn’t the best in the 2025 World Series.

Game 6

With their backs against the wall, the Dodgers turned to Yamamoto to start Game 6. In the end, the Dodgers defeated the Blue Jays 3-1 to force a winner-take-all Game 7. 
Moment/Performance: Game-ending double play to force Game 7
A World Series can’t be the best without a little bit of controversy. 
With Yamamoto back on the mound, the Blue Jays struggled to create momentum. After the Dodgers scored third in the top of the third, the Blue Jays responded with a run in their half of the third. After that, they managed to hit just two singles off Yamamoto in the next two innings.
Their next best chance to score was in Yamamoto’s final inning, as Guerrero Jr. hit a double and Bichette walked, bringing a go-ahead run to the plate with two outs. Unfortunately, Yamamoto’s final pitch of the game was a splitter that got Varsho to chase, ending the threat. The Jays left a runner stranded at second in both the seventh and eighth, giving them just three more outs to do something.
Kirk led off the bottom of the ninth, getting hit by Rōki Sasaki on a 0-2 pitch. Then, the controversy happened. On a 2-2 pitch, Barger managed to get the ball down in the outfield. The ball got stuck between the padding, and it was ruled a double. It was a one-in-a-million play, but Myles Straw (who pinch-ran for Kirk) likely wouldn’t have scored.
Still with runners on second and third with no outs, Clement was far too aggressive, popping up a first pitch sinker located in the hands. At this point, a base hit would have tied the game, but then came the moment from Game 6.
On a 1-0 pitch, Giménez connected with a pitch just outside the zone. It was in bloop territory, but Enrique Hernández ran it down for the second out. Then he got the third out by doubling up Barger, setting up a winner-take-all Game 7.
The controversy, the moment, a strong pitching display by Yamamoto. In many cases, this is probably a World Series’ best game. However, the 2025 World Series had Game 7.

Game 7

I mean, we all know what happened.
Moment/Performance: Pick one
All Game 7 had to do to make the 2025 World Classic one of the best in recent memories was be entertaining. Instead, we were treated to one of the best games of all time. It had moments, it had performances, it had heartbreak, it really had everything.
There are so many moments to choose from. In the bottom of the third, Bichette hit a three-run tank off Ohtani, his penultimate hit as a Jay. 
Who could forget Guerrero Jr.’s celebration after the Blue Jays turned an inning ending double play in the top of the seventh?
Do you even remember that the benches cleared in Game 7 of a World Series? How many times has that happened in the scenario the two teams were in?
But what this game will be known for is the Miguel Rojas home run. Down by one with just two outs left, bench player Rojas hit a game-tying blast before Ohtani stepped up to the plate. Watching clips from this game is pretty tough, and admittedly it’s the most I’ve watched from the game since November 1st, 2025, but this takes the cake. It’s also the moment from the game.
Following the Rojas home run, everything that went wrong for the Blue Jays did. Guerrero Jr. led off the ninth, hitting a deep flyout that looked like it was gone off the bat. The Blue Jays loaded the bases, but Varsho just missed keeping a ball fair to walk it off. Later in the at-bat, he hit it to the second baseman, with lead runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa being out by literal inches.
Then Clement stepped up to the plate trying to right the wrong from the day before. He connected with the pitch, but Andy Pages made a terrific catch in the outfield to send the game to extras.
The Dodgers loaded the bases in the top of the 10th, but Seranthony Domíguez got two key outs. In the bottom of the tenth, the Jays responded by going three up, three down, bad news for them as Will Smith hit a go-ahead home run in the 11th.
Guerrero Jr. led off the inning with a double, then was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt. Barger walked, bringing up Kirk to the plate. We all know what happened next.
There were so many notable performances from this game, including Yamamoto pitching on no rest to retire the final eight outs. Max Scherzer, 41 years old at the time, had a strong performance. This was the game in which Clement broke the all-time hits record for a single postseason, and Varland set the record for the most appearances in a postseason by a pitcher.
I don’t have doubt in my mind that this is the greatest World Series of the 21st century, and one of the best World Series of all time. It’s just a damn shame that I and many other Blue Jays won’t be able to watch it back.
Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Blue Jays Nation, DFOEdmonton, and DFOCalgary. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.
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