Game 3 of the 2025 World Series was a genuine classic.
From Toronto catcher Alejandro Kirk's go-ahead three-run home run in the fourth inning to Shohei Ohtani's four intentional walks and four extra-base hits -- two of them homers -- to the winning blast off the bat of Freddie Freeman in the 18th, it tied the record for the longest World Series game in history and was a thriller from start to finish.
As the Los Angeles Dodgers take a 2-1 series lead on the Toronto Blue Jays, here's how their epic victory went down, with our in-game analysis and postgame takeaways.
Key links: World Series schedule, results
Takeaways
Los Angeles Dodgers 6, Toronto Blue Jays 5 (18 innings)
Dodgers lead series 2-1
It was over when ...: The clock was 10 minutes shy of midnight in Los Angeles and 3 in the morning back in Toronto. The warm game-time temperatures had given way to a nighttime cold. And Game 3 of the 2025 World Series had stretched to unbelievably match Game 3 of the 2018 World Series -- a record-tying 18 innings -- when Freeman sent one over the center-field fence to give the Dodgers the 6-5 win and a 2-1 edge in a series that somehow still feels like it's just getting started. -- Bradford Doolittle
Game 3 star: The Game 3 star was the Dodgers' Game 4 starting pitcher, and that was going to be the case no matter how the final outcome turned out. Ohtani has had some over-publicized hiccups at the plate, but starting with his historic National League Championship Series performance against the Milwaukee Brewers, he has gone to another place. As in: Blue Jays manager John Schneider intentionally walked him with the bases empty in the ninth, putting the winning run on base. No batter had been walked in that situation in any postseason game since 1955. Then it happened three more times (once with a runner on base), followed by a not-intentional-but-don't-throw-it-close walk.
Ohtani became the first player to reach base seven, eight and finally nine times in a playoff game, which also tied the record for any game. Before that, he became the first player with four extra-base hits in a World Series game since Frank Isbell in the all-Chicago 1906 series. A 119-year-old hitting record tied on the day before the biggest pitching start of your career? Sure, why not. This is who Ohtani is, and it's incredible to watch. -- Doolittle
More amazing stats from 18-inning World Series Game 3
• Freeman became the first player with multiple World Series walk-off home runs.
• The 609 combined pitches thrown was the most in postseason history.
• Brendon Little was the 23rd player used by the Blue Jays, tying a World Series record for a team in a single game.
• The Dodgers are the first team to use 10 pitchers in a World Series game, and the third team to do it in any postseason game. (The San Diego Padres used 11 pitchers in Game 3 of the 2020 NLDS, and the Seattle Mariners used 10 in Game 3 of the 2022 ALDS, an 18-inning game against the Houston Astros.)