(CNN) — Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed a contract ahead of the 2024 season worth $325 million over 12 years.
He had never thrown a pitch in Major League Baseball. But the Los Angeles Dodgers had enough money to take that kind of risk, making the bet that such an insane amount of money will eventually be worth it.
The Los Angeles Dodgers began play on Friday with their backs against the wall, facing a roaring Rogers Centre crowd as the Toronto Blue Jays were one win away from their first title in 32 years. They had just lost two straight games at home in Chavez Ravine and it seemed like time was about to run out on their dynasty claim.
Enter Yamamoto.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning in Game 7. Credit: Patrick Smith / Getty Images via CNN Newsource
He shutdown the Blue Jays again on Friday, going six innings and allowing five hits and just one run while striking out six. It was his second victory of the series.
But that achievement paled in comparison to what he did in Game 7.
Pitching on roughly 24 hours of rest, Yamamoto entered the game in the most intense of situations. The Blue Jays had two men on base, needing just one run to win the championship. On his second pitch, he hit Alejandro Kirk and loaded the bases. There was no room for error.
He forced a ground ball to Miguel Rojas, the man who tied the game with a home run in the top of the ninth, who fired home and got Isiah Kiner-Falefa by an inch. Facing Ernie Clement, who tied the postseason record for most hits in a single playoffs, he forced a popout and ended the threat.
In the 10th, he put the Blue Jays down in order. In the 11th, he allowed a double to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and a walk to Addison Barger, putting runners on first and third with one out. With one last nasty splitter, he shattered Alejandro Kirk’s bat and forced a game ending double play.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto celebrates with teammate Will Smith after the team defeated the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7. Credit: Chris Young/The Canadian Press / AP via CNN Newsource
It was his third win of the World Series. It was baseball heroics. It might change the course of his career – starting pitchers are not meant to pitch on such little rest in such high-leverage situations. But it was the stuff legends are made of and no Dodgers fan will ever forget it.
“He was the MVP of this series. That was incredible,” catcher Will Smith said. “I talked to him yesterday and was like ‘Hey, if you can give one, we can win.’ He gave us three. That was special. He will have a few months off, I know he’s going to need it. I’m just happy for him.”
His manager, Dave Roberts, put it more succinctly.
“Yamamoto’s the GOAT!” he yelled repeatedly on the Fox broadcast, using the abbreviation for Greatest of All Time.
That might be a stretch to say at this point in the Japanese star’s career, but it’s undisputed that his World Series will go down as one of the greatest in baseball history. Winning three games in a single World Series hasn’t been done since Randy Johnson did it in 2001. And he almost got in a fourth game – he was warming up in the 18th inning of Game 3 when Freddie Freeman went deep to give the Dodgers the win, just two days after he pitched a complete game.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto raises his World Series MVP trophy. Credit: Ashley Landis / AP via CNN Newsource
He’s now in the same conversation as pitchers such as Bob Gibson, Christy Mathewson and Mickey Lolich. It’s telling that only six pitchers have accomplished the feat since World War II.
The kind of toughness and grit that it takes to do what Yamamoto did on Saturday – and early Sunday – can’t be overstated.
Starting pitchers are creatures of habit. They start their game and then spend the next four days recovering, resting and following a dedicated routine that gets them ready to pitch on the fifth day. They repeat that cycle through the season, over and over from March until October.
And when they pitch, it’s a more strategic task than what relievers often go through. Starting pitchers have to face the same batters two or three times, forming a game plan to keep hitters guessing and then executing it. Reliever often come into a game aiming to overpower hitters with their stuff, either velocity or wicked movement, and use full effort on most pitches.
Starters don’t always make good relievers, but somehow when the games get to be the most important, managers always put their top guys on the mound whether they want to be there or not.
Yamamoto most certainly wanted the ball.
“I was not sure if I could pitch tonight until I went to the bullpen, but I’m glad I was able to,” Yamamoto said through an interpreter when asked about his superhuman effort pitching on back-to-back nights.
He went two-and-two-thirds innings, allowing one hit and striking out one batter. He lowered his ERA for the postseason to a paltry 1.45 and held opposing hitters to a .143 batting average in five starts and one relief appearance.
For all the ink spilled about his teammate Shohei Ohtani’s two-way prowess and the two incredible games that he had in the NLCS and Game 3 of the World Series, Yamamoto’s performance is arguably more connected to baseball’s glorious past.
A complete game victory in Game 2, followed by volunteering for relief duty two days later. Then another six-inning performance, followed by two-plus innings of clutch relief pitching less than a day later.
It’s the kind of stuff October legends are made of.
Yamamoto, as is his wont, approached that rarefied air with humility.
“I did everything I was supposed to do, and I’m so happy that I was able to win this with these teammates,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter.
(CNN) — The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 on Monday in 18 innings, which matched the longest World Series game ever, to take a two games to one lead in the best-of-seven series.
In a thrilling back-and-forth extra innings battle, the Dodgers needed a history-making night from their two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani, who had three RBIs and three runs scored in an incredible four-hit, two-homer performance that saw the three-time MVP reach base safely an astonishing nine times.
In the end, it was an 18th-inning, walk-off home run from 2024 World Series MVP Freddie Freeman that delivered the win for the Dodgers.
Toronto’s 41-year-old starting pitcher Max Scherzer put his name in the MLB history books in the opening inning Monday night, becoming the first pitcher ever to appear in the World Series with four different teams. The three-time Cy Young Award winner was greeted rudely by a Shohei Ohtani lead-off double, but Scherzer managed to escape the inning unscathed.
Los Angeles right fielder Teoscar Hernández would get the Dodgers on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second with a solo home run off Scherzer for a 1-0 lead.
Ohtani would double the Dodgers’ lead in the third inning, turning on a Scherzer fastball and sending it 389 feet into the Blue Jays’ bullpen.
Los Angeles was poised to add another run, but a perfect throw from Toronto right fielder Addison Barger cut Freeman down at the plate after a single from Dodgers catcher Will Smith.
The crucial outfield assist from Barger swung the momentum of the game in Toronto’s favor.
The Blue Jays got two runners on base with no one out in the fourth inning after Dodgers second baseman Tommy Edman made a fielding error on a possible double play ball off the bat of Toronto’s Bo Bichette. Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk then turned the game on its head with a three-run homer off Dodgers starter Tyler Glasnow to put the Jays in front 3-2. Toronto would tack on another run on a Andrés Giménez sacrifice fly.
The Dodgers bounced back with a two-run fifth inning to tie it up. Ohtani collected his third extra-base hit of the game with a double to plate Kiké Hernández. Freeman then drove in Ohtani with a single down the first base line to knot the game at 4-4.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays narrowly beats the tag by Los Angeles Dodgers Will Smith. Credit: Luke Hales / Getty Images via CNN Newsource
Toronto reclaimed the lead 5-4 in the seventh inning on a spectacular play. Bichette laced a double down the first base line that sent Vladimir Guerrero, Jr. racing around the bases, slapping his right hand down on the plate just ahead of a diving tag attempt from Smith.
Ohtani once again came to the rescue, belting his second home run of the game in the seventh inning to tie the game at 5-5. The reigning National League MVP’s fourth extra base hit of the game tied a World Series record set by Frank Isbell of the Chicago White Sox in 1906. Ohtani also established his own MLB record with his third multi-homer game in a single postseason.
Shohei Ohtani celebrates after hitting his second home run of World Series Game 3 in Los Angeles. Credit: Luke Hales / Getty Images via CNN Newsource
The game would remain tied into the bottom of the ninth inning, when Toronto manager John Schneider made the decision to intentionally walk Ohtani rather than give him a chance to do more damage at the plate. Ohtani was promptly caught stealing when he slid past the base and was tagged out by second baseman Isiah Kiner-Falefa to snuff out the rally.
As the game progressed to extra innings, the Blue Jays threatened to score in the top of the 10th inning, but a great throw from Teoscar Hernandez in right field and a perfect relay from Edman had Blue Jays baserunner Davis Schneider dead to rights at the plate as the game remained all square.
With neither team able to score, the contest dragged on into the 18th inning and passed the six-hour mark. It tied the record for longest World Series game ever, matching 2018’s Game 3 between the Boston Red Sox and Dodgers, also at Dodger Stadium.
The Dodgers got heroic efforts from a couple unlikely relievers – two shutout innings from Edgardo Henriquez and four from Will Klein, who picked up the win in a career-long outing.
With Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who pitched a complete game for Los Angeles in Game 2, warming up to take the mound if the game went to a 19th inning, Freeman made sure that wasn’t the case with a towering walk-off home run to center field off Toronto reliever Brendon Little.
After six hours and 39 minutes of nerve-racking agony, more than 50,000 fans in Dodger Stadium erupted into celebration as Freeman rounded the bases to the familiar tune of Randy Newman’s “I Love LA” to put an end to one of the most epic games in MLB history.
The Dodgers team mobbed Freeman at home plate as the Blue Jays retreated to their clubhouse to lick their wounds with roughly 17 hours until the teams will do it all again in Game 4 Tuesday night.
Freeman described his emotions rounding the bases to broadcaster FOX after the game.
“Just pure excitement,” Freeman said. “When you grind and fight, and our bullpen and our pitching staff did what they did, to have that go six hours and 40 minutes or so, that’s as good as it gets.”
Ohtani, who will have limited time to rest as he is the Los Angeles’ scheduled starting pitcher for Game 4, made another bit of MLB postseason history by becoming the first player to reach base nine times in a playoff game. Prior to Monday, no player had reached base more than six times in a postseason game. After his 4-for-4 start to the game, the three-time MVP was the recipient of four intentional walks and one traditional walk.
Ohtani was asked after the game how he felt following his historic night.
“I want to go to sleep as soon as possible so I can get ready (for Game 4),” a grinning Ohtani told FOX through an interpreter.
Los Angeles will enter Game 4 with a decided advantage – historically when the teams split the first two games of the World Series, the winner of Game 3 has won the championship 67% of the time.
This story has been updated with additional information.
The regular season is officially in the books (OK, maybe there is still a game or two trickling slowly to its finish as you read this) and the 2022 MLB playoffs are set to start Friday — and this year’s postseason could be epic.
In addition to a new format that features 12 teams and a three-game wild-card round that is guaranteed to bring drama to October from the very start, there are so many storylines to follow throughout that it has a chance to be an all-time great month of baseball.
Below, we highlight the 12 themes that will dominate the entire sport as the new 12-team format begins.
I think baseball finally nailed it. Yes, there are those who will always favor the old setups of two pennants or four division winners, but the 12-team arrangement is an improvement over 10 teams (which had been the norm for the past decade). The do-or-die wild-card game, which had been around since 2012, never felt right and, frankly, never really turned into the must-see drama that the sports world stopped everything to watch anyway.
As we saw with the temporary 16-team bracket in 2020, these quick, three-game series are fun. They’re still plenty pressure-packed, but they feel more like baseball than a winner-take-all matchup.
Crucially, this format still rewards the best teams with a first-round bye and the opportunity to rest a pitching staff and line up a rotation. My only nit with where baseball landed this year is that a seven-game division series would be better than five — maybe next year, when the start of the season won’t be delayed by a lockout.
2. There’s a 111-win superteam and nobody is sure what to make of its World Series chances
The Los Angeles Dodgers won 111 games — the most ever for a National League team in a 162-game season and a total topped only by the 2001 Seattle Mariners and 1998 New York Yankees. If they win it all, they go down alongside that Yankees team as one of the greatest of all time; if they don’t win it all, they’re relegated to the back pages of history alongside those Mariners.
Since 2017, the Dodgers have had four 104-win seasons, a remarkably long period of domination … but just one World Series title. Their sole championship came in the shortened 2020 season, with playoff games played in front of empty stadiums or at neutral sites. It counts — or as a friend of mine who is a longtime die-hard Dodgers fan told me, it counts as one-third of a title. And don’t forget that teams were allowed to play with 28-man rosters that postseason, which allowed the Dodgers to use starters as relievers and relievers as starters and do things they might not have been able to do with a 26-man roster.
Alden Gonzalez had a good breakdown of the pressure the Dodgers face this October. In a sense, they’re playing for two championships: 2022 and a validation of 2020. While manager Dave Roberts told ESPN he “absolutely” considers the Dodgers a dynasty — and four 104-win seasons certainly back that claim up — two titles would definitely secure their place in history as one of the greatest teams of all time.
3. We’ve got a real chance of a repeat
After winning the World Series in 2021, the Atlanta Braves lost Freddie Freeman to the Dodgers — and got younger and better, winning 101 games and their fifth straight division title. No team has repeated as World Series champs since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998 to 2000; the Braves have the power, the pitching and the momentum — after stealing the NL East in the final week with a three-game sweep of the New York Mets — to do it.
And it’s not just a repeat, the Braves might be on their way to a dynasty here. Their turnaround from a 10½-game deficit to the division title began when they called up Michael Harris II to play center field in late May and moved Spencer Strider to the rotation. From June 1 — the first win in a 14-game winning streak — to the end of the regular season, they went 78-34. Strider’s injured oblique might keep him out of the playoffs, but they still have Max Fried, 20-game winner Kyle Wright and October hero of the past Charlie Morton, plus a lineup that led the NL in home runs.
4. Speaking of dynasties … what do we make of the Houston Astros?
You might have noticed by now, but there are a lot of good teams at the top of this year’s playoff bracket. We have four 100-win clubs in the Dodgers, Astros, Braves and Mets, with the Yankees finishing at 99 wins. The you-can’t-predict-baseball nature of the postseason doesn’t guarantee we’ll see two of these teams in the World Series, but if we do, there’s a good chance we’ll see a classic series. The last matchup of 100-win teams in the World Series was 2017, when the Astros beat the Dodgers in seven thrilling games. Before that, you have to go all the way back to 1970 to have two 100-win teams in the World Series.
The Astros also have four 100-win seasons since 2017, including 107 in 2019 and 106 this season. Sign-stealing scandal or not, if they win the World Series, perhaps they go down as the dominant franchise of this era. And an added bonus? After 25 years of managing in the big leagues and making his 12th trip to the postseason, manager Dusty Baker is hoping to finally win that final game of the season.
To make matters more interesting, the Astros appear on a collision course to meet the Yankees in the American League Championship Series for the third time since 2017. Remember the war of words in the spring between Astros owner Jim Crane and Yankees general manager Brian Cashman after Cashman cried that the only thing that had stopped the Yankees in previous seasons from reaching the World Series was “something that was so illegal and horrific.” A Yankees-Astros ALCS would be an epic battle — even if it is one Evil Empire versus another.
5. New York baseball is B-A-C-K
This is now the Yankees’ 13th season since last appearing in a World Series in 2009 — an unacceptable length of time for baseball’s richest and most historically successful franchise with 27 titles in a sport where the wealthiest teams have a decided advantage. Longtime fans will note the Yankees are closing in on the infamous World Series drought from 1982 to 1995, the reign of terror era under George Steinbrenner when he cycled through 13 managers and seven general managers.
On the other side of town: The Mets won 100 games for just the fourth time in franchise history and first time since 1988, but they enter the postseason with the bitter taste of defeat after losing that final series to the Braves. Everyone knows that Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer can carry a team through a postseason — but deGrom allowed 14 runs and six home runs in 21 innings over his final four starts, so the Mets will need him to find that groove where he posted a 1.66 ERA over his first seven starts after returning in August. Still, this is hardly a two-man team: Pete Alonso led the NL in RBIs, Francisco Lindor might finish in the top 10 of the MVP voting, Chris Bassitt and Taijuan Walker are solid 3-4 starters and Edwin Diaz has been a lockdown closer. The Mets have had their moments since that run of success in the 1980s, including two World Series appearances, but it’s been 36 years since their iconic 1986 team won it all.
6. Did you really think we forgot about Aaron Judge?
Yes, both teams have made New York baseball interesting all season, but nobody has been more at the center of that than the man who just finished up a 62-home run campaign — and has fans of both New York teams envisioning his free agency will end with him signing with their club.
Now, we have Judge trying to cap off what might be arguably the greatest season of any player in history — by that, I mean a historic regular season, a great postseason and a World Series title. Ted Williams in 1941? Didn’t even win the pennant. Carl Yastrzemski in 1967? The highest single-season WAR for a position player other than Babe Ruth, but the Red Sox lost the World Series. Bob Gibson in 1968? A 1.12 ERA and a record 17 strikeouts in one World Series game, but he lost Game 7. Dwight Gooden in 1985? The Mets missed the playoffs. Pedro Martinez in 1999? The Red Sox lost in the ALCS. Barry Bonds in 2001? The Giants didn’t make the playoffs. Bonds in 2002? He had a great postseason, but the Giants lost Game 7 of the Fall Classic. Mookie Betts in 2018? A 10.7-WAR season that matches Judge and the Red Sox won the World Series, but Betts had a lackluster postseason (.210/.300/.323).
7. Can the GOAT go out on top?
Let’s not forget the other slugger who made home run history this season — Albert Pujols. Every player would love to go out on top, either still playing well or with a dogpile on the field. Almost none of them do. Pujols and Yadier Molina have a chance to do that — and maybe Adam Wainwright joins them in retirement as well (he’s yet to officially announce his status for 2023).
The three St. Louis Cardinals legends reunited this season when Pujols returned after a 10-year exile, and all three will play a key role in what happens to the club in October. As will Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado, two of the greatest players of their generation who will likely finish 1-2 in the MVP voting in the NL — and who both seek their first trip to the World Series.
8. The playoff drought-busters
While the Cardinals come into this postseason with loads of October experience, there are two franchises about to get their first taste of the playoffs in a long, long time. The Seattle Mariners and Philadelphia Phillies ended the sport’s two longest playoff droughts in securing wild-card spots, although both teams will be on the road for the first round — Seattle at Toronto, Philadelphia at St. Louis.
When Cal Raleigh hit his pinch-hit walk-off home run to clinch a wild-card spot, the Mariners celebrated like they had won the World Series. Can you blame them? Twenty-one years is a long time between playoff appearances. Sure, they had plenty of terrible teams along the way, but also several near misses: 93 wins in 2002 and 2003, 88 wins in 2007, one win short in 2014, three short in 2016, alive until the final day last season. They aren’t even guaranteed a home playoff game if they don’t beat the Blue Jays, although you can bet the watch party at T-Mobile Park will have a playoff-like atmosphere.
The good news is Julio Rodriguez returned from his back problem to play a couple of games at the end of the regular season (and homered in the season finale). The bad news is second-half spark plug Sam Haggerty and outfielder/DH Jesse Winker both just landed on the injured list. The rotation and bullpen are healthy, however — Luis Castillo looks like a legitimate ace when he’s on, while Logan Gilbert had a 2.00 ERA in September, allowing one run or less in five of his six starts. If you like a good underdog story, believe in the Mariners.
Meanwhile, the Phillies had the majors’ second-longest playoff drought, making it for the first time since 2011. They have Bryce Harper, back in the postseason for the first time since 2017, and power-hitting Kyle Schwarber, who led the NL in home runs. Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler and Ranger Suarez (2.95 ERA since July 16) are a strong rotation trio. I wouldn’t bet on them in the tough NL, but there are similarities here in roster construction to the 2019 Nationals, who went from the wild card to World Series champs.
9. The World Series curses we don’t talk about enough
The Cleveland Guardians are trying to win their first World Series since 1948. The San Diego Padres and Tampa Bay Rays are trying to win their first one, while the aforementioned Mariners remain the only franchise never to play in a World Series.
The Guardians’ World Series drought has never received as much attention as the ones for the Red Sox and Cubs did, but it’s now been 74 years since the Cleveland franchise won it all — longer than the 1986 Red Sox had gone (68 years) when they lost to the Mets. How about winning it all in the first season with the new nickname? They might make a movie out of that given this list of Cleveland’s postseason heartbreaks:
1995: The best team in baseball that year, but they lost the World Series to the Braves.
1997: Blew a ninth-inning lead in Game 7 of the World Series to the Marlins and lost in extra innings.
2007: Lost the ALCS to the Red Sox after being up 3-1.
2016: Were up 3-1 on the Cubs in the World Series and lost Game 7, again, in extra innings.
2017: Lost the division series to the Yankees after being up 2-0.
And then there’s the team that’s been around since 1969 — and never won it all. The Padres made World Series appearances in 1984 and 1998, but this is just the seventh postseason trip in franchise history.
But these aren’t your older brother’s Padres. This is a team that has spent the past three seasons acquiring an All-Star squad of talent while playing with a brash style that could make it very popular this postseason — if the Padres can stick around long enough for national fans to get familiar with their stars. They’ve gone all-in to dethrone the Dodgers in recent seasons — only to fall well short. But they squeaked in, and anything can happen in the playoffs, right? Especially with Manny Machado and Juan Soto and Joe Musgrove and Yu Darvish and a suddenly rejuvenated Blake Snell (1.76 ERA over his final seven starts). The Mets-Padres wild-card series is the one to watch — with the winner facing the Dodgers in a colossal division series showdown.
10. The redemption stories
Let’s see here. We’ve got Justin Verlander, who after missing 2021 with Tommy John surgery, came back and went 18-4 with a 1.75 ERA while leading the American League in wins, ERA, WHIP and lowest batting average allowed. His status as future Hall of Famer is secure, but with a big October and another World Series championship for the Astros, his legacy becomes that of an inner-circle Hall of Famer. DeGrom and Scherzer missed some time, and deGrom sputtered at the end of the season, but that dynamic pair could carry the Mets to their first title since 1986. And then of course, there is Clayton Kershaw. Yes, he got his ring a couple of years ago, but he was injured last October, and he hasn’t won a ring in a full season with a normal postseason. How will he perform?
11. The October introduction of some legit young stars
As my colleague Kiley McDaniel pointed out recently, this is the best rookie class since Pujols and Ichiro Suzuki debuted in 2001 — and most of the biggest names will be playing in the postseason (sorry, Adley Rutschman). We’ve got Rodriguez leading the Mariners and Harris and Strider on the Braves.
But it’s not just the rookies who will remind us how bright the future of baseball is this postseason …
While we often think of the Rays as a parade of bullpen arms, they also have two budding young superstars in Wander Franco and Shane McClanahan who could power another small-market success story this postseason. And across the AL East, Alek Manoah, Alejandro Kirk, Bo Bichette and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. form a young core that makes the Blue Jays a team nobody wants to face this postseason. Of course, the question we’ll all be waiting to see answered is how these young stars will handle the bright lights of October … or should we say November.
12. It’s an October so great — it could take part of November to finish it
That’s right, thanks to the combination of the new format and the MLB lockout pushing back the start of the season, Game 7 of the 2022 World Series would take place on Nov. 5, the latest date of a playoff game in MLB history.
If every series goes the distance, we’ll get 53 postseason games with all of these incredible storylines fueling the possibility that any given night can become a must-see moment for baseball fans. Of course, in the end we need great games to have a great postseason.
That’s what still makes 1986 the gold standard for all postseasons. There were just 20 playoff games that October — the seven-game ALCS between the Red Sox and Angels, the six-game NLCS between the Mets and Astros, then the seven-game World Series when the Mets beat the Red Sox. Five of the 20 games went extra innings. Eight were decided by one run. Several are all-time classics, including Game 5 of the ALCS; Games 3, 5 and 6 of the NLCS; and Games 6 and 7 of the World Series.
The stage is set. I’m going with the Dodgers over the Astros. I’ll take Kershaw versus Verlander in Game 7 of the World Series, thank you very much.
