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The Los Angeles Dodgers became the first back-to-back champions of the baseball world in 25 years on Saturday night, and did so in an unforgettable, 11-inning Game 7.
From Miguel Rojas smashing a solo home run to tie the game in the top of the ninth inning, to Andy Pages’ catch to send the game to extras, to Will Smith’s clutch home run to eventually win the game with two outs in the 11th, to Mookie Betts converting a series-winning double play with a runner in scoring position, the Dodgers delivered an epic championship to Los Angeles.
Perhaps one of the most heroic aspects of a game that had no shortage of valiant moments was the ace, Yoshinobu Yamamoto. On zero days’ rest, he made himself available for his team when they needed him most.
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With one out and two on in the bottom of the ninth, Yamamoto entered the game. On just his second pitch, he hit a batter to load up the bases. After a groundout narrowly led to a forceout play at home, Pages made a clutch snag (knocking over Kiké Hernández in the process) and to the 10th inning they went.
Yamamoto securing the final eight outs of Game 7 on no rest only added to his bolstered case to win World Series MVP honors, and after deservedly winning it, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke on the right-hander’s brilliance.
“For him to have the same stuff that he had the night before is absolutely mind-blowing to me,” Friedman said. “I got a text (via Will Ireton) last night that Yama was getting treatment to be ready for today. Kind of scoffed at it, like, ‘Oh, that’s great, he really cares but the likelihood of that is pretty low.’ And then today, he got treatment again, and said, ‘Hey, I feel really good. Like, I’m able to go out and give at least an inning, and we’ll see how my stuff holds.’
“For him to have the same stuff that he had the night before is really the greatest accomplishment I’ve ever seen on a Major League Baseball field.”
Yamamoto tossed 96 pitches the night prior, striking out six batters over as many innings, allowing just one earned run in the process. His Game 6 performance was a major reason why there was a Game 7, and for him to pitch the 2.2 most important innings of the season only adds to his awe-inspiring legend.
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Photo Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
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