The Best World Series Ever

  Unless you were on a remote island with no Internet access or somewhere like that, you could not have missed the end of the 2025 World Series between the defending champion and reigning National League kings, the Los Angeles Dodgers and their American League counterparts, the Toronto Blue Jays. Because those who gave the Series the nickname “The Fall Classic,” meant it for this particular set. 

The seven games were as riveting as I have ever seen a World Series. And my first one was in 1957, watching the New York Yankees lose to Henry Aaron, Eddie Mathews, Joe Adcock, Lew Burdette and Warren Spahn  and the rest of the Milwaukee Braves. (History lesson: the Braves abandoned Wisconsin after the 1965 season for the greener pastures of Atlanta, where the team is now in its third ballpark in 50 years; meanwhile, the Brewers were born in 1970 from the remnants of the Seattle Pilots—who lasted one season in the Pacific Northwest— and have played in two stadiums while members of both the American and National Leagues)

I have seen most every notable play in World Series lore. Ron Swoboda’s catch in 1969 for the Miracle New York Mets. Bill Buckner booting the ball at Shea Stadium in Game 6 of the Red Sox, giving the Mets a most improbable win. On my 36th birthday. Or the Chicago Cubs finally breaking the curse and downing Cleveland in 2016. 

You want home runs? Joe Carter’s walk off homer in 1993 gave the Blue Jays the title. Kirk Gibson limping around the bases after his clutch homer for the Dodgers. Bill Mazeroski’s winner in Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to give the Pittsburgh Pirates the crown although the Yankees out hit and out scored the Bucs overall. 

Yankees moments? They are aplenty, courtesy of the dynasties in the 1950’s-60’s, 1970’s, 1990’s-2000’s and the most recent win in 2009, which seems like eons ago for the spoiled NYY fans. 

I can see Bobby Richardson squeezing Hall of Famer Willie Mc Covey’s shot to the second baseman to secure the win for the Bombers over San Francisco. How about Mickey Mantle’s titanic blast into the Yankee Stadium upper deck to cement a win versus St. Louis? Could it be Reggie Jackson, “Mr. October,” and his three home run night against LAD? Or the highlights from Derek Jeter, which included a lead off home run at Shea Stadium in The Subway Series?

I can go on and on about the Yankees exploits and what I have watched on TV. I made it to the 1971 World Series in Baltimore to see the Orioles defeat the Pirates. What I remember most is the late Roberto Clemente unleashing a monster throw from the warning track in right field at Memorial Stadium, on a line and on the fly to third base. 

This is what made the World Series compelling to me. The drama. The excitement. The glory.

But as much as any one World Series before 2025 may have been must-see-TV, this year’s edition outdid every other one—by far. And nobody expects this to happen.

Sure, the Dodgers were the favorites. Besides being the defending champs, they buzz-sawed through the National League playoffs and seemed poised to do the same to Toronto. Especially since the Blue Jays endured two brutally tough series against the Yankees and Seattle Mariners, the latter going to seven games. 

Except that no one sent the memo to the Toronto team. In fact, they sent a huge opening salvo to LAD in the form of a major beat down of ace Blake Snell and emerging with a 11-2 victory in Game 1 in Toronto. 

Never count out the champion, who knows what it takes to win the title. LAD rebounded in Game 2 to tie the series at 1. Remember these Dodges’ names—pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and his battery mate, catcher Will Smith. Yamamoto shut down the Jays with a complete game four-hitter and Seth blasted a three run homer in support of his pitcher. 

Home field had shifted in favor of the Dodgers. Many thought that the Blue Jays might fold under the pressure. 

Then there was Game 3. Which morphed into a doubleheader by the time it was over. I gave up in the eighth inning, with the score tied at 5, courtesy of a Shohei Ohtnai home run. 

That would be the last run scored until Freddie Freeman, the first baseman with the knack for game-winning blasts, ended the marathon with a home run. This was an epic game, where both managers literally emptied their lineup and used 19 pitchers until Freeman mercifully ended the contest. 

Was this a killer game for the Blue Jays? Especially when they were facing Ohtani on the mound in Game 4? Would they not be up for the task at hand?

Less than nine innings later, we saw the series knotted up at 2. The Blue Jays were alert and hungry. LAD was roasted from the night before. Ohtani pitched admirably for 6 innings given the fact he had played 18 innings the night before. Vlad Guerrero, Jr. continued his impressive play for Toronto, with almost all of the lineup contributing in an eleven hit attack. 

Phenom Trey Yesavage. He was the Toronto pitcher in Game 5. He began the year in the lowest minor league and now he was unstoppable. The Blue Jays hopped on Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell early with home runs from Davis Schneider and Guerrero en route to a 6-2 win. 

The series was headed back to Canada and it seemed like Toronto was in control. The Jays needed one win to record their first title since 1993. 

That’s where things started to unravel for the Jays. Remember that guy Yamamoto? Well, he pitched another gem, this time for six innings and the Dodgers relief corps held off repeated Toronto assaults. 

Yet it came down to one play. LAD skipper Dave Roberts rolled the dice and inserted top starting pitcher Tyler Glasnow into a situation where one hit could have changed the outcome and given the Jays game, set and match. 

With three pitches, LAD survived. First, Glasnow retired Ernie Clement on a pop up; Clement was hitting lights out and would go on to set a record with over 30 base hits in one playoff. 

Up next was shortstop Andres Giminez. On the second pitch he saw, Giminez stroked a liner to left field. Playing little shallower than normal, Dodgers left fielder Kike Hernandez raced in, caught the ball and fired it on the run to second base, where Miguel Rojas, inserted into the lineup for more punch at second base, speared the on target throw and acrobatically completed a force out of Addison Barger, who had strayed just a bit too much thinking Giminez’s hit would land in the playing field and he would score the Series-ending run. Barger’s double was wedged under the padding in left-center field, depriving the Jays of more runs and maybe putting him on third base. 

With the luck that the Dodgers had on Friday night, it was inevitable that these two teams would go to the maximum to decide who would be the champ. Ohtani would face certain Hall of Fame pitcher Max Scherezer to begin what would prove to be an epic game. 

Ohtani was nearly mortal, surrendering 3 runs in only 2.1 innings. Toronto forged ahead 3-0 on a Bo Bichette home run. After Will Smith doubled, he eventually scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Teoscar Hernandez. 

Another sacrifice fly, this time from the bat of Tommy Edman, scored Mookie Betts in the top of the sixth inning. LAD now trailed by one, 3-2. In the bottom half of the inning, Clement singled, stole second and scored on a Giminez double. 4-2 Toronto. 

Yesavage came in to save the day for the Jays. He made it through the seventh inning okay, but in the eighth he surrendered a home run to LAD’s Max Muncy, cutting the lead again to one. 

Blake Snell came in to pitch the eighth inning, surviving a Cement double. On to the ninth inning with the crowd full of anticipation. 

That was until with one out and full count, Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman left a full count pitch over the plate and Rojas swatted the ball out of the park. Tie score. 

Roberts put Andy Pages into the game for more defense in center field with one out and the bases loaded. Clement lifted a shot to left center field and left fielder Kike Hernandez sped towards the ball. Pages, covering an amazing 121 feet of ground in an all-out sprint crashed into the smaller Hernandez and made the game-saving catch. 

That was after Rojas, plans in, stabbed a ground ball, righted himself and threw to home plate to nail Isaiah Kiner-Falefa by inches, confirmed by replay which showed catcher Smith’s foot leaving home pate before returning just in the nick of time. This was the second consecutive night Rojas saved the LAD season. 

The Dodgers threatened in the 10th inning with some slick defense. Roberts, desperate for the win, summoned Yamamoto to pitch the bottom of the tenth. Which he did, keeping Toronto at bay.

LAD catcher Smith dramatically hit a game-winning home run in the top of the 11th inning off of Toronto starter-turned-reliever Shane Bieber. Which led to a heart-stopping double play started by Betts to end the World Series. 

Maybe the greatest game ever played to decide the World Series did just that. Nobody left anything out on the field. Both teams were equal rivals. Sure, Toronto out hit the Dodgers, whose cumulative batting average was near .200. Yet LAD had emotion, talent and luck on their side. Which was enough for them to emerge as the winner of this epic struggle. 

Yamamoto, having thrown over 130 pitches in consecutive days while raking up his third victory, was named the M.V.P. Los Angeles would have a celebration. More people watched this game than in nearly a decade. 

It was riveting. It was dramatic. This was the best World Series I had ever seen. 

Birthday Gifts

  Saturday was my 75th birthday. It was a fun day with family and friends. Good food. Good times. It was everything I wanted, including the Katz’s Delicatessen apron gifted me by my editor and her husband. I felt blessed.

But this is primarily a sports blog. For I love sports. And I love to talk and report on the topics related to the sports world. 

So on my birthday, I had three football games to monitor and another one on Sunday to complete the weekend. The Saturday games were Rutgers at Purdue; Franklin and Marshall visiting Ursinus; and Jonathan Dayton High School, located just around the block, hosting arch rival Brearley. Sunday’s match involved the New York Jets traveling to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals. Plus the New Jersey Devils were hosting Nathan McKinnon and the ever-dangerous Colorado Avalanche at the Prudential Center in Newark. 

The odds of all of the games resulting in wins for the teams I was rooting for was astronomical. After all, Rutgers had been free falling in the Big Ten standings, and even a visit to a woeful Purdue Boilermakers squad was anything but a gimme for the Scarlet Knights. 

F&M was tied with perennial Centennial Conference top dog Johns Hopkins atop the CC Football Standings. Ursinus had amassed a 4-2 record heading into the clash, although the team was coming off a trouncing in Baltimore at the hands of Hopkins. The Diplomats came to Collegeville sporting a 5-1 mark, slightly deceiving in that F&M barely defeated Muhlenberg and Dickinson in the previous two weeks. 

Dayton had suffered only a loss to my alma mater, Highland Park High school to mar its record. JDHS had demolished the Dunellen Destroyers by a score of 48-0. Brearley had a pedestrian 4-4 record entering the game; one of the wins was against my HPHS Owls by a point. 

The Devils were streaking, winners of seven in a row after an Opening Night loss at Carolina. The Ads came to New Jersey with only one loss in the early season. 

And the putrid 0-7 Jets were faced with starting Justin Fields at quarterback after owner 

Woody Johnson and Head Coach Aaron Glenn showed little faith and patience in him, only because backup QB Tyrod Taylor was unavailable due to injury. New York was facing old friend now foe Joe Flacco, substituting under center for the injured Joe Burrow; Flacco had looked young again in a loss the week before. 

How did all of this shake out? You would be surprised. Really surprised. As was I. 

The only loss was the one game I was least invested in—the high school contest. Brearley eked out a win over the Dayton Bulldogs, securing a playoff spot based on Power Points, a method devised by the NJSIAA to secure the best teams in the post-season by group. Brearley moves on to face Mountain Lakes. Dayton has to settle for a consolation game and now has a 6-2 record. 

Rutgers felt like they owed Head Coach Greg Schiano a much-needed victory for all the effort Schiano invested in this team preparing them for each game. For once, and on the road, RU played with poise and determination. 

Still, it took some late game heroics and a field goal with no time left to secure a victory and a happy plane flight back to New Jersey. Whether this is the last game RU wins this season or not, the team could savor the moment and have some renewed energy when they began practice in preparation for a road game this Saturday at Illinois. 

How did F&M do? Did the Diplomats escape with another victory? Did they remain tied with JHU for the CC lead? 

Yes, the Diplomats downed the Bears. It wasn’t close, for a change. F&M dominated Ursinus and gave its remaining CC foes (Mc Daniel, Carnegie-Mellon and Johns Hopkins at home which could be a Centennial championship showdown) something to think about. Some pollsters were so impressed that F&M was actually ranked in one poll. 

It took overtime for the Devils to prevail and extend their winning streak to eight on Saturday afternoon. That streak would end abruptly when the team traveled to Denver where the hosts attained revenge by an 8-4 score. 

Thus, I was happy where I stood entering Sunday’s last game. My sense of appreciating the Jets this season led me to believe that there was little-to-no chance the Green and White could pull off the upset. 

Maybe it was karma. Or the dedication of the game to former Jets star Nick Mangold, who lost his battle with kidney disease the night before in New Jersey. Mangold was a huge human being who I saw up close when he brought his daughter to swim school adjacent to the gym I belonged to in his adopted home town of Florham Park. Losing him so young was so tragic. He is already in the team’s Ring of Honor. I hope he is posthumously elected this year to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as a worthy tribute to his legacy. 

Fields played his best game of the season. The team excelled in almost all areas. Yet it took a Nick Folk field goal after a great drive led by the embattled quarterback to get into field goal range with very little time left. It also was fortunate that for New York that Flacco was injured and unable to do more, giving the Jets just enough opportunity to shrink the demons following the team.

Final score: NYJ 39 CIN 38. Whatever momentum this game gave the team is muted by this week being the team’s bye week. Still, it was an exciting game that had me out of my seat repeatedly. 

I add in the Kansas City Chiefs win over a depleted Washington team on Monday night and only by mere three points did I not have all my teams win. I cannot remember being so lucky. 

Switching to baseball—if you have been out of the loop regarding the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers meeting in the World Series, then shame on you. For this has been one of the most exciting Fall Classics in recent memory. 

The level of play has been outstanding from the start to where we now stand entering Friday night’s Game 6 in Canada. Both teams sport a number of future Hall of Fame players. Most of them are excelling. 

So many records have been set for World Series and post-season play. Listing them would take too much time and space. 

Vlad Guerrero, Jr. has shown the baseball world why he remained in Canada and is driven to play for his hometown team. The guy is a monster who has an infectious enthusiasm which his teammates absorb. 

What’s not to say about Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese multi-talent who has raised his game to new heights, even if he was almost mortal in Game 4 as the starting pitcher for the Dodgers? 

These teams are so invested in playing hard that Game 3 lasted an outrageous 18 innings before LAD first baseman Freddie Freeman, born in Canada but reared in Southern California, sent everyone home with a walk off blast to give LAD a 6-5 win. Almost everybody on the two squads played in that epic affair. I certainly wasn’t awake when it ended near 3:00 am on the East Coast. 

Even if the Blue Jays win on Friday over an exhausted Dodgers team which seemed flat on Wednesday night and had to endure a long flight facing elimination, it should not diminish what has played out thus far. Far from it. 

There are these names to remember. First, Trey Yesavage, the young Toronto hurler who began the year in Single A ball and set records in the post-season. Then there is Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has emerged as a star pitching for LAD. The Dodgers’ fate on Friday night is in his hands. And Toronto outfielder Addison Barger has made a name for himself in this Series.

I know I will be watching on Friday night. And maybe Saturday if we are so fortunate. Could there be another walk off homer on the same field where Joe Carter did that to give Toronto its only World Championship in 1993? Who knows?

This is for sure. I am having a blast watching the games I care about. That is what sports is all about. Especially when they are birthday gifts. 

Loyalty

  I went to the disaster known as a New York Jets game this past Sunday. The inept offense allowed the not-real-good Carolina Panthers to leave New Jersey with a victory. 

It was an ugly affair. The redeeming events were that I went with my daughter who, because of a stress fracture on her left heel, was on crutches and needed to sit in a handicap seating area, which was in the sun for the entire game and allowed us to have mid-October tans. 

I knew when the Livingston, New Jersey Marching Lancers Band received a rousing ovation for their performance before the start of the game, it might be an omen. Which it was. Just not in the Jets favor. 

The only things which went right for NYJ were a field goal and two reviews after Head Coach Aaron Glenn tossed the red flags. Otherwise, it was more dreadful football by the guys in Green and White. 

But what touched me was something which appeared on the video board during a time out. There was a salute to a 92 year old fan with a Jewish surname who has been a Jets fan since 1960, the year the team came into existence as the New York Titans and played its games at the Polo Grounds, the former home of the New York Giants—both baseball and football varieties. 

This man was there with his extended family for the game. It seemed like he never missed a game in his nearly 66 years of team loyalty. 

Which made me think. A lot. About myself and my relationship with the New York Jets. 

I had been enthralled with sports at an early age. Television in the New York area was saturated with games of the local teams plus some national games, especially in hockey. My youth included Yankees, Mets, New York Football Giants, New York Rangers and New York Knicks games in person and even a trip to Philadelphia in 1959 to see the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was fun. It was exciting to see the games in person and to hear the roar of the crowd.

In 1977, when I was just beginning my career at the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender, my sister and I made the decision to become more than TV fans.  While the Giants had a waiting list for season tickets which reached into the years before your name might be called for available seats, the Jets, now in the National Football League and playing at Shea Stadium in Queens, had immediate ticket availability. 

So we became more than casual TV fans. We made trips every Sunday to Flushing, either driving the Long Island Expressway after navigating the Lincoln Tunnel to Midtown, or taking the packed subway, which included the infamous number 7 train and its curve nearing Queensboro Plaza. 

Jets gear and paraphernalia began to integrate into my life. My Fall and into Winter centered around the home schedule. It became a ritual that has lasted 49 onerous years, with only some winning to compensate for the losing—especially including this year. 

What I have observed over my time in Queens and in New Jersey when the team moved away from Shea Stadium and the unfavorable conditions they had as a second tier tenant, is a love and dedication for the team. Supporters clad in team colors populate the parking lots. There is a vocal, guttural sound which comes from within the stadium when the chant J-E-T-S is formalized. There is a joy in the tailgating, even if the season is dismal, as good food of all varieties and alcohol can overcome seemingly perpetual dejection. 

I have been seated in three locations at the three stadiums which the Jets have called home. Only in the section I presently have seats do I not recognize people who also have season tickets. 

For me, it has become an addiction to remain a Jets fan. Sitting in cold weather when the team is not making the playoffs, bundled up in thermal wear and heated gloves, shoes and socks is a true dedication to the team. Or is my going in the frigid weather simply trying to recoup the significant financial investment of my season tickets? I have become that much more jaded about being a NYJ fan because of all of the losing. 

Yet there are plenty of people like the older gentleman and his family who have a vested interest in cheering for the team. From wherever they come, they cling to the hope of a better day, a victorious result and the friendships they have perpetuated. 

It’s hard sitting through an unbearable season. I did it once in 1996 when the Jets went 1-15. Each coaching and management change becomes the next step in extricating the franchise from its losing ways. 

I saw this during my tenure at Madison Square Garden in the ten years when we shared New York Rangers tickets. Talk about a loyal and faithful bunch, wearing hockey jerseys to the games, rooting fervently for a franchise which, during the time I was there (1977-1986), was trying to reverse the jinx of not having won the Stanley Cup since 1940. Almost always sold out, the Garden would rock, especially during the playoffs or when the team faced long-standing rivals like the Original Six teams, or newer (and sometimes much better) enemies like the New York Islanders or Philadelphia Flyers. It was an intensity I can never forget and still be amazed by how the relationship has endured from generation to generation. 

The hockey fan mentality of the Garden made its way to New Jersey when the Devils were established. A new breed of anti-Rangers was born, not unlike the separatists on Long Island when the Islanders were formed. No less noisy and fervent, the Devils fans were able to witness winning the Stanley Cup before the Rangers did, just as the Islanders fans had. 

Whether it was 40 games to see in hockey or just 8 football games, it becomes a full and complete part of one’s life. It is no different with Rutgers fans and the alumni who populate SHI Stadium or Jersey Mike’s Arena. They pay ridiculous prices to support an athletic program which appears to be destitute, many of them fans of the Jets, Giants, Devils, Rangers or other local teams. 

Being a Yankees fan at least brought more success. Certainly more than the Mets, whose initial years were anything but pretty. 

For many who sought championships, the New York Yankees were the team in baseball, like the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls were in pro basketball or the Montreal Canadiens in hockey, with some winning seasons by the Islanders and Edmonton Oilers and Pittsburgh Penguins. Those in other cities had to bide their time. 

Wearing the pinstripes with the interlocking NY was a right of passage. Many former and present Yankees players were Yankees fans as kids—Gerrit Cole, Ben Rice and Cody Bellinger come to mind. 

When I watched games like the Seattle-Toronto ALCS series won in seven games by the Blue Jays, I observed all sorts of fans excited about their team’s chances to make the World Series. Then there is the woman sitting in the first row in Milwaukee, perpetually charting pitches and keeping score—without any family members nearby. Kudos to her and her allegiance. 

There is faithfulness even in staid LA, where the greatest game perhaps ever played by one player took place when Japanese super star Shohei Ohtani dazzled the Brewers in a series-ending Game 4 by posting 6 innings as a pitcher, allowing a measly 3 hits, striking out 10 batters and walking only 3. While clubbing 3 homers, two of them monster shots at Dodger Stadium. Those Angelinos should wear everything blue and scream their heads off when they face the Blue Jays in the 2025 Series. 

And an aside to New York Giants fans. I watched and felt your pain when the Denver Broncos scored 33 points in the fourth quarter to overcome a valiant effort by New York and snatch victory in a miraculous way that over 1000 teams had not done before when trailing by 19 points with six minutes to go. I know many people in the NY Metro area were screaming at their TV sets, unable to stop what was happening. While the sea of orange in Denver was in absolute shock and awe, heading to the exits jubilant and flushed with victory. 

I recognize that none of what I have written about my teams is totally peculiar to New York. Look at the legions of fans in the South pulling for SEC schools or in the Big Ten and ACC. They are no less ardent about their cheering for their teams. Some are the everyday alumni and fans shelling out significant money for the right to purchase costly tickets. Or they are the big boosters whose influence over the school’s athletic fortunes can lead to coaching changes for non-performance no matter the cost (see James Franklin’s enormous buyout at Penn State) just as much as luring the best athletes to the school through making available significant N-I-L money. All demand winning seasons and hate losing (Vanderbilt and Georgia Tech alums and fans must be reveling in their school’s new-found success on the gridiron after so many years of football purgatory).  

Whatever team somebody attaches to, for whatever reasons, it has its roots in something deep and abiding. It is an outlet for our daily lives and the stress associated with them. Something hard to fathom but something deep and necessary. We want to be winners and we stay true when there is continual losing—see the Chicago Cubs who took forever to break a supposed curse about the team winning the World Series. 

Call it what you want. Fandom for a particular team is cult-like. Psychologists have written much about the phenomenon. Rooting in sports is sure unique as much as it it is similar and goal-oriented. 

I have stayed the course with the Jets over the years with the eternal hope that someday I might see another trip to the Super Bowl besides the win in Super Bowl III. Just like I will be back watching the Yankees continue to strive for the first World Series title since 2009. 

For me, it comes down to one word: loyalty.