Dodgers Win World Series 2025

World Series Champions 2025 Dodgers

(Photos by Uppercut Magazine)

By David A. Avila

Back-to-back champions.

After seven excruciating high-level games that sent blood pressures soaring worldwide the Los Angeles Dodgers emerged the victors once again for the second consecutive year as the World Series champions.

A tip of the hat to the Toronto Blue Jays the American League champions.

Are the Los Angeles Dodgers one of the greatest teams in baseball history?

“Dave Roberts and his coaching staff managed their (butts) off,” said Ice Cube during the ceremony in front of 50,000 fans at Dodger Stadium.

Can the 2025 Dodgers be compared to other great teams in the playoff era like the Oakland Athletics, Cincinnati Reds, and New York Yankees who all won consecutive World Series?

Or are the Dodgers even better?

“Everybody’s been asking questions about a dynasty, We’re a “motherfriggin” dynasty,” shouted Dodger hero Kike Hernandez to the crowd in the stadium.

The battle to claim the most coveted championship in baseball saw the Dodgers and Blue Jays trade blows and make strategic moves worthy of a grandmaster chess player over the course of seven contests.

Ardent fans and casual observers quickly found themselves snagged in the back and forth struggles each team presented to the other. Would the mighty Dodgers that featured several potential Hall of Fame players win out? Or would the high flying Blue Jays with their younger scrappy team led by Vladimir Guerrero Jr. topple last year’s champions.

It took seven crazy games to decide.

When the Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers in four games many speculated that the Dodgers might sweep the Canadian team too. But the Blue Jays quickly stomped that idea when they belted Dodger pitching in Game 1 by a score of 11-4.

The Blue Jays were not the Brewers.

The Dodgers quickly showed their resiliency and rebounded with a 5-1 win behind the stalwart pitching of Yoshinobo Yamamoto who tossed a complete game while silencing Toronto’s bats. No pitcher had completed nine innings in a World Series game since Madison Bumgarner in 2014 and none had done it back-to-back since Curt Schilling in 2001. In fact, both Yamamoto and Schilling were the last two pitchers to pitch consecutive complete games in the postseason. Yamamoto had previously beat the Milwaukee Brewers with a complete game victory.

When the two teams headed to Los Angeles for three games some writers and experts mentioned the Dodgers could possibly sweep all three games and end the series. That was not to be.

Game 3 saw the Dodgers and Blue Jays throw almost every pitcher on their roster against each other in an excruciating 18-inning affair. Though the Dodger bullpen had been much maligned during the second half of the baseball season and during the postseason, they stepped up to nullify the Blue Jays big hats, and so did the Toronto relievers who stymied the powerful Dodger hitters including the mighty Shohei Ohtani. It took a home run from last year’s World Series MVP Freddie Freeman to end the extra inning affair 6-5.

The following day the two exhausted teams met again with fans and spectators still talking about the night before. Ohtani started Game 4 for the Dodgers and Shane Beiber pitched for Toronto.  The Dodgers struck first with Kike Hernandez once again contributing to a Dodger score. Throughout his career and especially with the Dodgers he was known as the guy who came through with offense and defense during the playoffs. A lucky charm for the L.A. team. But Toronto immediately struck back with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. their powerful leader smacking an Ohtani breaking ball into the left field bleachers for a two-run homer. The Blue Jays took the lead and could not be caught winning 6-2 and tying the series 2-2.

Last year the Dodgers wrapped up the World Serries against the Yankees in five games. But this year in 2025 the Toronto Blue Jays showed Dodger fans and others why they were able to reach the World Series.

On Game 5 the Dodgers sent one of its aces Blake Snell to try to quell the Blue Jay momentum. But the Toronto team was back home and immediately they put on a show with their staunch pitching and purposeful hitting. It seemed the Dodgers couldn’t regain their mojo even in front of their home crowd.

The last two games of the World Series moved back to Toronto and Canadian fans expected their team would win one of those games to capture the championship. Confidence was running very high, but the Dodgers had proven to be resilient and did not surrender a single moment.

Game 6 the Dodgers sent Yamamoto back out there to hurl more magic against the powerful Blue Jay lineup. Once again, the Japanese star delivered another impressive performance to allow only one run in six innings. Then Dodger manager Roberts turned the ball over to rookie Justin Wrobleski for one inning, then Roki Sasaki for one inning and finally Tyler Glasnow to finish the game. Still, it took defensive magic from clutch player Kike Hernandez with men at second and third in the bottom of the ninth. A liner to left center saw Hernandez get a quick jump on the ball and catch it on the run while immediately firing the ball to second to catch the Blue Jay runner who was trying to get back in time to second base. Miguel Rojas caught the ball on a short hop to double up the runner and end the game with the Dodgers winning 3-1.

The win by the Dodgers tied it up 3-3 with the Blue Jays and it came down to Game 7 to decide the winner of the World Series. Nothing beats Game 7 in a World Series for drama and attention. The world tuned it to watch in record numbers an estimated 31.5 million viewers not counting Canadian viewers.

On the mound for the Dodgers was Shohei Ohtani the likely NL Most Valuable Player for this year. In Game 4, it was expected that Ohtani might produce another epic moment as he did against the Milwaukee Brewers in the previous series. But the Blue Jays had other ideas and greeted the Japanese super star with a mammoth three-run homer by Bo Bichette for a 3-0 lead in the second inning. The Dodgers chipped away with a run in the fourth and sixth but not enough to catch Toronto.

Drama always ensues in a Game 7 and this game contributed mightily to the lore of yesteryear and past World Series. This one also might have beat them all.

Trailing 4-2 in the top of the eighth inning, old reliable Max Muncy walked to the plate and launched a rocket into the second level in right field for a home run. That edged the Dodgers closer to 4-3. Blake Snell was brought in to pitch against the Blue Jays and he kept the score close. Still, Toronto was leading 4-3 in the ninth inning with one out when Miguel Rojas went to the plate hoping to get on base with Ohtani coming up to bat behind him. Rojas fought off several pitches and on a 3-2 count smacked a low inside slider over the left field fence to tie the game 4-4. The Dodger dugout went wild while the rest of the crowd in the Toronto stadium was quiet.

With all pitchers ready to fire Yamamoto was brought in again, just one day after a win to pitch the last two innings of the game tied 4-4. Toronto fought back. With the bases loaded Yamamoto induced a sharp grounder up the middle toward second base and Rojas snagged the hot grounder to his left and fired a strike to home where catcher Will Smith snatched the ball while tagging home plate to end the inning.

“He saved our season with his glove and saved his season with his bat. Without him we don’t win the World Series. I’m glad he’s on our team,” said Betts about Miguel Rojas.

In the 11th inning All Star catcher Will Smith came up to bat and on a 2-0 count clobbered a slider over the left field fence to finally give the Dodgers the lead 5-4. All that was left was for the Dodger ace Yamamoto to get the final three outs. The first one up was the Blue Jays most dangerous hitter Guerrero. He pounded an inside pitch down the left field line for a double. The next batter bunted to sacrifice himself for one out with Guerrero moving to third base only 90 feet away from home plate. The next two batters walked to fill up the bases with Blue Jays. Up to bat was Blue Jay catcher Alexander Kirk who was a thorn to the Dodgers. On an 0-2 count Yamamoto fired a splitter that Kirk hit to the middle of the infield where Mookie Betts smoothly scooped up and glided to second, touched it and fired to first for a game ending double-play.

The Dodgers won 5-4 for their second consecutive World Series championship and one of the best series in memory.

“You brought this every single day. We’re back-to-back champions. It’s not about me,” said Rojas who hit the game tying homer in the ninth inning. “If not for Freddie )Freeman) homering in Game 3. If Yamamoto don’t pitch game 2, and if Pages don’t catch the ball. It’s not about me it’s about everyone in this organization.”

Dodger manager Dave Roberts smiled broadly throughout the celebrations.

“He managed as if he could see the future,” said David Ortiz of Roberts astute team managing.

Where Does This Team Rank Among the Best

One common thread between the best World Series teams since the MLB division playoffs was the ability to win back-to-back World Series. Since 1969 when the playoff system was devised here are the teams able to repeat as World Series champions: Oakland Athletics 1972-73-74; Cincinnati Reds 1975-76; New York Yankees 1977-78; Toronto Blue Jays 1992-93; New York Yankees 1998-99-2000; and now the Los Angeles Dodgers 2024-25.

All these teams that won consecutive World Series were among the greatest teams ever assembled.

Oakland had Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Reggie Jackson and Joe Rudi.

Cincinnati won with Tom Seaver, Johnny Bench, Pete Rose and Joe Morgan.

New York Yankees 1977-78 version had Catfish Hunter, Reggie Jackson, Thurman Munson and Graig Nettles.

New York Yankees 1998 version boasted David Cone, Mariano Rivera, Derek Jeter and Bernie Willams.

Los Angeles Dodgers 2024-25 fronted Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Freddie Freeman, and Mookie Betts.

One constant for all of these teams was a very dependable pitching staff and an outstanding catcher.

The Dodgers possess Will Smith who delivered the winning home run in Game 7 and also caught the most innings in a single World Series at 73.

Each of the legendary teams had one major thing in common. They all boasted catchers who were both extraordinary leaders and outstanding players offensively and defensively.

From Gene Tenace to Johnny Bench to Thurman Munson to Jorge Posada and Will Smith. All of these catchers were the cornerstone of their teams with their leadership and ability to contribute when needed.

It’s very difficult to compare teams due to the difference in playoffs. The Yankees 25 years ago did not have to face extra Wild Card teams that have a potential for getting hot at the right time and upsetting the big dogs like the Washington Nationals in 2019.

Another factor is free agency. Though it was around since the 1970s more attention to international markets like Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Cuba, Mexico, Japan, Korea and Australia has changed some teams like the Dodgers and turned them into powerhouses.

It’s impossible to determine the best team in history. But you can add the current Dodger teams to the list. After the Yankees won three consecutive World Series I thought there would never be another team capable od duplicating that team. But maybe this Dodger team compares.

“These guys never gave up. They are the best team we’ve seen in baseball for a long, long time,” said Jeter.