Crack! The sound of a bat breaking in game seven of the Dodgers vs. Blue Jays World Series sent fans to their feet in anticipation. Both teams are tired from traveling back and forth from Los Angeles to Toronto. Despite this they are giving their all for the title of 2025 World Series Champs. Many fans sit behind TV’s or glued to their phones, watching in suspense, waiting for the next play.
It’s the 11th inning and the Dodgers are up 5-4. This is their first lead of the night after catcher Will Smith hit a home run in the bottom of the inning. Alejandro Kirk, up to bat for the Blue Jays with one out, breaks his bat after hitting a grounder to shortstop, resulting in a game-ending double play for the Dodgers.
“I think that game had every single thing you could possibly have,” Dodger’s first baseman Freddie Freeman said in an interview with MLB network. “Just an absolutely incredible game, incredible series.”
Freeman performed incredibly throughout the series, with several memorable plays. In game three of the series, the Dodgers and Blue Jays were tied up at 5-5. This was after designated hitter and pitcher Shohei Ohtani hit a home run in the seventh inning. The tie was unbreakable for 11 innings, until Freeman hit a 406 feet walk off homer to win the seven hour game for the Dodgers in the 18th inning. This gave many fans deja-vu from when Freeman hit a walk off grand slam in game one of the World Series in 2024.
“To have it happen again a year later, to hit another walk-off – it’s kind of amazing, crazy,” Freeman said. “I’m just glad we won.”
This was the Dodger’s twenty-third appearance in a World Series, and their ninth win. The World Series is a baseball championship that is best out of seven games. Originally called “The Championship of the United States,” the World Series as we know it today has been around since 1905. Students and teachers alike at Arcata High tuned in to the 121st World Series, eager for good baseball.
“I watched the series on Hulu and I was excited and anxious the whole time,” Sophomore Tallulah Grantham said.
Grantham has been an avid Dodgers fan since a young age and enjoys traveling to games. She believes baseball is something everyone should be able to enjoy but sadly this is not the case. Grantham touched on how expensive it is to access streaming services that show games. Sadly, not everyone is able to afford it. Despite the price, Grantham made sure to watch the series.
“My favorite play from the series is when during game 7, Enrique “Kike” Hernandez and Andy Pages collided and Pages caught a ball over his head for the out,” Grantham said. “As a Dodgers fan, I’m really happy they won but I also think that the Blue Jays deserve recognition because they really put up a fight out there and made it fun to watch.”
Debora Jacobsen is an English teacher at Arcata High and devoted San Francisco Giants fan. After watching the World Series, she feels mixed emotions about the outcome.
“I don’t feel awesome about the Dodgers winning, I mean they’re the big rivals for the Giants. When the Giants don’t win, you tend to root for anybody but the Dodgers,” Jacobsen said. “ So the fact that they won is really annoying but at the same time it’s more of an annoyance with the organization, the players seem like lovely humans.”
Jacobsen touched on some questionable components of the Dodgers corporation at large. The corporation is able to pay hundreds of millions of dollars more than other teams to get the best players. Yet, there is the question of the location of the money. Not only that, but the Dodgers were the wild card team this year. This means they didn’t win their division but won a wild card game that automatically put them in the World Series.
“I feel like in the MLB there’s some reckoning that may need to happen or a deeper dive into how they’re running the organization,” Jacobsen said.
While the Dodgers won the World Series the past two years, anything could happen in the upcoming years. As Jacobsen pointed out, the corporation is under scrutiny, so change may be in the near future. Through it all, fans at Arcata High will continue to cheer for their teams no matter what, because that’s what baseball enthusiasts do.
