Baseball
Dec 24, 2025
I started following baseball after Shohei Ohtani signed his mega-contract with the LA Dodgers. At first, I wanted to understand why he was such a big deal and what made a two-way player valuable. He wasn’t the best hitter or pitcher in baseball, but the fact that he could do both made him far greater than the sum of his parts.
That was last year, during his first season with the Dodgers, when he only hit and didn’t pitch. Even that was enough to help the Dodgers reach the postseason and eventually win the World Series.
I remember only watching highlights last October, maybe parts of the live game in the World Series. I didn’t understand much of the game back then, especially the batting and pitching stats everyone talked about.
Ohtani wasn’t the best player in the World Series (that was his teammate Freddie Freeman), but since baseball is a team game, he was still part of the championship-winning team in his first postseason and first year with the Dodgers.
This season, I kept following the Dodgers through highlights and the occasional article. I still hadn’t watched a full game. Like last year, Ohtani was among the home run leaders, so there were plenty of highlight videos to watch. But his return to pitching was the main story for me and the baseball press. He did OK as a pitcher.
Somehow the Dodgers made it into the post season as a wild card.
My hometown team Toronto Blue Jays also made it to the playoffs earning a bye to the quarters (division knockout) because they topped their division.
It was during the playoffs that I started watching parts of full games, longer recaps, and reading game articles mostly about Dodgers, but some Blue Jays too.
That’s when I began learning the rules and what the key batting and pitching stats meant. This postseason was when I truly started enjoying baseball, now that I understood it better.
While I enjoyed the Dodgers games, my heart was fully in Game 7 between the Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners. I let out a huge scream when George Springer hit a 3-run home run to put the Blue Jays up 4-3 in the bottom of the 7th. Wow!
Last year, I attended a regular-season Blue Jays game with my brother Raymond, thanks to tickets from my sister Michelle. They were playing the Astros, someone hit a home run, and the stadium erupted. I can only imagine what it felt like to be there for Springer’s homer.
So the Blue Jays came back from 2-0 and 3-2 series deficits to win Game 7 and reach the World Series for the first time in 32 years! They’d been strong all season, so while it was a remarkable turnaround from last year’s last-place finish, it wasn’t entirely surprising.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers swept the Milwaukee Brewers 4-0 in the semifinals. Ohtani started Game 4 and delivered what many (including the Brewers’ manager) called the best postseason performance ever: 3 home runs as a batter, 10 strikeouts and 6 scoreless innings as a pitcher. I watched that game off and on but missed the big moments live.
World Series: Blue Jays vs. Dodgers
Game 1
I was on a flight to Vancouver when Game 1 started, but the captain kept us updated on the scores. His announcements were the usual boring flight style — sometimes clear but emotionless, sometimes unclear. Fortunately, a Blue Jays fan near the front started shouting updates (probably during the massive 6th inning). It was clear, exciting, and had the whole flight cheering. By the time we landed in Vancouver, the Blue Jays had won convincingly, 11-4.
Game 2
Yamamoto pitched a complete game, allowing just one run, as the Dodgers won to even the series. I didn’t watch live but followed the scores.
Game 3
I watched Game 3 from a Squamish, BC hotel. The view of distant snow-capped mountains (Mt. Garibaldi?) at dusk from my window was beautiful as the game started live. Trailing 4-5 in the bottom of the 7th, Ohtani hit a home run to tie it. For the next 10 innings, neither team scored though both came close.
Most remarkable to me: the Blue Jays refused to let Ohtani bat again (walking him 4 times). It was well past midnight; I could barely stay awake. I’d decided “one more inning” before bed, then Freeman won it for the Dodgers with a home run in the bottom of the 18th. In such a marathon, there were many heroes; my vote goes to Dodgers reliever Will Klein, who threw 70+ scoreless pitches until Freeman’s winner.
What a game!
Game 4-6
Writing this on Christmas Eve a few months later, I don’t remember much about Games 4–6 except: Ohtani pitched and lost Game 4; the Blue Jays kept scoring and beat Blake Snell in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead heading to Game 6 in Toronto.
But the Blue Jays’ scoring machine faced Yamamoto again, who allowed just one run (like Game 2). The Dodgers won Game 6, forcing a decisive Game 7.
Game 7
The last time a Canadian team won a pro sports championship was the Raptors years ago — and before that, the Blue Jays with back-to-back World Series decades earlier. Toronto, and all of Canada, was fully invested in Game 7.
I’d root for the Blue Jays against anyone except the Dodgers. Still, I thought they were clearly the better team throughout the series and entered as favorites.
Ohtani was the starting pitcher, and like Game 4, the Blue Jays scored 3 runs off him before he was pulled after 2 innings. In the top of the 9th, with the Blue Jays leading 4-3 and needing two outs to win, up came Miguel Rojas. Down to his last strike after a foul, he hit the most improbable home run to tie it 4-4 shocking Blue Jays fans and commentators alike. That swing will be replayed and talked about for years.
In the bottom of the 9th, the Blue Jays had the bases loaded with 1 out. Out came Yamamoto. It was nerve-wracking to watch. Everyone was on the edge of their seats. It was nerve wracking to watch. I can imagine everyone was at the edge of their seats. Miguel Rojas (yes, that guy), threw off-balance but in time for the second out. Later, many faulted Blue Jays runner Kiner-Falefa for sliding into home but one step short.
With 2 outs, the final play was pure drama: outfielders Andy Pages and Hernández both dove for the ball. Pages caught it despite the collision. Had he not, the Jays would’ve scored to win. Instead, it went to extra innings!
The Dodgers threatened but didn’t score. Yamamoto got his 3 outs. The 10th inning ended without any results. In the 11th, Blue Jays’ Bieber retired Rojas and Ohtani. Then Will Smith hit the game-winning home run. The Jays came close to tying it, but a broken bat and double play ended it. Heartbreak for Toronto and Canada. Back-to-back World Series titles for the Dodgers.
It is rare in sports finals where the best meets the best, and it goes the distance. I have had the good luck of watching many of these (F1 2021 final lap between Verstappen and Hamilton, Wimbledon final between Federer-Djokovic, the two Stanley Cup finals between Florida and Edmonton, and the French Open finals between Alcaraz and Skinner).