Blue Jays Lose in 18-Inning Thriller Against Dodgers in Game 3 of World Series

The Toronto Blue Jays lost a heartbreaker on Monday night.

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Games 1 and 2 of the World Series kicked off at the Rogers Centre, with both the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers landing punches by winning a game apiece before the setting shifted out to California for the next three contests.

Monday began as a battle between Max Scherzer and Tyler Glasnow, but it ended as much more than that. The lead kept swapping back and forth throughout the game, and it became clear that this one was going to come down to the final few at-bats.

The game went nearly seven hours before Freddie Freeman ended the longest World Series game in history with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 18th inning to give the Dodgers a 6-5 win, and now the Blue Jays face a 2-1 deficit after letting one slip away.

Important Moments in Game 3

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The second inning at Dodger Stadium is when the drama started. Bo Bichette was the leadoff man for Toronto and was the first baserunner for the team in the game. Daulton Varsho was up to bat next, and with a 3-1 count, it appeared like he drew a walk.

However, the high pitch was called a strike late. Both Varsho and Bichette were headed to their respective bases, but because it was called a strike and Bichette was on his way to second base, he was in no-man's land and was picked off at first base.

Bo Bichette is picked off for the first out of the 2nd inning #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/TwQxmgjMJp

— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025

With a walk and a single following immediately after that situation, that played turned into a big what if. Instead of scoring a run, the inning was over after a pair of fly outs. Because of that, Los Angeles was the one who struck first when Teoscar Hernández hit a 410-foot longball off Scherzer's slider.

While the Blue Jays' offense was stagnant through three, the Dodgers' was not. Scherzer had only allowed three hits by the time the third was over, but unfortunately, two of them were longballs. Following Shohei Ohtani's bomb in the bottom of the third, Toronto found themselves down 2-0.

But the Blue Jays have never let a deficit get to them, as seen time and time again this season. A drawn walk from Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and an error in the next at-bat put a pair of runners out there for Toronto. Who else would come through for them other than Alejandro Kirk. He hit his second homer of this series to give the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead in the fourth.

Alejandro Kirk has been the best player in the World Series thus far, and he just gave the Blue Jays a 3-2 lead in Game 3. pic.twitter.com/fCQKMXx08D

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) October 28, 2025

Glasnow was done on the mound in the fifth inning for the Dodgers in easily his worst start this postseason. Before Monday, he had allowed one earned run and a combined seven hits in three starts. He was pulled with five hits and four runs allowed in Game 3.

Scherzer's night was over in the fifth as well. He finished the night with a pair of homers given up, five hits, three strikeouts and a walk. When he headed to the dugout, it was time for Mason Fluharty to step in with a runner on first base with one out and Ohtani at the plate.

Ohtani had already hit a home run and a double. He didn't slow down with the pitching change. He hit another double out to left field which drove in a run to cut Los Angeles' deficit to one. Shortly after that, he would cross home plate on his own off of a Freeman single, which tied the game at four.

Louis Varland got the call after that, and he got Toronto out of the inning and threw a scoreless sixth.
The top of the seventh came with an injury at the worst time to one of the Blue Jays best players in George Springer. He pulled himself mid at-bat after he grabbed his side following fouling off a sinker.

Despite two outs on the board, Guerrero found his first hit of the game. Then, Bichette hit a single. Despite the ball traveling only 78 feet, it banged off the wall in foul territory between right field and the infield, which allowed Guerrero to score all the way from first to give the Blue Jays a 5-4 lead.

BO MY GOODNESS!

Bo Bichette drives in the go-ahead run on the 7th pitch of the at-bat #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/wfnCN2nqfO

— MLB (@MLB) October 28, 2025

Unfortunately for Toronto, Ohtani continued his special game by hitting another home run off Seranthony Dominguez to tie things up once again.

The Blue Jays turned to Chris Bassitt and Jeff Hoffman after that, both players who have played pivotal roles in the bullpen this postseason. Bassitt had a clean eighth. With a tie game at the bottom of the ninth, it was Hoffman who was in charge of getting the game into extra innings, with Ohtani as the second hitter.

Toronto wisely decided to intentionally walk him, which paid off in their favor as he attempted to steal second and came off the bag to get tagged out. That was followed by a high Mookie Betts flyout, which sent the game into the 10th inning.

The Blue Jays had a chance to take the lead in the 10th and they squandered it. With a pair of outs on the board, their new No.1 hitter (Ty France) got his first hit of the game. That was followed by Nathan Lukes' own first hit of the game. But Toronto got aggressive on the base paths, as they sent pinch runner Davis Schneider home to score instead of holding him at third with Guerrero on deck. He was tagged out at home plate, and the momentum died there.

They found themselves in a similar situation in 12th, but this time, they had loaded the bases with the bottom of the order up. Lukes had the chance to be the hero, but instead, he grounded out to first base and wasn't able to come through.

No run had been scored by either team since the seventh inning until Freeman walked it off with a homer at the bottom of the 18th as the leadoff man. After six hours and 40 minutes of grueling action Los Angeles now has the lead in the series with very little time to rest before Game 4.