A World Series to Remember

Author

Ben Remis
November 03, 2025

Good Morning! Today is Monday, November 3rd. Here’s what happened over the weekend in the world of sports.

WORLD SERIES

I’ve seen a lot of great baseball games. We all have.

But there was something about this Game Seven between the Dodgers and Blue Jays that felt, I don’t know, more personal, more tense, more supercharged. Maybe it is because the game inspired feelings that felt lost. Maybe it’s because every play, even the supposedly routine ones, crackled with “Wait, did that just happen?” energy. Yes, it did happen. Too much happened. The night was a blur. Trying to tell the story feels like trying to cage a wild tiger.

One of my favorite baseball writers, Joe Posnanski, as part of the fantastic blog post he wrote this morning. Check it out (for free) here!

Unlike Joe, I am not going to attempt to “cage the wild tiger.” Nor will I be diving into all the Weird and Wild stats like Jayson Stark, who began his latest article with a similar question, “How can you tell when you’ve just been part of the greatest World Series game of your lifetime? Or maybe we should make that anybody’s lifetime?”

Where do you even start? Toronto entered the weekend with a 3-2 lead and the support of an entire nation. They had all the momentum against a Dodger lineup searching and spinning for answers. Naturally, that’s where the magic of baseball took over, as the moments that defied explanation began to pile up. Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivered another dominant outing. Mookie Betts came through with his only run-scoring hit of the series. Wait, Addison Barger’s double got stuck in the wall? He was caught in a double-play at second base to end the game? You forget about the wackiness of Friday night’s Game Six because of what followed…

Shohei Ohtani on the mound against Max Scherzer. Bo Bichette’s unbelievable three-run homer, one of those chills-producing moments that history will eventually lose track of because of the final score. Ernie Clement setting the record for hits in one postseason. Tyler Glasnow and Blake Snell stabilizing LA out of the bullpen. Vladdy turning that electrifying 3-6-1 double play. Max Muncy’s solo shot to keep the Dodgers alive. As I read the box score from Saturday night, the moments wash over me and suddenly I’m right back in the thick of it, enjoying the very best of the game we love.

Toronto was so, so close. Leading 4-3 in the top of the ninth inning, closer Jeff Hoffman struck out October legend Kiké Hernandez. Shohei Ohtani loomed in the on-deck circle, but the Blue Jays were– hold on a second. Not so fast. Light-hitting Miguel Rojas put the swing of his life on a hanging slider, and as the ball sailed over the left-field fence the World Series was tied. 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Bichette singled. Barger walked. One day after throwing 96 pitches, Yamamoto was back on the mound again, with the season on the line. He hit Alejandro Kirk and now the bases were loaded. Pinch-runner Isiah Kiner-Falefa was the winning run, standing just 90 feet away.

Yamamoto got Daulton Varsho to ground a ball to second, where a stumbling, fumbling Miguel Rojas managed to deliver a strike to catcher Will Smith. That gave us the image that will haunt Blue Jays fans forever, Smith’s cleat scraping the edge of home plate just moments before Kiner-Falefa crossed home. Defensive replacement Andy Pages barrelled into Kiké to catch the final out of the inning, and we kept on playing.

Did you remember the Dodgers had the bases loaded with one out in the 10th inning and failed to score? Neither did I. But it didn’t matter in the end, because in the 11th, Will Smith connected on a 2-0 offering from Shane Bieber. Smith’s was the third solo home run hit by LA in the game, and after trailing all evening, the defending champs led 5-4. This Dodger team is remarkable in many ways, but I’m still not sure how they found a way to get over the finish line even when they weren’t at their best.

Did Yamamoto have anything left in the tank to close this one out? The incomparable Vladdy Guerrero Jr. led off the 11th with yet another double. A bunt moved him to third, and was that Clayton Kershaw was warming up in the bullpen? The Dodger legend’s number was never called. First and third, one out. Yamamoto once again facing Alejandro Kirk… and the pitcher who rightfully earned his World Series MVP award induced a series-ending double-play. Those poor Toronto fans– two outs, one inch, 90 feet… teams may have been closer, but I don’t know if anyone was ever this close this many times.

Alright, you got me. Maybe I can’t help myself, and the whole time I actually was planning on writing a recap of game seven of the 2025 World Series. But outside of the utterly heartbroken Blue Jays fans, why wouldn’t you want to revisit something so extraordinary? Who among us took time yesterday to call a friend and say, “wow, did you see that game last night?” No one who writes about sports would pass up an opportunity to spill some ink concerning Saturday night. Say what you want about a salary cap and all of that jazz, but at its truest form, I believe this was baseball at its very best, a perfect final frame on one of the most thrilling Octobers we’ll ever see. I’ll turn once more to Posnanski to send us home:

Was this the greatest baseball game ever played? It seems to me that the question is both silly and essential. It’s silly because the greatest baseball game ever played isn’t a tangible concept.

If you are a Cubs fan, the greatest game ever played was probably Game 7 of the 2016 World Series.

If you are a Cardinals fan, the greatest game ever played might have been Game 6 of the 2011 World Series.

If you are a Red Sox fan, you might be partial to Game 6 in 1975.

If you are a Yankees fan, the greatest game ever played might have been the one your dad took you to as a child, and you got to see Mickey Mantle hit one out.

If you are a Royals fan, the greatest game ever played might be the one where Kerry Robinson raced back to the wall, climbed it, leaped to save a home run … and then watched as the ball dropped feet in front of him on the warning track and bounced over the wall for a ground rule double.

Or maybe that’s just my favorite Royals game.

The point is, there is no greatest game in baseball history, not really; the game has been around too long, too many extraordinary things have happened, too many emotions are tied up in our memories, too many great games have been played.

And yet, we HAVE to ask if Saturday’s game was the greatest ever — if this was the Greatest World Series ever; the folks at MLB dusted off a ranking I did a few years ago on that subject — because that’s the point, isn’t it? We want to mark our time. They’ve been playing professional baseball for 150 years. You would think by now that we’ve seen everything.

And games like Saturday night remind us: No. This is baseball.

We haven’t seen anything yet.

NFL

Well football, how did you follow that up? Let’s run through some scores:

NCAA FOOTBALL

Plenty of exciting games on Saturday, but not a ton of notable results. Five ranked teams lost this weekend:

  • (8) Georgia Tech lost their first game of the season, falling to NC State 48-36

  • (10) Miami was beaten 26-20 at SMU in overtime

  • (18) Oklahoma went to Rocky Top and took down (14) Tennessee 33-27

  • (24) Utah was no match for (17) Cincinnati– the Utes destroyed the Bearcats 45-14

  • West Virginia upset (22) Houston 45-35

NHL

I can’t believe it… this guy is everywhere!

No, that goal was not scored by Yoshi– it was Utah Mammoth forward Kailer Yamamoto. But it’s not too crazy to think that the first pitcher since Randy Johnson in 2001 to win three games in a single World Series can skate?

NBA

Let’s take a quick gander this morning at the top and the bottom of the NBA standings:

  • Naturally, the defending champions are the last remaining undefeated team. OKC’s young core is back and ready to win another title.

  • Three teams are 5-1 on the season, and they’re all a bit unexpected. Joel Embiid is healthy, and rookie VJ Edgecombe has formed an electric backcourt with Tyrese Maxey in Philadelphia. Victor Wembanyama is averaging 30 points, 14 rebounds, and 4.8 blocks per game for the quickly ascending Spurs. And then there’s Chicago, who have only beaten one other team with a winning record. We’ll see if that one lasts.

  • At the bottom of the standings are two groups who have yet to win a single game this season. It’s unlikely you can name a player on the 2025-26 Brooklyn Nets. However, the Pelicans had higher expectations for this season. Not a good start in Nola.

A FEW OTHER NOTES

Auburn has fired head coach Hugh Freeze, while the Washington Nationals are set to hire Blake Butera as their next manager.

That’s how a coaching update is supposed to read. But LSU football is a different story– after head coach Brian Kelly was fired, the governor of Louisiana got involved. Kelly’s contract included a large buyout, and the governor decided it was important that the state’s funds are spent more wisely during this next coaching cycle. Well since he stepped in, the athletic director has been fired and the situation has become a “total clown show," according to a rival SEC athletic director. 

Well as one season ends, another begins… college basketball tips off tonight! The road to March Madness gets underway with top teams in action in both the men’s and women’s games. While there are a few marquee matchups, this first week is the perfect opportunity to get familiar with your favorite team as they (hopefully) get a confidence-boosting win.

THIS WEEK’S BIG GAMES (all times Eastern)

MONDAY:

  • (3) Florida vs (13) Arizona, 7 PM on TNT

  • Cardinals @ Cowboys, 8:15 PM on ABC

TUESDAY:

  • Bayern Munich @ PSG, 3 PM on Paramount+

  • Real Madrid @ Liverpool, 3 PM on Paramount+

  • Hurricanes @ Rangers, 7 PM on TNT

  • Thunder @ Clippers, 11 PM on NBC/Peacock

WEDNESDAY:

  • Blues @ Capitals, 7:30 PM on TNT

  • Spurs @ Lakers, 10 PM on ESPN

“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring,” –Hall of Famer Rogers Hornsby

See you on Thursday

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