My grandfather and my mom ignited my interest in baseball, but it was Sandy Koufax who made me fall in love with the game. It was the 1963 World Series and as a 12-year-old I already was aware of the Yankees’ dominance of the sport. I was about to be introduced to Koufax, the slender, stylish Los Angeles Dodgers left-hander who could overpower hitters with his fastball and make them look foolish with his curveball.
In Game 1, he struck out 15 Yankees in a complete-game 5-2 victory. His dominance of baseball’s dominant team was spellbinding. He struck out eight more in his second complete-game win, 2-1, in Game 4 to lead the Dodgers to a four-game sweep. His performance unleashed the fan in me and helped me discover a passion for baseball that has grown through the years.
As October gave way to November, I found myself rooting against Koufax’s team while falling in love with baseball all over again. The Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays might have given baseball its best World Series ever, a seven-game spectacle that illustrated the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.
Game 7 was a microcosm of a series that saw the Blue Jays win two games in Los Angeles after losing a heartbreaking 18-inning endurance test. And it saw the Dodgers win the final two games in Toronto, the first of which will be remembered by a soft liner to left field that didn’t drop for a hit but resulted in a game-ending double play; the second an 11-inning heavyweight fight that ended on a ground-ball double play with the tying run on third.
As the drama built, my son sent me a text at 11:40 p.m. that said: “Wow the tension!”
By then, so much had transpired, making Game 7 the climactic ending the Series deserved. The Jays’ Bo Bichette, who injured his left knee in a home-plate collision on September 6th, could barely run, but he still could hit and ripped a 442-foot home run off Shohei Ohtani to give Toronto a 3-0 lead in the third. An eighth-inning homer by the Dodgers’ Max Muncy closed the gap to 4-3, but the Blue Jays needed just three more outs to capture their first championship since Joe Carter’s walk-off homer against the Phillies in 1993.
As Toronto closer Jeff Hoffman took the mound in the ninth, I couldn’t help thinking about his interaction with the Orioles back in April. Hoffman had reached a three-year, $40 million deal with the Orioles before the team flagged his physical. He blew kisses to the Orioles’ dugout after beating them but on Saturday night he blew the save, giving up a one-out homer to Miguel Rojas that tied the score at 4.
There was another Baltimore connection in the 10th when former Oriole reliever Seranthony Domínguez escaped a bases-loaded jam by touching the bag at first just before a hustling Kiké Hernandez. Shane Bieber gave up the game-winning homer to Will Smith in the top of the 11th. However, there was more drama before the Dodgers celebrated.
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled to start the bottom of the 11th and moved third on a sacrifice bunt by Isiah Kiner-Falefa, an out fans wanted back as events unfolded. After Addison Barger walked, slow-running catcher Alejandro Kirk did the one thing Toronto couldn’t afford — hit a ground ball. Mookie Betts turned it into an easy double play, a crushing blow for the Blue Jays and their fans.
Overlooked at the finish was a remarkable catch by Muncy when Andrés Giménez faked a bunt and hit a liner right at a charging Muncy, a spectacular catch in center by Andy Pages on a deep drive to left-center by Ernie Clement on which he knocked over his leftfielder Hernandez, a diving catch in center by Toronto’s Daulton Varsho and a diving catch at first by Guerrero, all of which saved runs.
Just as stunning was a play at second by Rojas, who saved the day for a second time when, with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth, he fielded a ground ball with the infield drawn in, lost his balance briefly but still threw home in time for a forceout on Kiner-Falefa, who didn’t take much of a lead at third to avoid getting doubled off on a caught line drive.
At the end there was the relief effort by Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief after throwing 96 pitches in the Dodgers’ victory on Friday. He was named the Series MVP.
Afterward, there was talk of the Dodgers’ dynasty and of the Blue Jays’ missed opportunity. You could feel the anguish of the Blue Jays’ fans, but you also could feel that the game of baseball had been elevated. It was, indeed, a Fall Classic. Maybe the best of all time.