October baseball has a way of prompting stellar performances, and Game 3 of the 2025 World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays was no exception.
While Shohei Ohtani’s two home runs and Freddie Freeman’s walk-off solo shot in the 18th inning will be remembered for years to come, an unsung bullpen hero should not be forgotten.
Dodgers reliever Will Klein played a pivotal role in the team’s extra-innings win. The 25-year-old delivered four innings of scoreless baseball and struck out five batters in the process. He was extremely surprised by the number of messages he received after the marathon affair.
“I have never seen that many notifications in my life,” Klein told reporters after the game.
Klein only pitched in 14 regular-season contests this season and was left off the Dodgers’ NL Wild Card, NLDS, and NLCS rosters. He was the last pitcher available out of the club’s bullpen and saved manager Dave Roberts from having to use a position player or Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who had only pitched two days prior.
“You don't ever plan on playing 18 innings, and you just kind of ask more from the player,” Roberts told AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. “He delivered. He threw probably three times as much as he's ever thrown before and — certainly with the adrenaline on this stage — what he did was incredible.”
Klein was not initially supposed to be on Los Angeles’ World Series roster, but reliever Alex Vesia had been dealing with a personal matter and could not be with the team.
Klein has made the most of his opportunity thus far and has certainly etched his name in team history.
“In the postseason, people talk about the superstars,” Roberts said. “But a lot of times it's these unsung heroes that you just can't expect. … Tonight was Will Klein's night.”
