After 18 long innings, the Los Angeles Dodgers took Game 3 of the 2025 World Series over the Toronto Blue Jays, with Freddie Freeman tapping into some October magic yet again as he hit a walk-off home run off of Brendon Little to give LA a 6-5 win and a 2-1 lead in the series. The game lasted over six hours, and it seemed like the game was not going to end, but Freeman finally connected on one after both teams stranded baserunners in extra innings like it was nobody's business.
Freeman connected on a full-count sinker that was hanging in the middle of the zone to send the Dodgers home happy. Both teams are about to do battle yet again around five hours, but the veteran first baseman wasn't about to let the home team go home as the loser.
This was a game that could have gone either way, and both teams deserve plenty of props for duking it out until the very end. But for the Blue Jays, this game is going to be something they look back on and wish that they did some things differently.
With that said, these are the Blue Jays most to blame for their loss in Game 3 of the World Series in an 18-inning marathon.
Baserunning decisions cost the Blue Jays
One thing's for sure: Blue Jays manager John Schneider was very aggressive with his lineup shuffling. Of course, it wasn't his fault that George Springer had to exit the game early due to injury, leaving the Toronto lineup with less pop. Bo Bichette was clearly not 100 percent yet, and the Blue Jays are looking to keep him relatively fresh for the duration of the World Series, explaining the decision to pinch run for him with Isiah Kiner-Falefa.
But in the World Series, it's the fine margins that decide games. Schneider was ultra-aggressive in pinch-running for his slower baserunners, and it left them very much devoid of any offensive threats in the extra innings.
Tyler Heineman pinch ran for Alejandro Kirk, who hit a home run earlier in the game. Ty France, who came on for Springer, got subbed out for Davis Schneider. Even Addison Barger, who's been getting hits left and right for the Blue Jays this postseason, was subbed out in favor of Myles Straw, who couldn't hit a lick during the extra innings.
But beyond Schneider's substitution decisions, there were also some plays where Toronto would have been best served playing it safe on the basepaths.
In the ninth inning, Kiner-Falefa wasn't able to gauge just how far the ball traveled on a base hit and he tried to get to third base — only for Tommy Edman to gun him down. In the 10th, the Blue Jays decided to send Schneider home on a base hit by Nathan Lukes, only for the Dodgers to make a great relay play to keep the game tied.
There's a fine line between aggressiveness and recklessness. The Blue Jays treaded closer to the latter, and they ended up not mounting much of a threat at the plate during the extras as a result. The closest they came to scoring was in the top of the 18th, but they would have been better off with Kirk at the plate in that spot instead of Heineman.
It's a good sign that Schneider trusts his bench this much. But in the World Series, against a stacked Dodgers team, they must know to keep their best players on the field at all times instead of trusting some unproven bats to come through when the pressure is at its highest.
Brendon Little was on borrowed time
Little lost the trust of Schneider and the Blue Jays after struggling earlier in the postseason. But he did come up huge for Toronto in the 17th inning, only to allow the walk-off home run to Freeman.
It's hard to rag on Little so much considering how he managed an escape act in the 17th inning. But he was the last arm Schneider called upon from the pen for a reason. He was shaky after looking solid on the first two batters he faced, and against Freeman, he couldn't execute, forcing him to a full-count in which he had to throw a meatball of a pitch that the Dodgers first baseman did not miss.
Little has to shoulder a lot of the blame for this loss, as the Dodgers couldn't get much of anything going in the extras as well, particularly against Eric Lauer. Alas, the situation called for him to make an appearance, and he ended up costing Toronto what could be an all-important Game 3 in this World Series.
