Passan: 18 innings, 11 runs, a walk-off homer — and an epic Game 3
LOS ANGELES — The game that had everything ended at 11:50 p.m. PT on Monday. For the previous 6 hours, 39 minutes, Game 3 of the World Series played out like a fantastical dreamscape of baseball, filled with tension and drama and madness. It was a game unlikely any before, never to be repeated again, and when the 18th inning ended and the Los Angeles Dodgers had beaten the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5, it was, in a way, a relief, because holding your breath for hours on end is not a sustainable way to live.
Such is the price we pay for an affair like Game 3. The Dodgers and Blue Jays competed at an exceptional level in the longest game in World Series history by innings and second-longest by time. They punched and counterpunched, emptied their benches and bullpens. They executed with wizardry and found pieces of themselves they didn’t know existed. And in the 18th inning, it was Freddie Freeman, already the hero of last year’s World Series, who deposited a center-cut sinker from Brendon Little over the center-field fence 406 feet away.
There have been 703 games played in the 121-year history of the World Series. While there are certainly competitors, this one launched itself into the upper echelon, undoubtedly elite, and left the 52,654 fans at Dodger Stadium as giddy as they were almost seven years to the day earlier, when the only other 18-inning game in World Series history ended the same way: with a Dodgers walk-off homer.
Game 3 of the World Series featured…
609 pitches (LAD: 312, TOR: 297)
37 runners left on base
25 position players used
19 pitchers used pic.twitter.com/MBHReOJ16x— ESPN Insights (@ESPNInsights) October 28, 2025
The heroes were plentiful, and in the aftermath of the lunacy, one of them stood in the Dodgers’ clubhouse, still trying to process what happened. Will Klein, the last man out of the Dodgers’ bullpen, a reliever who had topped out this year at two innings and 30 pitches, threw four innings of one-hit ball and struck out five on 72 pitches. The last of them, an 86 mph curveball, induced a swing and miss from Tyler Heineman and a scream from Klein, who understood what had been asked of him and knew he’d delivered.
Games don’t become classics without efforts like Klein’s — and he had an admirer who wanted to acknowledge that. Into the Dodgers’ clubhouse strode Sandy Koufax, his eminence of Dodgers pitching, who, at 89 years old, looked no worse for the wear at 12:48 a.m. Koufax walked up to Klein, stuck out his hand, looked him in the eyes and said: “Nice going.”
This was that kind of game, the one that forges bonds between a Hall of Famer and a man with 22.2 career major league innings who didn’t make the Dodgers’ roster in any of the previous three rounds of the postseason. The kind of game that prompted Klein to unlock his phone just to see how many messages he had, only for him to scroll … and keep scrolling … and keep scrolling to the point he just stopped. The kind of game that made Klein marvel to a friend in the clubhouse: “Seventy-two. Can you believe it?”
Game 3 was anarchy, a funhouse mirror of a ballgame, everything out of order. Shohei Ohtani‘s magnificence is never in question, but to see a baseball player reach nine times, something that had been done only twice in big league history — never in the postseason and not since 1942 — still registered as incredible, his magnitude lording over the game from beginning to end. He led off the game for the Dodgers with a double. He homered his next time up. He doubled again. He homered once more, his second of the game, his eighth of the postseason, to tie the game at 5 and unleash the chaos to come.
At that point, Blue Jays manager John Schneider had seen enough. In the ninth inning, Ohtani became the first hitter intentionally walked with the bases empty in the ninth inning or later of a postseason game. The next three times he came to the plate — twice with the bases empty — Schneider held up four fingers and gladly gave Ohtani a free pass. In the 17th, with a runner on first, the Blue Jays opted to pitch to him — and Brendon Little promptly deposited four balls nowhere near the strike zone. (Schneider said after the game to expect more tiptoeing around Ohtani in the days to come.)
Schneider’s decision-making earlier in the game, in which he tried to scratch across runs by substituting in a cadre of pinch runners, left the Blue Jays’ lineup compromised for most of the second half of the game. Against a Dodgers bullpen that had been a sieve for most of the postseason, Toronto managed just one run in 13⅓ innings. Los Angeles used 10 pitchers — including Clayton Kershaw, the future Hall of Famer. Kershaw came on in the 13th with the bases loaded, ground through a nine-pitch at-bat against Nathan Lukes and induced a dribbler to second base that Tommy Edman scooped with his glove to Freeman.
Memorable moments abounded over the game that featured 615 pitches, the most in a postseason game since MLB began tracking pitches in 1988. In the 14th, Will Smith lofted a fly ball to center field and dropped his bat, thinking it was a game winner. The ball died on the warning track. Teoscar Hernández, who, like Ohtani, had four hits, did the same in the 16th. It wound up in a glove, too.
By that point, Klein had arrived and set about pulling a modern-day Nathan Eovaldi, who went 97 pitches over the final six innings of the 2018 marathon. In Klein’s final inning, Yoshinobu Yamamoto — who had thrown a 105-pitch complete game two days prior — was warming up in the bullpen. Klein walked two batters. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts could have easily gone to Yamamoto. He stuck with Klein.
Klein just did it, because he had to, and that, as much as anything, is the lesson of an evening like Game 3, when a great game — which this was for the first dozen or so innings — evolves into something different altogether. Game 3 was a test. Of endurance and will — or, as it were, Will.
“You just got to either do it or you don’t,” said Dodgers reliever Justin Wrobleski, who spent time with Klein at AAA this season. “You go out there and you’re like, ‘I know what has to be done here and let’s see what I got.’ I like moments like that because it’s a test of your character. More than that, it’s a test of everything else.”
Klein passed. And Freeman, of course, is the valedictorian of such moments, one of the clutch kings of his generation. He had struggled much of the postseason, entering the game with only one RBI in the Dodgers’ previous dozen playoff games. His first two in this World Series had looked a far cry from his performance last year, when, nursing a number of injuries, he hit a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 and won series MVP. It wasn’t just the lack of production. He wasn’t hitting the ball particularly hard, either.
On the final pitch, he finally did. This is the kind of thing that happens in 18-inning games. They are uncomfortable and scary and can end with the crack of a bat. It is terrifying. It is beautiful. It is everything.
Those lucky enough to bear witness will never forget it, either. They squirmed and flinched and closed their eyes and prayed and squealed and cringed and, in the end, saw 31 hits and 37 runners left on base and 19 pitchers and one particularly majestic swing that, 10 minutes shy of Monday turning into Tuesday, ended one of the best World Series games ever — and gave the Dodgers a 2-1 advantage in this year’s series.
Klein isn’t sure how his arm will feel by the time he returns to the ballpark Tuesday for Game 4. Typically, he said, he’s a Day 2 guy, the soreness not coming until the second day after an outing. After being lavished with praise from his teammates and thanked by Sandy Koufax and written into the annals of Dodgers history, though, tomorrow and the next day wasn’t of much concern.
“I feel great right now,” he said, and with good reason. He was the winning pitcher, the stopper, the MVP of the night every bit as much as Freeman and Ohtani, and the adrenaline rush numbed whatever pain will eventually arrive. That’s for another day. This was everything — and more.
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Jorge Castillo
The New York Mets and reliever Devin Williams agreed to a three-year, $51 million deal, league sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Monday night, giving the club a replacement for Edwin Diaz should the All-Star closer sign elsewhere.
The contract has no opt-outs or options but includes a $6 million signing bonus spread over the three seasons.
Williams will bolster the back end of a bullpen that the Mets are determined to substantially improve this winter. The question is whether he will be used as a setup man or a closer.
Williams’ role depends on whether the Mets re-sign Diaz, who opted out of his contract last month and is considered the top free agent reliever this offseason. The addition of Williams does not erase the possibility of a reunion with Diaz, and the Mets remain interested in bringing him back, sources told Passan.
Williams, 31, hit free agency after his lone season with the New York Yankees. Acquired last December from the Milwaukee Brewers for pitcher Nestor Cortes and National League Rookie of the Year finalist Caleb Durbin, Williams struggled to a career-worst 4.79 ERA over 67 appearances for New York. But underlying metrics — including a 2.68 FIP, a .195 expected batting average against, and elite strikeout, whiff and chase rates — suggest the bloated ERA is misleading.
He saved 18 games in 22 chances for the Yankees, but despite entering the season as the designated closer, he shared the role for most of the season after his rough start to 2025. Williams recorded four scoreless outings during the Yankees’ postseason run, but David Bednar earned both of New York’s playoff saves.
Before joining the Yankees, Williams was a premier back-of-the-bullpen pitcher during his six seasons with Milwaukee, first as a setup reliever for star closer Josh Hader and then as Hader’s replacement in the role.
After winning the NL Rookie of the Year in 2020 — when he posted a 0.33 ERA over 22 outings — Williams was named to two NL All-Star teams. During the three seasons before being dealt to the Yankees, Williams went 15-7 with 65 saves and a minuscule 1.66 ERA.
Williams has had an unorthodox style as a closer. Despite a fastball velocity below the big league average, he flourished thanks to one of the game’s best changeups, an offering so distinct that it acquired a nickname — “The Airbender.”
Now, Williams will be reunited with Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns, who was in that role for the Brewers for Williams’ first four seasons in Milwaukee.
Williams’ agreement with the Mets was first reported by The Athletic.
ESPN MLB Writer Bradford Doolittle contributed to this report.
The Orioles signed closer Ryan Helsley to a two-year contract Monday, continuing the remaking of their beleaguered pitching staff with one of the most sought-after relievers on the free agent market.
Sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan that the deal is for $28 million and includes an opt-out after the first season.
While multiple teams sought to sign Helsley as a starter, the 31-year-old right-hander chose to remain in the role that made him a two-time All-Star and will hand him the ninth inning for the Orioles while retaining the ability to reach the open market after 2026.
Helsley, whose deal is pending a physical, is the second bullpen addition of the winter for Baltimore, which reacquired right-hander Andrew Kittredge from the Cubs after dealing him to Chicago at the trade deadline. With a moribund pitching staff, the Orioles went 75-87 and finished in last place in the American League East after consecutive postseason berths.
Orioles president of baseball operations Mike Elias trawled the free agent market for a late-inning option and landed on Helsley, who over his seven-year career has a 2.96 ERA in 319⅔ innings with 377 strikeouts, 133 walks and 105 saves.
Among the lowest points were the final two months of Helsley’s 2025 season, when, following a deadline deal from St. Louis to the New York Mets, he posted a 7.20 ERA and allowed 36 baserunners in 20 innings. Coming off an All-Star showing for St. Louis in 2024, which included a National League-leading 49 saves and a 2.04 ERA, Helsley saved 21 games with a solid 3.00 ERA for the Cardinals before the deadline, when he was sent to the Mets for three prospects.
Acquired to deepen a New York bullpen anchored by closer and fellow free agent Edwin Diaz, Helsley struggled badly during his time with the Mets. He blew saves in three straight appearances in mid-August and spent most of the past month working in low-leverage situations as New York collapsed down the stretch and missed the postseason.
Baltimore saw more noise than signal in Helsley’s downturn and is banking on Helsley’s stuff — which pitch-quality metrics rate as some of the best in the game — returning him to dominance. Helsley deploys one of baseball’s hardest fastballs, which averaged 99.3 mph in 2025, according to Statcast, ranking in the 99th percentile of all pitchers.
With incumbent closer Felix Bautista expected to miss the 2026 seasons following rotator cuff and labrum surgeries in August, the Orioles entered the winter with only right-hander Yennier Cano and left-hander Keegan Akin as veteran bullpen options. Beyond Helsley and Kittredge, Baltimore could add another reliever, sources said. The Orioles’ need for pitching help isn’t limited to their bullpen, either. Following the trade of Grayson Rodriguez to the Los Angeles Angels for left fielder Taylor Ward, Baltimore continues to pursue starting-pitching options to join left-hander Trevor Rogers and right-hander Kyle Bradish at the top of their rotation, sources said.
A fifth-round pick out of Northeastern State in Oklahoma, Helsley was a full-time starter throughout the minor leagues until he joined the Cardinals’ big league roster. From 2022 to ’24, he was arguably the most valuable reliever in the NL, alongside right-hander Devin Williams, a free agent with whom the Orioles spoke as well.
ESPN’s Bradford Doolittle contributed to this report.
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