World Series ’25

Every great baseball game–and the Dodgers’ 5-4 seventh-game win was a great one–has a myriad of small moments a little flip of which might have altered the outcome. That, plus the amateur’s ability to see and second-guess so many of these moments, is one of baseball’s enduring virtues.

Here are some of the things I won’t discuss. The solo nature of the Dodgers’ three home runs, veritable ambushes, compared to Bo Bichette’s three-run homer in a high-leverage situation. Bichette’s limited mobility, which both cost the Blue Jays a run in the second inning and meant he was no longer in the lineup when Guerrero led off the 11th with a double. The Dodgers’ replacing Tommy Edman, an inexperienced centerfielder, with Andy Pages, their best defender, two batters before Pages had to make a sensational game-saving catch at the wall. Or one play before, when instant replay appeared to show Will Smith’s foot coming off home plate as Kiner-Falefa slid with what would’ve been the game-winning run (but who wanted the World Series to end with instant replay?).

No, the play I want to focus on occurred in the Dodger 6th, with the Jays leading 3-1. Chris Bassitt was on the mound. He walked Mookie Betts to lead off the inning–a cardinal sin, we know–then Max Muncy singled, putting runners on first and second. Teoscar Hernandez then hit a one-hopper back to the mound, not a screamer but time enough for Bassitt to collect the ball and make a throw.  His baseball instinct was to throw to second to start a double play, but, as the announcers noted, he took his time and didn’t rush, perhaps to make sure his throw was accurate. As a result, there was no double play (and the play at second was actually fairly close). If all he was going to get was one out, however, the play should have been to third base. The replay showed that Betts was only halfway there when Bassitt was getting ready to throw and would have been an easy out. A player has to know where he is going to throw the ball before it is hit, and I’m sure Bassitt’s only thought was, hit to me, go to second to start a double play. Perhaps the catcher should have directed his throw, as he would normally do on a bunt. But no one was contemplating Bassitt’s leisurely approach when the ball came his way.

What difference would this have made? The next batter, Edman, hit a fly ball to center which, because of Varsho’s weak arm, scored Betts from third. Had Bassitt erased Betts at third, no run would have scored and the Jays’ 3-1 lead would have offered more security. Yes, they added a run in their half of the 6th, but a 4-1 lead would have been more demoralizing to the Dodger hitters and might even have held up against the Muncy and Rojas homers that eventually knotted the score in the 9th.

Ah, you say, but remember that following Edman’s sacrifice fly Kike Hernandez hit a single to right. Would that not have scored Muncy from second anyway? We’ll never know, but remember also that Muncy is not the fastest Dodger, and Addison Barger in rightfield has allegedly the strongest arm in the majors, which he used to throw out a Dodger at home in an earlier game. It would at least have been fun to watch–the kind of play that makes baseball great.