There were so many great moments to choose from in Monday’s sports equinox, featuring heroic performances from Patrick Mahomes, Sidney Crosby, Victor Wembanyama and more. But the biggest story of all was Freddie Freeman’s bottom-of-the-18th home run to give the Los Angeles Dodgers a 2-1 lead in the World Series over the Toronto Blue Jays. The game, which lasted nearly six hours, was one of the longest in series history. But it fell just a few minutes short of the record-setting 18-inning postseason marathon between the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros in 2022.
It was a night for the ages, a perfect example of why October baseball is the king of all postseasons. There was drama at every turn, plays big and small, everything mattering. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. From Shohei Ohtani’s record-setting night (two doubles, two home runs and nine total bases) to Alejandro Kirk’s star turn and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s heroic bat flip to a controversial call by home plate umpire Mark Wegner that led to Bo Bichette wandering too far off first base and getting picked off for the second out of the second inning, it was one for the books.
After a long, exhausting Game 3, Ohtani was back on the mound for Game 4. He wasn’t vintage Ohtani by any stretch of the imagination but he was effective enough to keep the Dodgers in the game. He allowed just four runs on six hits with a couple of walks.