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No matter who your preference was, the World Series between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays no doubt ranks among the best. As a Yankees fan, I sat back and enjoyed the Fall Classic from a purely baseball perspective. This one was so thrilling, it’s a shame someone had to lose.

Several things jumped out, including one that was overlooked the day after it occurred…

I’ll start with the 18-inning Game 3. The Freddie Freeman walk-off homer was a crowd-pleaser; and yes Shohei Otani was otherworldly in reaching base in all nine plate appearances with an epic night. But had it not been for a gutsy relief outing by a guy few outside of Dodgertown have even heard of, all this would have gone for naught. Had you ever heard of Will Klein?

Klein is a 6-5, 230-pound right-hander. My friend, Jesus Arredondo (No, not that Jesus Arredondo) immediately coined a nickname for him: “Big Country.” I like it. Will “Big Country” Klein was unhittable as he toiled in the final four innings for the Dodgers. He allowed the Jays just one hit while striking out five – including a crowning punch-out of Tyler Heineman with runners at second and third to end the Jays’ 18th. Klein’s cap, drenched in sweat with beads of perspiration flying off its bill on every pitch was emblematic of the Dodgers’ guile that night, and the Series… To me, that particular 29-minute relief performance was a focal point in time that built a glidepath for a Dodgers win. Curiously, Klein’s name was never to be mentioned again throughout the rest of the Series.

The extra-inning Games 3 and 7 were the stuff of legend. As a traditionalist, I’m not a fan of the free runner to start the 10th inning – and I’m glad Major League Baseball does not include it in the playoffs and World Series. This cheesy gimmick was first included among the basket of tools employed by MLB during the 2020 Covid season to shorten games and potentially reduce injuries. (Numerous studies now show that the pitch clock, introduced in 2023, had the greatest impact in reducing game times, approximately 20-30 minutes per game).

These games would have likely turned out radically different had unearned runners started at second base during the extra innings—and thus deprived fans of one of the most exciting Game 3’s in Series history. I enjoy the game-within-the-game strategy of an extra inning game with so much on the line. But perhaps that’s just me. It’s Major League Baseball. Plus, it’s a rare occurrence. According to Baseball Almanac, since 1907, only 19 total WS games have ever gone past 11 innings, just five past 13.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the Series MVP. I’m a pitching/defense guy, and Yoshi’s performance here cannot be understated. He followed a Game 2 complete-game victory with a big win in Game 6 and then -with zero days rest- 2 2/3 innings of relief in Game 7. It was a throwback to when baseball cared less about pitch counts and metrics and more about reading the room and gauging a pitcher’s guile. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts chose the latter and Yoshi won three games this Fall Classic. He was the first pitcher to do so since Randy Johnson in 2001.

The Game 1 surprise 11-4 win by the Blue Jays: Surprising because the Jays win mostly playing small ball baseball. But not this night as Addison Barger, Alejandro Kirk and Daulton Varsho hit the big home runs.

And how about that 22-year old Trey Yesavage? While game announcers Joe Davis and John Smoltz seemed to fall all over themselves trying to articulate which record Yesavage broke during Game 5, the young Jays’ starter was dominant with those 12 World Series strikeouts – a record for a rookie Series starter. More on Davis and Smoltz later…

Pitching and defense tend to win these things, and this series had both in abundance. The acrobatic catch by Andy Pages in deep center off the bat of Ernie Clement saved the game and Series for Los Angeles.

And Miguel Rojas, no longer an everyday player at 36, shined when it counted. His throw to home plate with the bases full of Jays in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 was clutch.

Both clubs combined to hit 19 home runs, but it certainly didn’t feel like it, with Ohtani leading all hitters with three. The Dodgers hit a collective .203, and it felt like it all the way up to the 8th inning of Game 7. Meanwhile, Toronto batted a collective .269.

My other takeaway was the announcing. Horrendous, in my view. The non-stop cavalcade of often-meaningless anecdotes and “factoids” from Davis and Smoltz came off as canned, schmaltzy and laced with jargon. They rarely allowed key moments of the game to “breathe,” instead opting to cram in as many cherry-picked tales from yesteryear, stealing away the crowd reaction that should carry the moment. These moments made me miss Vin Scully more than ever…

There was too much emphasis on, and misuse of the term, “postseason” records. I get it that the World Series is considered “postseason,” but the announcers rarely differentiate between the World Series and all of the other series that now lead up to it. Thus, World Series records and accomplishments have been muted. Case in point: At the end of Game 2, when Yamamoto put the finishing touches on a complete game win, Davis immediately went into hyperdrive. “First back-to-back complete game wins in the postseason by a Dodger since Orel Hershiser.” Yamamoto’s previous start was the complete game win in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series over Milwaukee. It would have been nice had Davis noted that Hershiser’s performance came in Games 2 and 5 of the 1988 World Series, not the playoffs.

Had the crack researchers who provide these tidbits dug a little deeper, they would know that Sandy Koufax pitched back-to-back complete game wins in the 1963 Series over the Yankees. Could have been a nice touch to point this out at least once during the multitude of times the cameras showed the great Koufax during the World Series…

Finally, the network dugout interviews while the game is in progress are cumbersome and need to end. But alas, I digress from the greatness that was this Fall Classic.

And, as the offseason beckons, I am reminded that the World Baseball Classic begins March 5, 2026!