March toward destiny complete

Smith home run with two outs in the top half of the inning, then watching Yoshinobu Yamamoto — in his third inning of work, a night after throwing 96 pitches in a Game 6 win — close it all out on a double-play grounder to shortstop Mookie Betts.

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MIGUEL ROJAS, center, is met by teammates after his score-tying home run.

(ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times)

Already, this World Series had featured seemingly everything: a complete game from Yamamoto in Game 2, an 18-inning marathon in Game 3, two bounce-back Blue Jays wins in Dodger Stadium after that, then the Dodgers staving off elimination in Game 6 in a bid to become the first team since 2019 to reverse a 3-2 Fall Classic deficit.

All of that, however, paled in comparison to Game 7.

For ages, this finale will be remembered. As long as baseball is played, a script like this will never be replicated.

“I’m a little speechless, a little bit shocked that we won this one tonight,” retiring pitcher and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw said.

“My internal workings were not going great,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman added. “Definitely took years off my life. But for us to be on this side of it, worth it.”

The Dodgers looked buried early, falling behind 3-0 when a hobbled Bo Bichette took an exhausted Shohei Ohtani deep in the third inning. They seemed finished until the ninth, clawing back within one but never completely erasing the deficit — until Rojas saved the season with his tying home run to left.

Even then, salvation wasn’t assured. In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Blue Jays had the bases loaded but somehow didn’t break through.

Rojas saved the day for a second time on a ground ball at second base, fielding it from a drawn-in position before firing for a force out at home plate. The next batter, Ernie Clement, sent a fly ball to deep left-center. Kiké Hernández and defensive replacement Andy Pages collided at the warning track. Hernández hit the deck. Pages completed the catch.