LOS ANGELES — Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax may be 89 years old – hasn’t thrown a single pitch in 60 years – but was so excited Monday night that he rushed into the Los Angeles Dodgers clubhouse, almost ready to put on a uniform himself.

This is the 121st World Series played, and no one has ever seen a game quite like it, featuring 44 players, 19 pitchers, a batter reaching base nine times, five outs recorded on the bases, a player becoming the first to hit two walk-off homers in the World Series, a reliever who wasn’t even on the playoff roster until four days ago becoming the winning pitcher, in a game that lasted 18 innings, tied for the longest in World Series history.

It was that kind of zany and historic night on Monday at Dodger Stadium, where the Dodgers outlasted the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-5, in 18 innings – an instant World Series classic lasting six hours, 39 minutes, with Freddie Freeman hitting a walk-off homer to lead off the 18th and give the Dodgers a 2-games-to-1 lead.

‘It’s one of the greatest World Series games of all time,’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. ‘I’m spent emotionally. We got a ball game later tonight (Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. ET), which is crazy.’

Oh yeah, and the guy taking the mound is the same guy who just reached base nine times, Shohei Ohtani, who hit two homers, two doubles, and was walked five times – four times intentionally.

‘I hope we don’t lose sight,’ Freeman said, ‘our starting pitcher got on base nine times tonight. Just incredible.’

Said Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement: ‘You can’t explain it. He’s the best player to ever play this game.’

And yet, despite the historic performance, Ohtani was almost an afterthought as the game went on, being intentionally walked in the ninth, 11th, 13th and 15th innings, and walked on four pitches in the 17th inning.

While Ohtani was being walked, reliever Justin Wrobleski, after pitching in the sixth inning, kept running in and out of the Dodgers clubhouse for 11 innings with his other teammates who were out of the game, furiously changing sweatshirts, shoes, pants and anything for good luck.

‘I went sweatshirt, then I went no sweatshirt, and then I went three different pairs of shoes,’ Wrobleski said. ‘The third pair of shoes finally worked.’

Infielder Miguel Rojas was getting his arm loose, and was ready in case the Dodgers wanted to turn to a position player after already using 10 pitchers, with Roberts saying on TV during the game that he was nearly ready to do just that.

‘I was trying to get myself ready,’ Rojas said. ‘I was going to throw everything I have, even that eephus pitch.’

Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who threw a complete game just two days ago, actually was warming up in the bullpen as the game ended, ready to come in for emergency relief.

There was Ohtani, who said he was tired and just wanted to go to bed, knowing he is scheduled to take the mound in a few hours.

It was a night where Freeman was the hero, becoming the first player to hit multiple walk-off homers in World Series history.

But another man who will be forever remembered in Dodger folklore is Will Klein. He’s a 25-year-old journeyman who has pitched for five teams, was added to the World Series roster at the last minute, and who pitched four shutout innings to perhaps save the Dodgers’ season.

When Freeman’s fly ball sailed over the center-field fence, he thrust his right arm high into the air, and then both hands as he circled the bases and crossed home plate. Nearly the entire team encircled Klein to congratulate him as the winning pitcher.

What was said exactly?

‘Probably nothing that was in English,’ Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. ‘It was just a bunch of gibberish. I was too tired, too excited but we all made sure to give him a hug and tell him how important that was.’

While it may have been a blur to Muncy and his teammates, pardon Klein if he remembers every detail the rest of his life.

‘That was so cool,’ Klein said. ‘I never dreamed that anything like this would happen. So just having all those guys like kind of celebrating me for a second there was just insane. I don’t think I could have dreamt a dream that good.

‘Yeah, that was crazy.’

So was the entire game.

There were 10 runs scored in the first seven innings, and not another until Freeman’s 18th-inning homer.

There were five runners thrown out on the bases, four ending innings.

There were 44 players used, including 19 pitchers, with not a single reliever left in either bullpen.

‘I think we’ll be talking about this game for a long time,’ Muncy said. ‘We always talk about a regular playoff game is like playing three extra-inning games. And we basically just played a doubleheader back-to-back today.’

And, of course, there was Klein.

‘He will be remembered as a hero,’ Rojas said.

Said Freeman: ‘Will Klein, MVP of the game.’

Considering Klein was a last-minute replacement on the World Series roster because of a family emergency with left-handed reliever Alex Vesia, when did Klein realize he might be summoned into the game in the 15th inning?

‘When I looked around in the bullpen and my name was the only one still there,’ he said, laughing. ‘I was just going to go until I couldn’t, and that’s kind of what happened and, thankfully, Freddie saved us from Yamamoto having to do the same thing …

‘I don’t think I could have ever imagined that this would happen.’

Well, if the Dodgers really want to stretch their imagination, all they have to do is look at the mound Tuesday and see that the same dude who just reached base nine times will be the starting pitcher a mere 18 hours later.

‘He’s a freak,’ Klein said. ‘I mean, that guy, I don’t know how anyone can do what he does, being the best hitter and the best pitcher in the league. I don’t think there’s a word to describe it other than he’s the GOAT.

‘I mean, just getting to be teammates with him is a great honor. So, that guy, he’s going to go out there and shove (Tuesday), and we’ll be like, man he was on base nine times and he’s not tired at all.’

The Dodgers were riding so high after the game they insisted they weren’t physically exhausted, only mentally wiped out, and Roberts entered the clubhouse after the game to tell them how proud he was of each and every one of them.

There were heroes everywhere he looked.

There were nine relievers who gave up just one run in 13 1/3 innings.

There was Will Smith who caught all 18 innings.

There was Yamamoto who came to the bench and volunteered to pitch in relief.

And, there was three-time Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw, who entered the game with the bases loaded in the 12th inning, the first time he had ever pitched in an extra-inning game in his career.

Kershaw promptly induced a weak ground ball by Nathan Lukes, ending the inning, and sending 52,654 fans into hysterics, wondering if that was perhaps Kershaw’s final World Series game.

‘It was a big out for us,’ Kershaw said. ‘I thought it was going to be a bigger out, but we played like nine more innings.’

While Kershaw extolled the virtues of their entire bullpen, Freeman’s blast, Smith catching 18 innings, and their fabulous defensive play, he still couldn’t help but marvel at Ohtani’s performance, knowing he’s going to be the starting pitcher in Game 4.

“To get on base nine times, and is about to pitch in 12 hours,’’ Kershaw said, “pretty unbelievable, all of the way around.’’

And while Yamamoto never came into the game, the fact that he told Roberts and the coaching staff he was ready to pitch, and warmed up furiously in the bullpen, it only exemplified the Dodgers’ unselfishness.

‘That’s a testament to our team that he’s willing to go do that,’ Freeman said. ‘It took every single guy tonight, and for him to want to do that, I think that just shows you who we are as a group. We’ll do anything to win the game.’

Said Kershaw: ‘That’s just unbelievable. He throws a complete game two days ago, has cross-country travel, gets in at 4 in the morning, had one day rest basically, and is ready to go out and pitch. Sometimes, that’s what you need to win a World Series. We’ve got a lot of guys in here willing to sacrifice.’

That determination will be on full display Tuesday when Ohtani takes the mound. He’ll also be their DH and leadoff hitter, but there may be no reason for him to take his bat to the plate. Blue Jays manager John Schneider made it clear that he’s going to keep walking him after watching him nearly beat his team single-handedly with his first-inning double, third-inning homer, fifth-inning double and seventh-inning, game-tying homer.

‘He’s arguably the best player on the planet, you know,’ Schneider said. ‘I think you kind of react in real time a little bit … There’s certain times where you feel better about someone else beating you.’

It’s Mookie Betts, who hits behind Ohtani, followed by Freeman, but if Betts were the opposing manager, he’d do the exact same thing.

‘What he did was amazing,’ Betts said. ‘Just another one in the history books, another record broken.’

And yes, just another day in the life of Shohei Ohtani, and as the Dodgers left the clubhouse, they can’t wait to see what’s up his sleeve next.

‘We’ll see how that goes,’ Betts said. ‘He’ll probably set another record or something.’

Hey, why not?

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How will this year’s World Series play out? Using the Dynasty League Baseball online simulation, USA TODAY Sports’ Steve Gardner and DLB designer Mike Cieslinski will pre-play each game to provide some insight into the key matchups and strategy fans can expect to see in the Fall Classic.

No one could have imagined the drama, excitement and test of stamina that was in store for Game 3 of the 2025 World Series. It was quite simply, an instant classic.

But with a little imagination, Game 3 of USA TODAY Sports’ Simulated World Series was spot-on in several respects: Tyler Glasnow running into trouble in the fourth after three scoreless innings. Shohei Ohtani’s clutch RBI double. A tie game entering the ninth.

But there was one key difference. In our simulation, Toronto’s Alejandro Kirk slid into home plate with the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth just ahead of Teoscar Hernandez’s throw. But in the actual Game 3, Hernandez nailed Jays runner Davis Schneider at the plate in the top of the 10th – to preserve a tie in a marathon that would ultimately be decided by a dramatic walk-off homer in the 18th inning.

What could be in store for Game 4?

Dodgers vs Blue Jays Game 4 simulation

Once again, we’re a little off with the Blue Jays starting pitcher. Our initial speculation was that Shane Bieber would start Game 4, not Game 3. So we have veteran Chris Bassitt on the mound for Toronto against Shohei Ohtani for the Dodgers. (Though with Bassitt pitching only one inning in the real Game 3, he could be called on for multiple innings in Game 4.)

Neither team was able to push across a run over the first five innings. Even after Toronto lefty Eric Lauer relieved Bassitt and gave up a walk to Ohtani in the sixth, the game remained scoreless.

Lauer was still on the mound in the seventh – and facing his final batter – when Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy connected on a 402-foot solo homer to left to break the drought. Muncy was just a .157/.250/.314 hitter against southpaws during the regular season, but his timely blast put L.A. in front.

The Jays got that run back immediately in the top of the eighth when – after pinch-runner Myles Straw was thrown out at the plate on Bo Bichette’s single – George Springer came through in the clutch with an RBI single off Dodgers reliever Emmet Sheehan to tie the game.

Anyone for extra innings? With the game tied 1-1 in the top of the 10th, Ernie Clement hit a leadoff single and Jays postseason hero Andres Gimenez struck again – taking a Roki Sasaki fastball the other way into the left field seats for a two-run homer.

Fully rested after not being used to close out Game 3, Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman retired the Dodgers in order in the bottom of the 10th to close out the win and put Toronto up 3 games to 1.

BOX SCORE: Blue Jays 3, Dodgers 1

FULL PLAY-BY-PLAY: Gimenez’s clutch blast lifts Jays in Game 4

Dodgers vs Blue Jays Game 4 projections, analysis

So what does our simulation tell us about what we can expect when the real Game 4 takes place?

Both teams will definitely need some length from their starters … and both got it in Sim Series Game 4. Ohtani was masterful on the mound, tossing 6 ⅓ innings of shutout ball, allowing five hits and striking out six. Bassitt yielded just two hits and struck out eight over his 5 ⅓ scoreless frames.
That put the outcome in the hands of the bullpens once again. Lauer gave up the unlikely homer to Muncy, but the real hero for the Jays was right-hander Braydon Fisher, who worked 2 ⅓ innings without giving up a run. On the Dodgers side, it was a second consecutive rocky outing for Sasaki. He took the loss in Sim Series Game 3, and was the losing pitcher again in Game 4 after serving up Gimenez’s homer.
Perhaps the biggest difference in our simulation and the real Game 4 is the status of Jays DH George Springer. He left Monday night’s game early after tweaking a muscle on his right side and may not play on Tuesday. That would be a major blow to Toronto’s offense since Springer has been one of their best hitters in the postsason. He hit an astounding .356/.433/.592 with two outs and runners in scoring position during the regular season – earning him a coveted ‘Clutch’ rating on his 2025 Dynasty League Baseball player card. That clutch rating is what enabled him to get the key two-out RBI single in the eighth inning that pulled the Jays even in our Game 4.

Previous 2025 Sim Series results

Game 1: Blue Jays 9, Dodgers 1
Game 2: Dodgers 12, Blue Jays 3
Game 3: Blue Jays 5, Dodgers 4

LSU doesn’t cheap out on hires, so almost anything seems on the table for this coaching search.
Urban Meyer, Nick Saban are typical pipe dream candidates. At LSU, pipe dreams can become reality.
Lane Kiffin for LSU? Now, that really makes sense.

Every coaching search starts in nearly the same fashion from the average fan’s perspective.

You think of your dream candidate. Let’s just say Urban Meyer. Because, well, Meyer or someone very much like him is often the average fan’s dream candidate.

Mr. Average Fan demands that the folks doing the hiring pull together some stupid money and “make Urban say no!” before moving on to other candidates.

Fast forward to the end of the search. The school hires some stiff who’s not named Urban Meyer, and not named Nick Saban, and the average fan knocks back a triple shot of copium and convinces himself this new coach isn’t so bad and that a national championship is just a few short years away.

Except, the stiff is actually a stiff. He’s fired within a few short years. The process repeats.

That’s how it usually unfolds, anyway.

But, now here’s LSU needing a coach, and I’m not rolling my eyes or laughing when I hear, “Make Urban (or Saban) say no!” I’m certainly not dismissing the idea of Lane Kiffin researching Baton Rouge’s top hot yoga studios.

If there’s one athletic director in America who’s proven he’s comfortable spending stupid money and forcing someone to say yes, it’s Scott Woodward at LSU.

LSU, Scott Woodward don’t hire cheap

Woodward’s responsible for the $75 million guaranteed offer that took Jimbo Fisher from Florida State to Texas A&M. He’s responsible for the $100 million offer (most of it guaranteed) that transported Brian Kelly from Notre Dame to LSU.

To be clear, those hires amount to money poorly spent. Stupid money became just stupid. Neither Fisher nor Kelly delivered the expected return on investment.

Woodward’s other hires using his swing-for-the-fences approach include LSU women’s basketball coach Kim Mulkey and baseball coach Jay Johnson. They’ve supplied national championships.

“Feel like there’s no limitation,” Woodward said of his hiring approach, while appearing last summer on the “Navigating Sports Business” podcast. “Go after the best you could get.”

I could make the very obvious rebuttal that, in the case of Fisher and Kelly, Woodward didn’t hire the best coach he could get. Perhaps, he just hired the most expensive one he could get.

One thing Woodward’s never done, from Washington to Texas A&M to LSU? Gone cheap.

With this school and this AD, pipe dream candidates can become reality.

LSU exactly the type of school to make Urban Meyer, Nick Saban say no

Gambling oddsmakers earmark Tulane’s Jon Sumrall as the favorite to land the job. I’d point out that when this job opened in 2021, Kelly wasn’t even included on the odds chart.

Woodward’s best football hires came at Washington. He sacked Tyrone Willingham and hired Steve Sarkisian. When Sarkisian left, Woodward made what remains his best hire. He nabbed Chris Petersen, whose starting pay dwarfed most of his mates in the Pac-12.

“If people (say), ‘Oh, you overpaid for something,’ well, how do you know that? I thought it through. Maybe I didn’t (overpay),” Woodward told me, in 2022, of his philosophy. “Or, I underpaid for something. (People) know the cost of it, but do they know the value of it?” 

“It’s always worked for me that the best predictors are usually past performances,” he added.

Years after Woodward left Texas A&M for LSU, the Aggies fired Fisher and replaced him with Mike Elko, a cheaper choice. Elko’s positioning to lift the Aggies to heights Fisher never reached. He’s proving what a great bang for the buck looks like.

Woodward’s misfires on Kelly and Fisher don’t mean, though, that he’ll reverse course and cheap out. Kiffin would be worthy of a lucrative offer.

Get past Kiffin, and I like Louisville’s Jeff Brohm, who’s currently making less than $6 million. Tulane’s Sumrall is building an SEC résumé. So, too, is Georgia Tech’s Brent Key.  

But, I’m wondering whether this search makes it that far.

Because, if LSU calls Saban (make sure to call Miss Terry, too) and Meyer, proceeds to Kiffin, then moves to Oregon’s Dan Lanning and Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman, and it makes each say no, how far down the list would it make it before someone says yes?

Woodward’s just the type of guy who’d try to find out.

Blake Toppmeyer is the USA TODAY Network’s senior national college football columnist. Email him at BToppmeyer@gannett.com and follow him on X @btoppmeyer.

The New Orleans Saints are starting rookie quarterback Tyler Shough after benching Spencer Rattler.
Rattler was pulled at halftime of Sunday’s loss to the Buccaneers after committing six turnovers in a two-game span.
Shough was a second-round draft pick from Louisville, the highest the Saints have drafted a QB since 1971.

The New Orleans Saints are ready to get an extended look at their rookie quarterback.

Rattler, who beat out Shough for the starting role in training camp, was benched at halftime of Sunday’s 23-3 loss to the Buccaneers, which dropped the Saints to 1-7 on the season. The move brought an end to a tumultuous two-game stretch for the second-year signal-caller, who had six turnovers and took seven sacks in that span.

First-year coach Kellen Moore held off on naming a starter in the immediate aftermath of the game.

‘We’re just not executing and playing at a high enough standard, and we’ve got to find a way to move the football consistently, protect the football and score points,’ Moore said. ‘And so, this is a pure full offensive evaluation point. … I think we just got to evaluate this whole thing in the next 48 hours, find the solutions that give us the best chance to win.’

A second-round pick out of Louisville, Shough became the first quarterback to be selected by the Saints in the first two rounds of the common draft since Archie Manning in 1971. For the first half of his rookie season, however, he waited behind Rattler, who showed some promise despite running his record to 1-13. On Sunday, Shough stepped in and completed 17 of 30 passes for 128 yards with one interception.

‘Tyler went in there and looked the part,’ Moore said Sunday. ‘He made some plays. The one interception was unfortunate. Gave us a chance to convert there, and so we’ll obviously make that evaluation here quickly and make some decisions moving forward. But this had more to do with the whole offense just not playing well enough and hopefully trying to generate some form of a spark there.’

The Saints play at the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday.

Freddie Freeman dug into the batter’s box to lead off the bottom of the 18th inning of Game 3 with one hit and two walks in his previous eight trips to the plate.

In this World Series, he had just two hits in 12 at-bats (.167) and was hitting just .216 over 13 games this postseason.

But none of that mattered when Freeman sent a 3-2 slider from Blue Jays reliever Brendon Little deep into the Chavez Ravine night and over the center field wall to end the second-longest game in World Series history and give the Dodgers a thrilling 6-5 victory.

‘My swings were getting better as the game was going on. I thought I had a couple hits in, I don’t know, 21 innings ago,’ Freeman said with only a slight exaggeration. ‘It just felt like my swing was getting better and better.’

Fortunately for Freeman, he could rely on muscle memory – having been in a similar situation in the Fall Classic just last year.

In a classic Hollywood moment, Freeman hobbled to the plate on a badly sprained ankle and hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history to beat the New York Yankees in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series.

Then on Monday night, it was time for an encore.

After Shohei Ohtani’s home run tied the game at 5 in the bottom of the seventh, the two teams played 10 consecutive scoreless innings. The Blue Jays put runners in scoring position in the top of the 18th, but once again were unable to push the go-ahead run across. That provided the perfect setup for Freeman’s game-winning heroics.

‘To have it happen again a year later, to hit another walk-off, it’s kind of amazing, crazy,’ Freeman said. ‘I’m just glad we won and we’re up 2-1..’

Coming through again in the clutch like he did was amazing. Check that. According to OptaSTATS, it was unprecedented.

Freeman is the only player in baseball history (regular or postseason) to hit a walk-off grand slam with his team down to its last out AND to hit a walk-off home run in the 18th inning or later.

And he acomplished both of those feats on the biggest stage of all – the World Series.

The Los Angeles Dodgers’ marathon Game 3 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in 18 innings was an instant classic for so many different reasons – from Shohei Ohtani’s latest incredible individual performance to Freddie Freeman’s walk-off homer.

But to fully appreciate what we just witnessed (or more likely couldn’t stay awake long enough to witness), we need to take a deep dive into the numbers. Although it fell just short of the longest game in MLB playoff history – second only to the Dodgers’ 7-hour, 20-minute victory over the Boston Red Sox in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series – the 2025 extended remix against the Blue Jays was certainly amazing in its own right.

2025 World Series Game 3 by the numbers

Here’s a look at some of the eye-popping stats from the Dodgers’ 6-5 win on Monday, Oct. 27:

18: Innings, tying a record for the longest World Series game
6:39: Time of game, the second-longest in World Series history
3: Career walk-off postseason hits by Freddie Freeman, tying him with David Ortiz and Carlos Correa for the most in baseball history

44: Players used by both teams in the game, including a record 19 pitchers

130: Combined at-bats by both teams, smashing the record of 118 set by the Dodgers and Red Sox in 2018

19: Runners left on base by the Blue Jays, the most by a single team in World Series history, breaking the previous record of 15 held by six different teams

9: Times Shohei Ohtani reached base in Game 3 (two home runs, two doubles and five walks), an all-time postseason record

4: Intentional walks to Shohei Ohtani, also a postseason record (six players – including David Ortiz, Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton and Barry Bonds – previously had three)