The Blue Jays dropped an 18-inning heartbreaker to the Dodgers in Game 3 of the World Series

LOS ANGELES — This is why October baseball is the king of all postseasons, hands down. It’s drama at every turn, plays big and small, every damn thing matters. There was Shahnawaz Ohtani’s recording night. Alejandro Kirk is taking another star turn. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bachette with their moments. Jeff Hoffman and Braden Fisher and Eric Lauer. Emmett Sheehan and Clayton Kershaw and Will Klein. Many main characters. Lots of twists and turns. That led to a lot of plays and missed opportunities and stranded runners.

The Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers fought and fought and emptied their bullpens and exhausted their pitchers and beat themselves, and each other, for six hours and 39 minutes on Monday night until the visitors finally broke through. Freddie Freeman, whose walk-off grand slam ended Game 1 of the World Series last year, struck out Brendan Little for another inning of work, opening the bottom of the 18th.^thinning, ending what is now tied for the longest game in the postseason.

The final, 6-5, in 18 long, raucous, draining frames, those left by the crowd of 52,652 erupted in cheers as the Dodgers struck out Freeman, all as the Blue Jays walked off the field in frustration.

“You don’t want to play a game like that, right,” Guerrero said through spokesman Hector Lebron. “We tried everything we could. They did the same thing. But in the end, they came out victorious.”

The Dodgers now lead the series best of 2-1. Shane Bieber, who was the lead in the bullpen if it went ahead, goes up against Ohtani, after a monster two-homer, two-double, five-walk, four-inning performance, in Game 4 Tuesday night (SportsNet, 8 p.m. ET / 5 p.m. PT).

“I hope we don’t lose sight of our starting pitcher getting on base nine times tomorrow — just unbelievable,” Freeman said, later adding: “He’s a unicorn. There’s no more adjectives (that) can describe Shohei. … We’re still at a loss for words to describe a once-in-10-generation player.”

The Blue Jays are also running out of ways to handle Ohtani, which is why a game they trailed 4-2 in four and 5-4 in the seventh turned into an uneventful doubleheader.

Ohtani doubled in the first, homered in the third, homered, doubled in a run and scored another in a two-run fifth that tied the game, homered again in the seventh — when Seranthony Dominguez should have pitched around him but foolishly left a fastball up the middle — and then went straight for five walks, the first four innings.

No one had reached base in most postseason play, with Ohtani surpassing the six-high by Kerry Carpenter (2025 ALDS Game 5); Kenny Lofton (1995 World Series Game 3) and Stan Hack (1945 World Series Game 6).

“He had a great game, he’s a great player,” Schneider said, “but then (the seventh homer), you just take the bat out of his hands.”

Expect the same approach Tuesday?

“Yes,” he replied sheepishly.

Both teams also need to worry about their bullpens — Eric Laver threw 4.2 shutout frames, his most since Aug. 27, when he was still a starter, before giving way to Little, while Klein threw four shutouts to get the win. But the Blue Jays will also anxiously await word on an MRI for George Springer, who left the game in the seventh with a right-sided strain after throwing a pitch.

“It’s useless,” Schneider said. “We’ll see how it comes back and see how he wakes up.”

Time and time again this season, the Blue Jays have tested their mettle and will need to lean into that flexibility once again after matching Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, also won by the Dodgers in ’18.^thinning on Max Muncie’s walk-off homer, the only postseason game that lasted longer than that in terms of time (7:20).

“It was a crazy game,” said Davis Schneider, who ran for Ty France, who took over from Springer, after one in the 10th.^thbeing thrown out at the plate after a Nathan Loucks double. “I mean, Ohtani getting on base nine times is a record. We had some scoring opportunities, we just didn’t come into it. … Just one of those games where you look back on it, damn, that was crazy.”

Ernie Clement said: “We grinded it out. We fought and locked our feet. Tired as hell. Credit to them. They just kind of finished and played big when they needed to. I hope we come out firing tomorrow.”

Added John Schneider: “This group is going to be ready to play. It’s tied for the longest game in World Series history, whatever that is. I mean, these guys are enjoying it. They were in the right mindset and the right headspace the whole time. It sucks that it’s too late, we’ve got to come back and do it again, but these guys are more ready than the World Series today. Win a game, these guys are going to be ready to go.” is the.”

How quickly each team recovers, and how well the Blue Jays turn the page, will certainly play a role in how it plays.

They had seemingly seized control of the game in the fourth when Kirk timed a Tyler Glasnow curveball and blasted it over the wall in center for a three-run homer that erased an early 2-0 deficit. Andres Gimenez added a sacrifice fly later in the inning.

Then, after the Dodgers tied it, the Blue Jays retook the lead in the seventh when Guerrero walked the Black trains with two outs and then scored from first when Bechette hit a single down the right field line, carefully tapping the plate to try to tag Will Smith.

They had scoring chances in the ninth, 10th, 12th — when Kershaw came out of the bullpen to ground out Loucks — and the 18th, when Tyler Heineman, who had come in to score Kirk’s sixth inning earlier, struck out with runners on second and third.

Short, using the last eight relievers, then gave up a full-count sinker up the middle to Freeman, who launched it 406 feet into the cold, heavy night air, ending what was the second set of nine innings that had already been a perfect nine. Play when there was confusion about what should have happened Ball 4 went to Dolton Warsaw but umpire Mark Wagner’s sloppy calls did not.

“It was a lot, man,” John Schneider said. “I like the way we played. I like the way we fought. I think every single player on both sides had the right intention. There are a lot of things you’ll see. We had chances to score, they had chances to score. Yeah, a lot to digest.”

In short order, too, as the next day always comes quickly in the World Series, especially when the previous day ends as unhappily as the next begins.