LOS ANGELES — Eighteen innings. Six hours and 39 minutes. We were treated to bonus baseball and then some in World Series Game 3.
Seven years after the Dodgers and Red Sox set a World Series record with an 18-inning game in Game 3 at Dodger Stadium, history repeated itself.
Freeman summed it up best about Ohtani after the Dodgers’ 6-5 victory over the Blue Jays, noting, “Our starting pitcher [later] tonight got on base nine times tonight.”
Here are 11 stats and facts from a game for the ages:
Eighteen again
• We had been here before. In this 18-inning World Series game, the walk-off homer came from Freeman, not Max Muncy. Speaking of repeats, Freeman hit a walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the World Series last year. Freeman’s two postseason walk-off home runs are tied for the most in postseason history, with David Ortiz, Carlos Correa and Bernie Williams. Freeman is the only one with two in the World Series.
• The Dodgers now have four walk-off World Series home runs. That ties the Yankees for the most. No other team has even two.
• A game like this generates plenty of gaudy numbers. The 19 combined pitchers used were the most in a game in postseason history. There were 609 pitches thrown, 48 more than in any other postseason game since at least 2000. The game took six hours and 39 minutes, the second-longest in postseason history by time behind seven hours and 20 minutes in 2018. There were 37 combined runners left on base, six more than in any other game in postseason history.
• Eighteen innings tied for the longest game in postseason history, not just the World Series. And each of those 18-inning games had a home run in that final frame, either a go-ahead by the road team or a walk-off. There was Jeremy Peña in 2022 ALDS Game 3, the aforementioned Muncy walk-off in 2018 World Series Game 3, Brandon Belt in 2014 NLDS Game 2 and Chris Burke in 2005 NLDS Game 4.
Shohei show
• Ohtani reached base nine times, setting a postseason record, surpassing the previous mark by three. That also tied the MLB record for any game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The only players to reach nine times in a regular-season game were Stan Hack (Aug. 9, 1942), Johnny Burnett (July 10, 1932) and Max Carey (July 7, 1922).
• Ohtani had four extra-base hits in his first four plate appearances. That tied for the most extra-base hits in a World Series game, joining Frank Isbell in 1906 Game 5.
• Two of those extra-base hits were home runs, the third time this postseason Ohtani has hit multiple in a game. He is the first player with three multihomer games in a single postseason.
• Ohtani had 12 total bases, a mark he also reached in NLCS Game 4. He is the first player with multiple games with at least 12 total bases in a single postseason. The only other player with two such postseason games in a career is Babe Ruth.
• After his four extra-base hits, Ohtani was walked five times, four of which were intentional. He is the first player to be intentionally walked four times in a postseason game. Three of the intentional walks came with the bases empty. He is the first player to be intentionally walked with the bases empty multiple times in a postseason game. The only other player to be intentionally walked with the bases empty in a World Series game is Albert Pujols in 2011, Game 5.
• That brings Ohtani’s intentional walk total to eight this postseason. That is tied with 2011 Pujols for the second-most in a postseason, trailing only 2002 Barry Bonds (13).
• Ohtani also is up to eight home runs in this postseason, tying 2020 Corey Seager for the most in a single postseason in Dodgers history. The only player to hit more home runs in a single postseason is Randy Arozarena, who had 10 in 2020. Ohtani’s eight are the most out of the leadoff spot.
