What do you remember most about the epic, riveting, thrill-a-minute Game 7?
The home run? Which one?
That crazy play at the plate? The rubber-armed starter-turned-closer? The last out?
So many moments, so many stories that will be told and retold among this generation of Dodgers fans and passed down to the next.
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As the Dodgers return to Toronto on Monday, for the first time since conquering the Blue Jays to capture the World Series championship, I wanted to look back with a peek at the official World Series documentary.
Not so fast. Major League Baseball did commission a documentary, as it always does, but the film was not ready for release by the time spring training started. The series was so dramatic that the league is looking into options for a high-profile rollout, probably around midseason.
The Dodgers did their part, with a creative bobblehead series of Game 7 moments: Max Muncy’s home run in the eighth inning, Miguel Rojas’ tying home run in the ninth inning, Will Smith’s game-winning home run in the 11th inning, Mookie Betts turning the game-ending double play, and a Yoshinobu Yamamoto “last out” image.
Collect all five, though, and you still don’t get the behind-the-scenes access that a documentary does. So why not ask the Dodgers themselves to take you behind the scenes in those wild hours between their departure from Rogers Centre as champions and their arrival in Los Angeles the following day?
Actually, by the time the Dodgers left the stadium, it was already the following day. Game 7 did not end until 17 minutes past midnight. The Dodgers gathered on the field to collect their championship trophy, retreated to the clubhouse to douse themselves in champagne and beer, returned to the field to share the moment with their families, then went back inside to shower and dress.
“By the time you get done celebrating, there is nowhere that is still open,” Muncy said. “So we had a little spot downstairs at the hotel. We had a little party down there.”
It was past 2 a.m. by the time most of the players and their families joined the party in a hotel ballroom to share food, drink, and joy.
“It was really cool to embrace all the families, see all the excitement,” Rojas said.
“It was unbelievable that you got to bring the trophy back to the hotel. That’s what I remember: taking those moments and enjoying them with the people that I really care about.”
Freddie Freeman said he was one of the first to leave the party. He and his family stayed about an hour and a half, and by then his kids were so tired that it was time for bed.
The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani holds the World Series trophy with teammates after defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the World Series at Rogers Centre. (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Rojas said he hung out at the party until around 5 a.m. He did not sleep that night.
Was there any sleep to be had for Muncy that night?
“At some point, there was,” he said. “I don’t remember it.”
The Dodgers pushed back their flights to noon, manager Dave Roberts said. The Dodgers travel in two groups: one for families, coaches, and team staffers; the other for the players.
“I don’t know what they were doing,” Roberts said. “I was sleeping.”
They were singing.
“My favorite part was the bus ride going to the plane,” Freeman said. “Music blaring. Everyone is singing on the bus.
“Miguel is on the mic. Every song he played, he seemed to know the words, or he made up words.”
For Rojas to get up and sing on the team bus, well, nothing new there. What was new that morning was one song in his repertoire.
“There’s this song they were playing at the stadium in the seventh inning — I think it goes, ‘Oh yay, Blue Jays,’ something like that,” Rojas said. (It’s called “OK, Blue Jays.”)
“And I was just singing the song and getting the guys going. I didn’t plan it. I was just happy and letting myself go, as I always do on the mic. And the guys enjoy it. I do my part on the bus every time, and it’s like a performance. Every time I go up there, I feel like I’m Kevin Hart.”
And then …
“At some point, we were on a plane,” Muncy said. “I don’t remember the timing of any of that. I just know that it was all a lot of fun. Traveling isn’t always something that is fun, but in that scenario, it was something that everyone really enjoyed.
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“You’re passing the trophy around. You’re getting pictures taken. You’re playing ‘We Are the Champions’ on repeat for hours, not getting tired of it at all. It’s a really good time.”
The planes landed. The players reunited with their families. It was time to go home.
But reflection on those few hours of celebration — that wild scramble to enjoy the moment, yet hurry to get everyone ready to go home — left the Dodgers envisioning one of the few things this contemporary dynasty has yet to accomplish.
“I would love to win at home,” Muncy said. “We haven’t done that yet. It would be ideal to do that.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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