Jays feel sting of defeat as Game 7 of World Series slips away

TORONTO — Third baseman Ernie Clement’s eyes welled up as he spoke to reporters on one end of the clubhouse while tears flowed down pitcher Max Scherzer’s face on the other side of the room. Closer Jeff Hoffman’s voice wavered and cracked as he accepted blame for the Blue Jays’ devastating, extra-innings defeat in Saturday’s Game 7 of the World Series against the Dodgers.

The postgame emotions of the team were raw and unfiltered.

“It sucks,” Hoffman said after the 5-4 loss. “Supposed to end differently. Was just one pitch. I cost everybody here a World Series ring. It feels pretty s—ty.”

Hoffman was two outs from earning the save, which would have sent a whole country into celebration. Instead, Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas took him deep on a 3-2 slider, tying the score. Two innings later, Dodgers catcher Will Smith homered off Shane Bieber, giving the Dodgers their first lead of the night and the final margin of victory.

“Hung a slider to a great guy who hits sliders well,” Bieber said. “He was looking for it. I didn’t execute. This one stings. It’s going to sting for a while. This game is not for the faint of heart.”

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Scherzer said Saturday’s loss was all the more heartbreaking because of the camaraderie within the team.

“I’m 41 years old, and I never thought I could love baseball this much,” Scherzer said while wiping away tears. “My love for the game was so strong because of their love for the game.

“That loss is so tough because you’re so close to everybody. This team had that closeness, had that camaraderie. We had that passion not only for the game but for each other.”

Scherzer pitched 4⅓ innings in Game 7, giving up one run on four hits before leaving to a standing ovation. He vowed that he hadn’t thrown his last pitch in the big leagues but said he wasn’t in the right state of mind to expand on his future plans.

He departed the game with a 3-1 lead, thanks to a Bo Bichette three-run homer in the third. Like Scherzer, Bichette is a free agent but afterward maintained his desire to stay in Toronto.

“I want to be here, but I just lost a Game 7,” Bichette said, waving off any further questions about his future. “I hit that homer, but the game wasn’t over at that point.”

The Blue Jays kept their lead all the way until the ninth, when Hoffman gave up the home run to Rojas. The crowd fell silent, hoping the bottom of the inning would produce a winning play. Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s blast to center field gave them a moment of hope, but the Blue Jays star knew it wasn’t going out.

“People that know me know I stand at home plate and watch them go out,” Guerrero said through the team interpreter. “I knew it wasn’t going anywhere.”

There was so much more to come.

In a World Series filled with key defensive plays, Rojas stumbled while fielding Daulton Varsho’s one-out, bases-loaded grounder off Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Rojas managed to throw home for a forceout as Smith kept his foot on the plate to beat Isiah Kiner-Falefa, who had taken an unusually short 7.8-foot lead off third base.

“They told us to stay close to the base,” Kiner-Falefa told reporters. “They don’t want us to get doubled off in that situation with a hard line drive. … They wanted a smaller lead and a smaller secondary, so that’s what I did.”

Clement, who set a record for postseason hits with 30, then flied out to center fielder Andy Pages, who had just come off the bench for defense. Pages sprinted 121 feet and made a jumping, backhand catch on the left-center warning track as he crashed into left fielder Enrique Hernandez.

After Smith’s homer, Guerrero doubled to lead off the bottom of the 11th and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt. But the Blue Jays’ tying run was stranded after Alejandro Kirk hit a broken-bat grounder to shortstop Mookie Betts as Los Angeles turned the second double play to end a World Series, after the 1947 New York Yankees against the Dodgers.

When it was all over, Guerrero went to each locker to deliver a message to his teammates.

“Told them how proud of the job that they did,” he said. “I can’t be any prouder of my teammates and all the things we accomplished this year.”

It was the same message manager John Schneider delivered in what he described as his first team meeting all season. It came after their toughest defeat.

“I said thank you,” Schneider said. “I said thank you probably about 10 times. And that was the main message.”

Clement said he spent an hour after the game crying and hugging his teammates.

“We gave it everything we had,” Clement said. “When you fall short but you can say you left it all out there, there’s something to be proud of there.

“I would go to war with Jeff Hoffman every day of the week. I want him on the mound. I want Bieber on the mound. Ninety-nine times out of 100, those guys get the job done. Obviously, it just wasn’t our night.”

But it was their season, at least until the very end. After finishing in last place in 2024, the Blue Jays won the American League East and reached Game 7 of the World Series. Although it wasn’t their desired finish, Blue Jays players said the journey was meaningful.

“Everyone in here is pretty devastated,” pitcher Kevin Gausman said. “We’re a really good team. It took them playing perfect and having a great last couple innings to beat us, and that’s what happened.”

Said Bieber: “This group is unlike any other I’ve ever been a part of. That’s a sentiment we all kind of feel personally.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.