Will Smith's Game-Saving Homer Lifts Dodgers: Highlights & Reactions

Los Angeles — With the Dodgers’ backs pressed firmly against the wall in Game 6 of the 2025 World Series, catcher Will Smith delivered the swing that re-energized a nervous Chavez Ravine and reignited hopes of a third championship in five seasons. Early in the third inning, Toronto manager John Schneider chose to intentionally walk Shohei Ohtani, betting Kevin Gausman could tame the next man up. Smith crushed that wager, rifling a 104-mph liner into the left-field corner for an RBI double that plated Tommy Edman and put Los Angeles on top 1-0. The knock was vintage Smith: short, violent, and perfectly timed. While Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman have struggled during much of the series, Smith has remained a metronome of production, entering Saturday with a .364 postseason on-base percentage and a team-high 14 RBIs. His latest blow broke open a tense scoreless duel and forced the Blue Jays to attack Ohtani the rest of the night. Manager Dave Roberts’ lineup shuffle — sliding Smith into the two-hole for the second straight game — paid off immediately. The move maximized protection for Ohtani while ensuring an early at-bat for one of baseball’s premier contact hitters. “Will gives us professional at-bats every night,” Roberts said pregame. “When he’s rolling, the entire offense lengthens.” Beyond the box score, the double also rewrote the momentum script of a series that had tilted heavily toward Toronto. The Blue Jays, leading three games to two, watched home-field Dodger Stadium erupt as 56,000 fans sensed a turning tide. Momentum matters in October, and Smith’s swing may have been the seismic jolt Los Angeles needed. Defensively, the All-Star backstop’s influence was just as pronounced. Smith guided rookie right-hander Bobby Miller through five stress-filled innings, neutralizing MVP candidate Vladimir Guerrero Jr. with a steady diet of high heaters and back-foot sliders. His in-game adjustments — calling for more curveballs once the Blue Jays started sitting dead-red — underscored why scouts rave about his baseball IQ. Should Los Angeles force a decisive Game 7, Smith’s fingerprints will be all over the comeback narrative. Over the past three postseasons he owns an .872 OPS, trailing only Betts among Dodgers regulars, and his 23 career playoff RBIs are already fifth in franchise history. In a clubhouse dotted with megawatt names, the soft-spoken Georgia native consistently supplies the loudest moments. For a team staring at elimination, every pitch felt magnified on Saturday night. But Will Smith, as he has so often, shrank the moment. One swing, one lead, one more crack at baseball immortality: the Dodgers’ season still has a pulse — and their catcher’s bat is the reason why.