LOS ANGELES — On a night when Shohei Ohtani could not be subdued, on a night when one of baseball’s cathedrals offered its entrants a baptism in the sport’s capacity for agony and ecstasy, on a night when the shame that the game had to end morphed into the fear that it never would, the Los Angeles Dodgers captured control of the World Series in a 6-5 Game 3 victory in 18 innings over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Advertisement

At 11:50 p.m., six hours and 39 minutes after the first pitch arrived, Freddie Freeman supplied the walk-off home run off Toronto reliever Brendon Little to send the Dodger Stadium crowd into the sort of rapture possible only after two full games’ worth of teeth-grinding, stomach-turning, heart-rending baseball. At the end of the joint-longest game in World Series history, the fans were exhausted. They were exhilarated. As Randy Newman’s “I Love L.A.” blared across Chavez Ravine, they were heading to the parking lots knowing the Dodgers were two victories away from a second consecutive world championship.

Seven years after Game 3 of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium lasted 18 innings, that marathon now has company. The evening overflowed with activity, too much for one scorecard to contain, too much for the brain to process, just barely enough for the teams to survive and play another game tomorrow, a tomorrow that officially arrived 10 minutes after Game 3 ended.

“I’m spent emotionally,” Roberts said. “We’ve got a ballgame later tonight. Which is crazy.”

There were outs on the bases and precise throws across the diamond. There was heroism in relief pitching by legends and rookies alike. And there was so much Ohtani, who will be the starting pitcher in Game 4.