The Major League Baseball office (MLB) released on the 30th (Korean time) the "2025 Play of the Year," in which numerous great moments shown by the Los Angeles Dodgers this season were selected. The honor of No. 1 went to the spirited moment when Yamamoto Yoshinobu pitched multiple times in Game 7 of the World Series (WS) to lead the team to its first-ever consecutive WS titles.
Yamamoto, after saving the team with six innings and one run allowed in Game 6 of the World Series when the team trailed 2-3, was urgently brought in as the sixth pitcher in Game 7 the next day in a tied game with one out and runners on first and second in the ninth. He calmly ended the game without allowing a run, getting Kark to ground into a fielder's choice double play in the dire 11th-inning, one-out, runners on first and third crisis.
With this performance, Yamamoto earned his third series win and became the second Japanese player since Hideki Matsui (New York Yankees) in 2009 to win World Series MVP.
Following that, Will Smith's go-ahead solo home run in the 11th inning of Game 7 of the World Series ranked No. 2, and Shohei Ohtani, who displayed monster power by hitting three home runs as a batter and pitching six scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, took No. 3, allowing the Dodgers to sweep the top three plays of the year.
The Dodgers' presence did not end there. At No. 20 was Clayton Kershaw's career 3,000th strikeout, and at No. 18 a great moment was selected when Kiké Hernández preserved the victory with a double play in Game 6 of the World Series. Including Freddie Freeman's walk-off home run in the 18th inning of Game 3 of the World Series (No. 5), as many as nine of the top 20 scenes came from the Dodgers.
Ohtani also had three scenes listed. ▲On April 3 against the Atlanta Braves, his third career walk-off home run that led the team to an eight-game opening winning streak (No. 85), ▲on Sept. 17 against the Philadelphia Phillies, recording the sixth all-time 50-home-run season in consecutive years (No. 73), ▲and the legendary pitching-and-hitting performance in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series (No. 3) confirmed his presence.
Meanwhile, Mike Trout of the Los Angeles Angels drew attention with a tasteful touch as his "career 400th home run" scene was selected at No. 27, the same as his uniform number.
The 100 best plays of the year selected by the Major League Baseball office were a result that revealed the Dodgers' powerful influence more than ever.
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