I’ve been a baseball fan for at least 65 years. I’ve been a batboy for the Orioles when I was a young teenager. I was fortunate to meet and know some of the greatest players in baseball history through my job on television which was to report on games and interview athletes.

I’ve covered or reported on at least 50 World Series, including on my first day ever on television, the historic Carlton Fisk home run against the Reds in the 1975 World Series.

So I think I have some credibility when I say the 2025 World Series was the best I’ve ever seen, and probably the best ever played.

It wasn’t that every game was a nail biter.There were blow outs, and ho-hum games. 61 runs were scored in this series, and the Dodgers were outscored by the Blue Jays by nine runs.

But this series was legendary because of performances.

World Series MVP Yoshinobu Yamamoto, pitching in relief on zero days’ rest, got the final out by inducing a game-ending double play.

He won three games in this series, a feat accomplished by 13 pitchers in World Series history, but the first in nearly a quarter of a century(Randy Johnson).

We saw Shohei Ohtani reach base NINE times in a single game, hit two home runs and then pitched in two games, a feat that was never equaled in baseball history.

And the Blue Jays had some remarkable performances too.

Trey Yesavage, the rookie sensation had a historic outing in Game 5, striking out 12 over seven innings and setting the all-time rookie record for strikeouts in a single World Series game. He was the first pitcher in MLB history to record 10 or more strikeouts in the first five innings twice in the same postseason.

Ernie Clement set a new single-season postseason record for hits with 29.

In the World Series, he batted .387 and was a constant threat from the bottom of the lineup, leading to many key hits, including a three-hit night in Game 7.

After returning from injury, Bo Bichette made an immediate impact.

In Game 7, he hit a monstrous three-run homer off Shohei Ohtani that gave the Blue Jays a crucial lead early in the game.

Addison Barger was not intimidated by the big stage, most notably hitting the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history earlier in the series.

But in the end, it was about the defensive plays.

Andy Pages made the incredible catch in left-center field to end the 9th inning of World Series Game 7. He was a defensive replacement who ran into Kiké Hernández to make the leaping grab, which prevented the Blue Jays from winning the game and sent it into extra innings.

In Game 6 ,Kiké Hernández made the game-ending catch in left field and threw to second baseman Miguel Rojas for the double play, which ended Game 6 of the 2025 World Series and forced a Game 7.

So many tremendous performances and stunning plays.

A journeyman utility player named Miguel Rojas hit the game tying home run with just two outs to go in the ninth and the Dodgers season on the line… and the go ahead home run by Will Smith to win it in 11 innings.

Even in the bottom of the 11th, Vlad Guerreo Jr., led off with a double, and was 90 feet away from tying the game again, when a double play ended the series.

Once, before he was baseball commissioner, A. Bartlett Giamatti wrote, “Baseball is about going home and how hard it is to get there, and how driven is our need. It tells us how good home is. Its wisdom says you can go home again, but that you cannot stay”.

The Dodgers are going home with the hardest of hard earned World Series victories, and the Blue Jays fans’ hearts are broken.

Giamatti also wrote, “Baseball breaks your heart, and is designed to break your heart.”

But the way this series was played, with heart, is the way I will remember the 2025 World Series.

Great, great heart by both teams.

A series for the ages.

For me, the greatest World Series ever played.