Former Marlin Miguel Rojas saves Dodgers with shocking Game 7 home run

[Ely Sussman]

Miguel Rojas had one of the longest Miami Marlins tenures of any player in franchise history. He spent much of those eight seasons as their sure-handed starting shortstop and gradually became known as the unofficial captain of the Fish. But after Saturday night's heroics, it's safe to say that when his career is over, he will be remembered first and foremost as a Los Angeles Dodger. The best team money could buy almost certainly would've fallen short of its second consecutive World Series title if not for the 36-year-old utilityman at the very bottom of the lineup.

The Toronto Blue Jays were two measly outs away from defeating the Dodgers, leading 4-3 in the top of the ninth inning. Closer Jeff Hoffman was on the mound, riding a streak of seven straight scoreless postseason outings. Rojas had not homered against a right-hander all year, with the exception of a position player mopping up a blowout in June, nor recorded an extra-base hit of any kind in his Dodgers postseason career. Everybody watching wanted to fast-forward through this plate appearance to find what the man on deck, Shohei Ohtani, was going to do.

Instead, we were treated to the most unlikely outcome as Rojas hit a solo shot off of Hoffman's hanging slider to tie Game 7 all by himself.

"You always dream about this kinda stuff and being in this position. Hitting a homer wasn't on my bingo card, to be honest with you," Rojas told MLB Network postgame.

Hoffman subsequently retired Ohtani (flyout) and Will Smith (strikeout) to preserve the tie entering the bottom of the inning. Although we cannot definitively say that those matchups would've unfolded the same way without Rojas' heroics, I have to imagine it was a sleepless night for many Blue Jays fans, convinced their decades-long championship drought would've been over had that ball simply stayed in the yard.

Minutes later, the Dodgers found themselves in grave danger again. Toronto had loaded the bases with only out, facing a weary Yoshinobu Yamamoto who made a full-length start the night before.

Yamamoto was hunting for a strikeout against Daulton Varsho, but his 1-2 splitter stayed up just enough for Varsho to hit a grounder to second base. These are the kind of difference-making plays that we're more accustomed to seeing from Rojas, who took just enough time to set his feet and throw home accurately for the game-saving force out.

The Dodgers ultimately prevailed in 11 innings. The most lasting memories from this all-timer will likely be Will Smith's go-ahead homer and Yamamoto's superhuman relief effort, but Miggy Ro's ninth-inning contributions were indispensable.

Along with Rojas, former Marlin Kiké Hernández was on L.A.'s roster throughout the postseason. They collaborated to turn a game-ending double play on Friday that extended the World Series in the first place. This is Hernández's third WS title as a Dodger (also 2020 and 2024).

Continuing with the ex-Marlin theme, left-handed relievers Tanner Scott and Alex Vesia will receive rings despite not participating in the Fall Classic. Scott struggled to return to form after undergoing an abscess procedure last month, while Vesia was away from the team to tend to a family emergency. José Ureña is technically a champion, too. That would have been the case regardless of this matchup's outcome because both the Blue Jays (3.65 ERA in 12.1 IP) and the Dodgers (3.00 ERA in 3.0 IP) were among the five teams that he pitched for in 2025.

During the 2026 season, the Marlins will visit the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium for a three-game series from April 27-29. They'll host the two-time defending champs at loanDepot park from September 11-13.

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[One Regend]

I said this on Twitter/X, but the Blue Jays left a metric ton of runners on base the entire night.

They had many opportunities to put the game out of reach. They failed to do so. With the amount of scoring opportunities squandered, it was only going to be a matter of time before the Dodgers woke up.

And wake up, they did.