The Los Angeles Dodgers erased a three-run deficit against the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 7 of the 2025 World Series thanks to a pair of clutch home runs by Miguel Rojas and Will Smith.
The Dodgers were down to their final two outs when Rojas hit a game-tying home run off Jeff Hoffman in the ninth inning. Then in the top of the 11th, Smith delivered a go-ahead blast off Shane Bieber to give the team a decided 5-4 lead.
Perhaps even more improbable than the Dodgers’ comeback was Canadian father-son duo John and Matthew Bains ending up with both home run balls.
The men appeared to throw the balls back on the field at the time of the home runs, but in reality switched them with different baseballs they already had possession of.
The Bainses secretly kept the home run balls and later put them up for bidding through SCP Auctions. The Rojas home run ball fetched $156,000 and Smith’s netted $168,000 on Oct. 25.
Also sold in the same auction was Shohei Ohtani’s second of three home run balls against the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series, which went for $270,000.
Carlo Mendoza, an L.A. native, retrieved the ball after eating nachos in a food court behind the right-field pavilion.
All three balls were authenticated by SCP Auctions.
Dodgers home run balls auction history
Ohtani reached another milestone this year when he hit the 300th home run of his professional career in the Dodgers’ 9-7 win over the Colorado Rockies on June 24.
Ohtani’s historic home run ball went up for bidding in the 2025 Lelands Summer Classic Auction that ran from July 27 through Aug. 16. The starting price was $25,000 and it ended up selling for $36,935.
Several Ohtani items have sold for high amounts in auctions over the last year. The two-way star’s record-setting home run ball that put him in the 50/50 club sold for nearly $4.392 million to a Taiwanese investment firm.
Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series went on to sell for $1.56 million.
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