By the time Freddie Freeman’s solo blast to center field delivered the Los Angeles Dodgers a walk-off win in Game 3 of the World Series, clocks on the East Coast were creeping toward 3 a.m.
In Toronto, bleary-eyed Blue Jays fans hung on through all 18 innings. In Los Angeles, fans who lasted until the end at Dodger Stadium were leaning on the railings, half-shivering in the cool desert air, not ready to leave. Over six hours and 39 minutes of baseball, tension, hope, caffeine and disbelief, Monday’s 6-5 Dodgers victory was an October classic that stretched across time zones and patience alike.
From Toronto to Tampa and L.A. to London, baseball fans stayed up far past their bedtimes. “It’s still worth it, even though we gotta get up for work in a few hours,” Blue Jays fan Noah Cappon told The Canadian Press. Cappon was among the diehard Jays fans who watched Game 3 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.
In living rooms, in bars, on Reddit threads and social media timelines, people across the world followed the 18-inning epic. One Reddit user overseas wrote, “I live in Europe and the game started shortly after I went to sleep and was still going on when I woke up.”
Six hours and 39 minutes of drama and madness.
If you stayed up for the entirety of the 18-inning clash between the Dodgers and Blue Jays, you witnessed history. pic.twitter.com/jnu4fFiKAk
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) October 28, 2025
Even though the game ended shortly before midnight for fans in Los Angeles, Dodgers fans still felt drained by the time it had ended. “I was up until Freddie walked it off, so it was midnight,” said Taylor Matthews, who runs a Dodgers fan account on X. “And then up again at 6 a.m. to start my day.”
On the Dodgers Nation Facebook group, fans even shared a “Dodgers Permission Slip” — a meme image for fans to share with their bosses, teachers or anyone else who might be concerned with their sleep-deprived appearance on Tuesday morning.
The Game 3 numbers told the story of a marathon: 19 pitchers combined (the most in postseason history), 609 total pitches (48 more than any playoff game since 2000), and 37 runners left on base (six more than the previous record). The game lasted longer than most flights between Los Angeles and Toronto.
However, this night belonged less to milestones and more to the sheer endurance of everyone involved — players and fans alike. “They were in the right mindset and the right headspace the entire time,” Toronto manager John Schneider said of his team. “It sucks that it’s late right now, we gotta come back and do it again tomorrow, but these guys are going to be more than ready. The Dodgers didn’t win the World Series today. They won a game.”
In Toronto, some fans were still posting online at 3 a.m. ET, comparing the game to a long-haul flight or an entire day’s work. In Los Angeles, Dodgers fans celebrated the win into the morning hours. And somewhere in between the exhaustion and the elation, baseball reminded its fans that sometimes the most beautiful moments are the ones you have to stay awake for.