Blue Jays star makes heartbreakingly honest admission after World Series loss
Toronto Blue Jays closer Jeff Hoffman took the blame for his team's World Series loss after allowing a ninth inning game-tying home run against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Game 7
Pitcher Jeff Hoffmann could have completed a topsy-turvy, fairytail-esque career on Saturday night by recording the final out in a Toronto Blue Jays World Series victory.
Instead, he allowed a game-tying home run to weak-hitting Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas in what turned into an LA triumph. Hoffman was drafted by Toronto in the first round of the 2014 MLB Draft as a highly-regarded starting pitcher before he found a home in the bullpen.
He signed a three-year, $40 million deal with the Blue Jays last winter after a 2024 All-Star campaign with the Philadelphia Phillies. Hoffman was hardly the only reason Toronto lost in Game 7: players on the Dodgers like Yoshinobu Yamamoto certainly came to play. Still, he shouldered the blame in a somber post-game press conference.
"That cost everybody in here a World Series ring, so it’s pretty -------,” Hoffman said of his performance in the Toronto locker room. “Got to execute better in that spot.
"It sucks. [It was] supposed to end differently....We were two outs away from the World Series, and I was the one on the mound."
Hoffman entered the contest in the eighth inning with the Blue Jays clinging to a 4-3 lead after Trey Yesavage, who started two games in the series, surrendered a solo home run to Max Muncy.
The Toronto closer got the game to the ninth and struck out Kike Hernandez to start the final frame. On the seventh pitch of a long at bat against Rojas, he surrendered a wall-scraping solo shot to a player who admitted he stepped up not thinking about going yard.
"I never walked to the plate thinking about hitting a home run in that situation,” he said postgame. “I just wanted to stay up the middle, try to hit a fastball. I definitely chased on the first one.
"I tried to lock it in and be on the fastball after that, let the ball travel a little bit more. … When he hung me the slider, I just put a good swing on it."
He recovered and got star Shohei Ohtani to fly out before striking out Will Smith. Toronto didn't score at the bottom of the inning, and the game advanced to extra innings.
Shane Bieber, another exhausted Blue Jays starting pitcher, gave up a solo shot to Smith in the top of the 11th. Like Hoffman, he also expressed heartbreak.
“Yeah, this one stings — it’s going to sting for a while," the former Cy Young winner said. "That’s the reality of it. This game’s not for the faint of heart.
"This group is unlike any other that I’ve been a part of, and that’s a sentiment that we all kind of shared personally, and it’s very clear.”