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Dan Shulman breaks down Toronto Blue Jays’ dramatic ninth inning in the World Series

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
|
Nov 5 2025, 10:20 pm
Dan Shulman breaks down Toronto Blue Jays’ dramatic ninth inning in the World Series
@DannySpxp/X

Toronto Blue Jays play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman is still trying to process the last month of playoff baseball.

The longtime broadcaster has worked big games before, calling 12 previous World Series with ESPN Radio in the United States, but clearly this one was different, as it involved his hometown team for Sportsnet in Canada.

Speaking with Sportsnet 650’s Mike Halford and Jason Brough, Shulman detailed the wild ninth inning of Game 7. The Blue Jays were just two outs away from winning the World Series in the top of the ninth, then came close to winning again twice in the bottom half of the inning.

Shulman admitted that he found himself thinking of lines he could drop if the Blue Jays won.

“I was kind of thinking about what I wanted to say [had the Blue Jays won],” Shulman said. “I had a couple of little catch lines, but rough, not word-for-word, because you don’t know how it’s going to end… I’m feeling everything that people at home are feeling, but I also have to keep calling the game in the moment.”

Unfortunately, it didn’t end the way Blue Jays fans or Shulman had hoped. No. 9 hitter Miguel Rojas tied the game with a solo shot in the top of the ninth, a devastating blow given the Blue Jays were just two outs away from a championship.

 

“I was thinking, well, he’s going to get Rojas [out]. And how about this, it’s going to come down to [Shohei] Ohtani, maybe as the last batter in the World Series. Then the Rojas homer [happens], and you’re just stunned,” Shulman said.

“I feel terribly for Jeff Hoffman. Jeff Hoffman is a good closer and a great person. And he made a bad pitch. And not all bad pitches get hit out of the ballpark by No. 9 hitters, but this one did.”

“Of all the improbable moments in the game, I think the Rojas moment was the most improbable.”

The Blue Jays came within inches of being crowned champions when Isiah Kiner-Falefa slid home.

What was Shulman thinking in the moment?

“Don’t screw up the call,” Shulman said. “If you do nothing else as a play-by-play announcer, just say what you see… If the umpire says ‘safe,’ I say ‘safe.’ If the umpire says ‘out,’ I say ‘out.'”

The play was so close that it went to video replay.

“Then the first realization is, are you kidding me, is there a chance the World Series is going to end on a challenge? And I would have been more than happy for that to happen. Baseball’s worst nightmare would have been a joyful moment for everyone in Canada.”

Then Ernie Clement nearly won it for Toronto.

Clement appeared to deliver a walk-off swing, only for LA Dodgers outfielder Andy Pages to rob him with an outstanding grab, despite colliding with teammate Kiké Hernández.

 

“I thought the game was over,” Shulman said. “When the ball was in the air, I thought the game was over. I see the ball go in the air and I look up, and the first person I find is Kiké Hernández… In the moment, I’m like, ‘He’s shallow. He’s really gotta get back there.’ Pages is later on into my vision, and as you saw, he just ran [Hernández] over.

“He literally would’ve run through a wall to catch that ball.”

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