��������

TORONTO: Will Smith hit a home run with two outs in the 11th to send the Los Angeles Dodgers to their second straight World Series championship with a 5-4 Game 7 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday night.
Smith’s second homer of the postseason came on a shot to left on a 2-0 slider from Shane Bieber (2-1).
Vladimir Guerrero Jr. led off the home 11th with a double against Yoshinobu Yamamoto (5-1), who started Game 6 on Friday. Guerrero took third on Isiah Kiner-Falefa’s sacrifice. Addison Barger walked. Alejandro Kirk grounded into a season-ending double play.
The Dodgers tied the game at 4 on the first homer of the postseason by Miguel Rojas on a Jeff Hoffman 3-2 slider with one out in the ninth.
In the home ninth, Blake Snell allowed a one-out single and a walk before Yamamoto came in to load the bases with a hit batter before getting a force at home and a flyout to force extra innings.
The Dodgers loaded the bases with one out in the 10th against Seranthony Dominguez but failed to score.
Max Muncy also homered for the Dodgers, who became the first repeat World Series winners since the 1998-2000 New York Yankees.
Toronto’s Ernie Clement had three hits to set a postseason record of 30. He extended his postseason hit streak to 13 games, a franchise record. George Springer added three hits.
Shohei Ohtani, L.A.’s Game 4 starter, allowed Springer’s leadoff single in the third. Springer took second on Nathan Lukes’ sacrifice and moved to third on a wild pitch to Guerrero, who was then walked intentionally. Bichette smashed a first-pitch slider to center for his first homer of the postseason and the Blue Jays jumped out to a 3-0 lead. Ohtani allowed three runs, five hits and two walks with three strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings.
Smith doubled high off the wall in left-center against Max Scherzer to start the fourth and took third on Freddie Freeman’s single. Muncy walked with one out. Center fielder Daulton Varsho made a diving catch on Teoscar Hernandez’s sacrifice fly but Smith scored.
Scherzer allowed one run, four hits and one walk with three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings.
Toronto’s Chris Bassitt walked Mookie Betts to start the sixth. Muncy singled and was out at second on Hernandez’s bouncer to the mound. Tommy Edman hit a sacrifice fly to center.
Clement led off the home sixth with a single, stole second and scored on Andres Gimenez’s double to center.
Toronto’s Trey Yesavage allowed Muncy’s third homer of the postseason with one out in the eighth on a 1-1 splitter.

NASHVILLE: Lionel Messi scored a late goal but sixth-seeded Nashville beat No. 3 seed Inter Miami 2-1 in Game 2 of the first round of the MLS Cup playoffs on Saturday night.
The teams will meet in Fort Lauderdale on Nov. 8 for a decisive Game 3.
It was Nashville’s first playoff win since the 2021 MLS Cup Playoffs, when it defeated Orlando 2-1 at home in first round. Saturday’s victory was also Nashville’s first over Miami since May 17, 2023, in a 2-1 result.
“That was a team that was committed to playing in an aggressive and intense way and was able to do it for a long period of time tonight,” Nashville coach B.J. Callaghan said. “That was a challenge that we put on ourselves and tonight was a good example of that.”
Sam Surridge opened the scoring in the ninth minute, finding the back of the net on a penalty shot with Inter Miami goalkeeper Rocco Ríos Novo diving the opposite way of the shot.
Nashville struck again before the half as Josh Bauer connected with Hany Mukhtar’s corner kick in the 45th minute to bump the lead to 2-0.
“I’m always trying to score on those set pieces,” Bauer said. “Those are kind of our moments as defenders to get up the field and get our chance. I do think that I’m someone that other teams maybe don’t plan for or forget about.
“If I can kind of slip under the radar and get myself in a good spot, credit to the coaching staff for putting us in those areas.”
Inter Miami made things interesting late as Messi scored his sixth goal in three games against Nashville in the 90th minute.
“It’s our job to collectively work to stop it. That’s the beauty of the game,” Callaghan said on limiting Messi’s impact. “You’re not ever thinking that you’re going to eliminate him from the game totally, but you have to be able to neutralize some of the things that they’re (elite players) trying to do.”
Miami had a 10-9 shot advantage but Nashville had five shots on net to Miami’s three.
The winner of the three-game series will face No. 2 Cincinnati or No. 7 Columbus Crew in the conference semifinals. Cincinnati leads that series, 1-0.
“It’s hard to win on the road in this league and we know it’s going to take an effort even greater than what we had tonight to beat them on the road,” Bauer said on facing Miami in Game 3.