'Elite' Dodgers hurler Yamamoto blanks Jays in Game 7 on way to World Series MVP honours

Yoshinobu Yamamoto's arms were so tired, he needed help lifting the World Series MVP trophy.

Hardly a surprise, considering how much he pitched in the final two games of this seven-game classic.

Yamamoto capped one of the best pitching performances in World Series history with 2 2/3 scoreless innings to end the clincher. That came one day after throwing 96 pitches in the Dodgers' Game 6 win, and he also pitched a four-hitter in Game 2 to help Los Angeles repeat as champions in a fantastic Series against the Toronto Blue Jays.

"It's pretty crazy," Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Yamamoto's heavy workload. "I'm kind of crazy for sending him back out there. But I just felt he was the best option."

Hard to argue there. The 27-year-old Japanese ace pitched out of a jam in the ninth inning, leaving the bases loaded and the score tied 4-4. After cruising through the 10th, he worked around Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s leadoff double in the 11th to preserve a 5-4 lead and lock up LA's second consecutive championship.

"Yamamoto is the GOAT!" Roberts shouted moments before the Dodgers hoisted the World Series trophy.

Still, even Yamamoto wasn't sure he'd be able to get the job done in Game 7.

"Before I went in, to be honest, I was not really sure if I could pitch up there to my best ability," he said through a translator. "But as I started getting warmed up, because I started making a little bit of an adjustment, then I started thinking I can go in and do my job."

Yamamoto is the fourth pitcher to win Games 6 and 7 of the same World Series, matching Randy Johnson in 2001, Harry Brecheen in 1946 and Ray Kremer in 1925. He and Johnson are the only pitchers since 1969 to win three games in one World Series.

Yamamoto's Game 7 cap is