TORONTO -- When the final out of Game 7 of the World Series was recorded late Saturday night, and the Los Angeles Dodgers cemented themselves as champions for a second straight year, Clayton Kershaw was too preoccupied to notice.
It was the bottom half of the 11th inning, and Kershaw was spending the final moments of a Hall of Fame career preparing to come out of the bullpen in a pinch. When he turned to watch Alejandro Kirk hit a broken-bat grounder that started a double play, Kershaw was certain there were two outs and the score was suddenly tied, not that his Dodgers had just pulled off an improbable, championship-clinching 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.