Adolis Garcia got the 2023 World Series started with a bang on Friday night, capping a wild Texas Rangers comeback with a walk-off homer in the 11th inning of Game 1. It was just the 17th walk-off dinger in the history of the Fall Classic, and shockingly the first extra-innings game of these playoffs — and yet, it still didn’t come near the longest World Series game ever. What holds that honor? Let’s take a look.
What’s the longest game in World Series history?
Texas and Arizona would’ve had to go far, far deeper into the Arlington night to break this record. The longest game in World Series history came just a few years ago, when the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers battled for a whopping 18 innings in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series at Dodger Stadium. Seven shutout frames from Walker Buehler had L.A. in position to win its first game of the series, but a Jackie Bradley Jr. homer in the top of the eighth tied things up at 1-1 — and touched off a marathon that wouldn’t end until just past 3:30 a.m. on the East Coast.
The two bullpens traded zeroes until the 13th, when the Red Sox scratched across a run that seemed certain to prove decisive. Until the bottom half, that is, when the Dodgers tied things up on a Boston error with two outs in the inning. From there, offense was awfully hard to come by: The trio of Kenta Maeda, Julio Urias and Alex Wood held the Sox in check, while Nathan Eovaldi — who, coincidentally, started for Texas in Game 1 on Friday night — fired four more shutout innings in a downright Herculean effort.
Boston couldn’t reward that effort with a run, though, and eventually Eovaldi blinked, giving up a walk-off homer to Max Muncy:
In all, the two teams combined used 18 pitchers in addition to all four of their bench bats — L.A.’s bench got so taxed that Dave Roberts even opted to let Clayton Kershaw pinch-hit at one point because he was out of better options (Kershaw lined out in his one plate appearance). Boston would complete a wild rally to take Game 4, though, before going on to win the series in five games.
It’s hard to see this record being broken any time soon: The previous mark was held by the Mets and Royals in 2015 (Game 1) and the Astros and White Sox in 2005 (Game 3), each of whom went 14 innings.
