For some fans it’s a blessing, for others it’s a hassle and for the coaches and bullpens it’s a nightmare, but there’s nothing quite like the excitement of extra innings.
What is the longest World Series game ever?
Last night’s game in Los Angeles on Oct. 27, 2025 between the Dodgers and the Blue Jays went 18 innings and lasted six hours and 39 minutes. Incredibly that is not the record for a World Series game, although it has a lot in common with the longest game ever in World Series history.
6 HOURS AND 39 MINUTES LATER WE HAVE A WINNER: pic.twitter.com/hLw4t8eZwZ
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 28, 2025
The longest game ever played in the World Series took place not too long ago when the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Boston Red Sox 3-2 in Game 3 in 2018.
The game at Dodger Stadium became the longest in World Series history, both in terms of innings (18) and length of time (seven hours, 20 minutes). Both games (in 2018 and 2025) lasted 18 innings and were won in the bottom of the last inning by a walk-off home run.
THE TWO LONGEST WORLD SERIES GAMES EVER BOTH ENDED AT DODGER STADIUM, BOTH IN LA HOMERS 😳 pic.twitter.com/jjzU3jVlQN
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 28, 2025
Records beaten by a mile
Before 2018 in Los Angeles, the previous record for the largest number of innings was 14, set in 1916, 2005, and 2014, while the longest record in terms of time was previously set in 2005, at five hours and 41 minutes.
A home run by Los Angeles’ Joc Pederson at the bottom of the third was the first run of the record-breaking game in 2018. Then, a homer by Boston’s Jackie Bradley Jr. tied the game at the top of the eighth. Both camps scored a run each in the 13th to go 2-2.
The Dodgers finally won the epic game agains the Red Sox in 2018 after a walk-off home run by Max Muncy over the left-center-field wall off the Red Sox’s Nathan Eovaldi.
Los Angeles scores another first
Los Angeles set yet another record during that contest when it became the first team to win a World Series game after being down in the 11th inning or later.
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The game took longer than the combined game time of the whole 1939 World Series. At that time, the New York Yankees won against the Cincinnati Reds in four straight games that lasted a total of seven hours and five minutes.
This game has now taken longer than the game time of the entire 1939 #WorldSeries.
— OptaSTATS (@OptaSTATS) October 27, 2018
That year, the Yankees swept the Reds in four games that took a combined 7:05.
Although the Dodgers won the longest game in World Series History, it turned out to be the only game they would win in the best-of-seven series. The Red Sox eventually became the 2018 champions with a 4-1 card.