LOS ANGELES — Jeff Hoffman had pounded his chest on the mound, he’d hugged catcher Alejandro Kirk, and he’d turned his ball cap around backward as he high-fived each of his teammates while dejected fans filed out of Dodger Stadium.

As the Toronto Blue Jays closer stood in front of his stall in the visitors’ dugout following his team’s 6-1 win on Wednesday night, he thought back to the many competitive teams he’d played on as a kid and teenager, to the many moments that led up to his third appearance in the World Series, on a stage he’d only dreamt of until recently.

“To be doing it now at the highest level, it’s hard to explain what it feels like,” Hoffman said with a grin, not long after he punched out two straight Dodgers to put the finishing touches on Toronto’s second straight win in

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