Bottom of the 11th inning, Blue Jays trailing by one run, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. stepped into the batter’s box.

On the mound, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto was pitching in relief after throwing 96 pitches as the Game 6 starter the night before. It was a desperado performance of fortitude.

Yamamoto looked at Vladdy, offered a small smile and a nod of acknowledgment. Then he touched his cap in respect.

That moment captured the valour of both teams, the mutual esteem of opposing players, riven by emotion in what will go down in history as one of the greatest Game 7s of all time, in any sport.

Guerrero slashed a double to the left-field wall. A sacrifice bunt moved him to third base, only 90 feet separating him from the tying run. But a broken-bat groundball by Alejand

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