Game-used items from the 2025 World Series continue to sell for eye-popping numbers.
First base from the final five innings of Game 7 of the Dodgers' 5-4 victory over the Blue Jays sold for a whopping $103,930 on Sunday night.
The price for the base, used for innings seven through 11, commanded more money than the third base from the final innings of the 2024 World Series ($100,030), though well short of the all-time record.
That was set by the first base used for the first three innings of Game 1 of the 2024 World Series, which sold last year for $256,970.
The prices being paid for World Series memorabilia are sky high, not only due to the market, but also because of the specificity provided by the MLB Authentication Program.
Just last week, the ball used for Shohei Ohtani's first World Series pitches sold for $175,010, and the ball from his first postseason strikeout on the mound in Game 1 of the 2025 NLDS sold for $83,010.
"The items we are able to obtain and the prices they have commanded is a direct result of what we have built over the past 25 years," said Michael Posner, vice president of authentication for Major League Baseball.
Posner said sales this year are in line with last year, especially with heavy budding from Southern California and Japan. This year, bidding was even more international, Posner said, due to the presence of the Toronto Blue Jays.
While Posner said another grouping of World Series items will be included in MLB Auctions' end-of-year sale, all eyes now turn to the biggest home run balls from the postseason.
Three of those balls — Ohtani's NLDS Game 4 home run that left Dodgers Stadium and the Game 7 home runs of Miguel Rojas and Will Smith — are up for auction.
Including buyer's premiums, the Ohtani ball stands at $240,000, the Rojas ball at $60,000 and the Smith ball at $156,000. Last year, Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam sold at SCP Auctions for $1.56 million.
Major League Baseball doesn't currently authenticate home runs because when the baseballs enter the stands they are not completely in the authenticator's line of sight. Posner says it's more complicated when fans catch balls and throw back dummy balls — as did the father and son who caught the Rojas and Smith balls — but that it's not out of the question the league will be able to authenticate homers caught by fans in the near future.
"We are always on the lookout for what technology has to offer," Posner said. "What we have today, we didn't have six months ago, and what we are doing now we didn't even dream of being able to do 15 to 20 years ago. We are constantly trying to figure out how to do our jobs better."
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Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectibles market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.