The Los Angeles Dodgers' improbable comeback to win Game 7 of the World Series in Toronto featured two of the most important home runs in postseason history: Miguel Rojas' tying blast with one out in the ninth and Will Smith's game-winning homer in the 11th.
Perhaps more unlikely than the two game-tuning home runs: A father and son caught the two home run baseballs.
THIS GAME IS TIED! MIGUEL ROJAS SOLO HOMER IN THE 9TH!
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) November 2, 2025
????: #WorldSeries Game 7 on FOX pic.twitter.com/Zt3CmmhDQw
John Bains, 61, of Brampton, Ontario, was sitting in the front row of the left-field bleachers when he caught Rojas' 387-foot shot on a fly.
Two innings later, Bains' son Matthew bobbled Smith's homer when it bounced up into the stands, but was able to corral the piece of baseball history.
John Bains appeared to throw back Rojas' tying homer, but he told cllct he had two other balls in his pocket in case he needed to pull the switcheroo.
"I had a feeling I might have had to do it," Bains said.
Bains said he had a regular major-league ball in his right pocket, and that's the one he threw back.
"It wasn't even a World Series ball," he said, laughing.
He said Matthew also did the same thing, and the two Blue Jays fans are now in possession of the two pieces of history. MLB will not authenticate baseballs that leave the field of play, unless they are specially marked.
When asked what the family was going to do with the balls, Bains said he's leaning toward keeping them.
Asked for a price that would change that equation, he had both of them on the tip of his tongue.
"I'd take $1 million for the Rojas ball and $1.5 million for the Smith ball," he said. "They were both game-changing baseballs."
Freddie Freeman's walk-off grand slam ball from the 2024 World Series sold last year at SCP Auctions for $1.56 million. It's the third-highest price paid for a baseball behind Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball from the 2024 season ($4.39 million at Goldin Auctions) and Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball ($3.05 million at Guernsey's in 1999).
Bains, who moved from India to Canada in 1975, says he has been a Blue Jays fan since 1977, when Toronto was granted the expansion franchise. He says he understandably has mixed feelings, but can't believe his family got both balls that sunk Toronto's hopes of winning its first title since 1993.
Bains is no stranger to catching playoff homers from those prime seats in left field. He told cllct that he also caught Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s home run in Game 1 of the ALDS against the Yankees and Ernie Clement's bomb in Game 2 of that same series.
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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.