THE SWING OF WILL SMITH’S LIFE POWERS ANOTHER WORLD SERIES TITLE: ‘THIS IS SPECIAL’

TORONTO — In the moments after the swing of his life, Will Smith hoped.

“Go ball, go ball,” he yelled, the kind of desperate plea that sounded the loudest when coming from the quietest voice among the Los Angeles Dodgers. It resonated the most when it silenced the Rogers Centre for good. All Smith could do was pray that he had fulfilled the childhood dream: that he had hit the home run that won a World Series, the kind of swing that would be etched into baseball history forever.