When it comes to the World Series over the past half dozen years, having a player named Will Smith on the championship team is anything but uncommon.
The Los Angeles Dodgers catcher was a star of the now completed 2025 World Series. Will Dills Smith, the 2016 first-round draft pick by Los Angeles in 2016 out of the University of Louisville, in all likelihood hit the most meaningful, and famous, home run of his career in Game 7 on Saturday in Toronto.
It was Smith’s blast in the top of the 11th inning, with the score tied 4–4 and two out, off of Blue Jays pitcher Shane Bieber that made the difference for the Dodgers to be the first MLB club in 25 years to win back-to-back World Series championships.
Smith’s durability behind the plate also proved invaluable to Dodgers’ pitchers in the six-game series. He caught every inning of every game of the Fall Classic. 73 innings in total catching, including all 18 innings of Game 3.
Smith made his MLB debut with the Dodgers during the 2019 season, and just a year later, celebrated as a member of the 2020 club that defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the pandemic-shortened season World Series. After slugging a home run in the World Series of 2020 and 2024, plus the two clubbed during the games with Toronto, Smith now has earned his third championship ring in six seasons.
Ironically, there’s another Will Smith who has had his presence felt in recent years, when the World Series came around.
Will Michael Smith, the left-handed relief pitcher who played for 12 MLB seasons, has picked up championship rings on the seasons that Will Dills Smith hasn’t. With the Atlanta Braves in 2021, Will Michael Smith celebrated his first World Series title. On Aug. 2 of the following season, 2022, Atlanta traded him to the Houston Astros. With the Astros taking the World Series in six games over the Philadelphia Phillies, Will Michael Smith collected back-to-back championship rings.
Then, as a free agent in 2023, the Texas Rangers signed him to a one-year contract. His winning streak remained intact as the Rangers won their first-ever franchise championship by besting the Arizona Diamondbacks in five games.
As a result, in three years, and for three different teams, Will Michael Smith earned a championship. This is the first time in MLB history that this was accomplished.
If the improbability of having a ball player named Will Smith getting to hoist the MLB’s Commissioners Trophy on the World Series winning club for the past six Fall Classics isn’t perplexing enough, during the 2020 season, the connection between these two Smiths became even closer. In Game 5 of the National League Championship Series between the Dodgers and the Braves, both Smiths participated. Will Dills Smith smashed a three-run home run off of Will Michael Smith, who was throwing for Atlanta, leading to a 7–3 Dodgers win. This was the first time in MLB postseason history that a batter-pitcher faced each other bearing the same name.
Prior to facing one another during the 2020 postseason, William Michael Smith and William Dills Smith did once meet. In September 2019, the then Dodgers rookie catcher batted against Will Michael Smith, the pitcher, who was a member of the San Francisco Giants’ roster. Will Smith, the catcher, struck out.
Unlike the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup championship where members of the winning team have their names engraved on the trophy, MLB’s Commissioner’s Trophy doesn’t have any names added to it.
The Dodgers’ Will Smith has appeared in 72 postseason games, collecting 58 hits. Will Smith the pitcher, who last played in the MLB for the Kansas City Royals in 2024, has appeared in 25 postseason games. His record is 4–2.
Smith, along with being part of the back-to-back Dodgers championship clubs, was selected to the National League All-Star teams in 2025.
