Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is known as an avid sports fan.
But one marathon baseball game proved too much even for him.
And Ron DeSantis made one confession about the World Series that had baseball fans in stitches.
DeSantis fell asleep during one of the greatest World Series games ever
Game 3 of the 2025 World Series turned into an instant classic on Monday night.
Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman crushed a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 18th inning to give the Dodgers a 6-5 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.¹
The marathon lasted 6 hours and 39 minutes, finally ending just before 3 a.m. Eastern time.²
Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani reached base a record nine times in the contest, including two home runs and four intentional walks.³
Freeman's blast to center field made him the first player in history to hit multiple walk-off home runs in the World Series after his grand slam in last year's Fall Classic.⁴
The 18-inning thriller tied the record for the longest World Series game ever by innings played.⁵
It matched Game 3 of the 2018 World Series between the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox, which also ended on a walk-off home run at Dodger Stadium.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis watched the game from home with typical baseball fan excitement.
But somewhere around the middle innings, exhaustion got the better of him.
DeSantis posted on X Tuesday morning about waking up in the middle of the night to discover he'd missed one of the greatest finishes in World Series history.
"I'm not disappointed that I fell asleep in the middle of the game," DeSantis wrote.⁶
The Republican governor then admitted to an even more embarrassing mistake.
"I'm a little disappointed that I woke up in the middle of the night, glanced at the TV, assumed the baseball game on the TV was the game 3 replay, and went right back to sleep," DeSantis explained.
Marathon game pushed both teams to their absolute limits
Freeman's heroics came at the end of a contest that shattered multiple World Series records.
Both teams emptied their bullpens during the extra innings.
The Dodgers used 10 pitchers in the game, setting a new World Series record for most pitchers used by one team.⁷
Toronto burned through all eight of their relievers trying to outlast Los Angeles.
Unknown reliever Will Klein became the unlikely hero for the Dodgers before Freeman's walk-off.
Klein threw four scoreless innings out of the bullpen, the longest outing of his professional career, while striking out five batters.⁸
Before Monday night, Klein had never thrown more than 45 pitches at any professional level.
He tossed 72 pitches in Game 3 and still hit 98 mph against his final batter.
The teams combined for 609 pitches, the most in any postseason game since Major League Baseball began tracking pitch counts in 1988.⁹
Thirty-seven runners were left on base, six more than any other postseason game in history.
Game 4 was scheduled for Tuesday night at 8 p.m., giving both exhausted teams barely 20 hours to recover.
Ohtani was set to start on the mound for the Dodgers despite playing all 18 innings.
DeSantis has long history as passionate baseball fan
DeSantis grew up as an Atlanta Braves fan in Florida during the 1980s and 1990s.
He played baseball at Yale University where he served as team captain before attending Harvard Law School.¹⁰
The governor developed an attachment to the Boston Red Sox during his seven years in the Boston area.
"I was up here when the Red Sox won the World Series and broke the curse," DeSantis said at a New Hampshire event last year.¹¹
DeSantis recalled attending Red Sox games at Fenway Park during his undergraduate years at Yale.
His Red Sox fandom began through a connection with manager Jimy Williams, whose son was DeSantis' teammate.
But DeSantis isn't always the most loyal sports fan when political advantage calls.
During his failed 2024 Presidential campaign, the Florida governor repeatedly praised Boston sports teams while campaigning in New Hampshire.
He even claimed Red Sox Nation had more passion than Florida sports fans, an odd statement for a sitting Florida governor to make.¹²
"That was unlike anything I've seen in Florida," DeSantis said about the 2004 Red Sox championship run.
Back home in Tallahassee, DeSantis shifted his allegiance to the Florida State Seminoles when they went undefeated in 2023.
He pledged $1 million in state budget funds for legal fees to sue the College Football Playoff Committee after FSU got snubbed despite going 12-0.¹³
https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1416139656878563330
The political calculation was obvious to anyone paying attention.
DeSantis lives in Tallahassee, home of Florida State, and his kids became "big-time Nole fans," as he put it.
His flexible sports loyalties seem to follow wherever votes and political support can be found.
But at least his confession about sleeping through World Series history was honest.
Millions of casual baseball fans on the East Coast likely made the same decision to call it a night well before Freeman's walk-off blast at 3 a.m.
The difference is most of them didn't wake up, glance at the TV showing baseball, and assume they were watching a replay of a game that was still going on.
Game 3 gave baseball fans one of the most memorable World Series contests ever played.
Freeman's walk-off capped a game featuring records, drama, and the kind of back-and-forth action that makes October baseball special.
DeSantis will have to catch the highlights.
¹ "Freddie Freeman hits walk-off home run in 18th inning," Yahoo Sports, October 28, 2025.
² Ibid.
³ "Ohtani reaches base record nine times," MLB.com, October 28, 2025.
⁴ "Freeman makes history with second walk-off homer," SI.com, October 28, 2025.
⁵ "Dodgers win 18-inning marathon," ESPN, October 28, 2025.
⁶ "DeSantis jokes about sleeping through World Series," The Hill, October 28, 2025.
⁷ "19 pitchers used in Game 3," FOX Sports, October 28, 2025.
⁸ "Will Klein throws four scoreless innings," CBS Sports, October 28, 2025.
⁹ "609 pitches thrown in Game 3," ESPN, October 28, 2025.
¹⁰ "Ron DeSantis played baseball at Yale," Tampa Bay Times, March 10, 2020.
¹¹ "DeSantis reminisces about Red Sox," Florida Politics, October 13, 2023.
¹² "DeSantis claims Red Sox Nation more passionate," Florida Politics, August 16, 2023.
¹³ "DeSantis wants to sue over FSU snub," WAMC, December 6, 2023.
