Dodgers' Miguel Rojas is this generation's Hal Smith

Los Angeles Dodgers infielder Miguel Rojas hit the biggest home run of his life on Saturday night in Game 7 of the World Series. His solo home run in the top of the ninth inning helped save the Dodgers' season, sending the game to extra innings where they would defeat the Toronto Blue Jays, 5-4, in 11 innings to win their second consecutive World Series championship. 

That home run, and the way the game played out, could make Rojas this generation's Hal Smith — an unsung hero who hit one of the biggest home runs in World Series history, only to have it be overshadowed by a more noteworthy home run later in the game. In Smith's case, it was Bill Mazeroski. In Rojas' case, it is going to be Will Smith for his 11th-inning home run. 

Miguel Rojas and Hal Smith are unsung heroes who came through when it mattered most

Even if you are a longtime baseball fan, you probably do not know the name Hal Smith. And that's ok because he mostly became a footnote in baseball history. He spent 10 mostly unspectacular years in the major leagues between 1955 and 1964, bouncing around the league as a backup catcher and corner infielder. 

But on Oct. 13, 1960, as a member of the Pittsburgh Pirates, he delivered one of baseball's most game-altering, season-altering and legacy-altering home runs. His three-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 7 against the New York Yankees gave the Pirates a 9-7 lead, capping off a wild five-run inning that saw them erase a 7-4 deficit. 

In terms of win probability swings, it was one of the most impactful at-bats in the history of the sport, especially in the context of winning a championship. When Smith stepped into the batter's box, the Pirates' win probability was only 30 percent. 

When he crossed home plate after taking his home run trot, their win probability jumped to a staggering 93 percent. It was a 63 percent swing in win probability in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 7 of the World Series. If that had been the game-winning hit, Smith would have a statue in Pittsburgh. 

But because the Yankees battled back with two runs in the top of the ninth, it set the stage for Mazeroski to hit his walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Mazeroski became the hero with the statue, and Smith became mostly forgotten.

Smith had only appeared in three of the seven games in that World Series and did not even start Game 7. He only entered the game after starting catcher Smoky Burgess was removed for a pinch-runner. His home run was his only at-bat of the game. 

It's not that different from what happened with Rojas on Saturday. Rojas has spent his career as an unsung middle infielder and has only appeared in a handful of the Dodgers' playoff games. Entering play on Saturday, he had literally not had a hit in a month. He was not the player anybody had penciled in as a game-changing hero.

But he delivered a swing that nearly matched Smith's in terms of improbability in a winner-take-all game in the World Series. When Rojas stepped into the batter's box in the ninth inning, the Dodgers' win probability was down to only 9 percent.

When he crossed home plate, it jumped all the way up to 44 percent, representing a 35 percent swing. It's not quite on the level of Smith's home run in terms of size, but it was still just as important and unlikely. 

But when Dodgers fans think back to this game in 30 or 40 years, they are going to be more likely to remember Will Smith's 11th-inning home run. Or Yoshinobu Yamamoto for coming out of the bullpen to win his third game of the World Series. As important as all of that was, none of it happened without Rojas.