It wasn’t the smoothest way to close out a 3-0 lead in the World Series, but the Dodgers do not care. (Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
For the second time in five seasons and the first time in a full season since 1988, the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champions. It took a supremely ugly Game 5 to get them there. They will take it with a swig of Champagne.
Entering Wednesday with a 3-1 series lead but perhaps more than a few nerves after a rough loss to the New York Yankees in Game 4, the Dodgers fell behind 5-0 before a chaotic comeback put the Commissioner’s Trophy in their hands with a 7-6 victory.
It is a win few observers saw coming when the postseason began, even for one of the most talented lineups in baseball. With a rotation ravaged by injuries, the Dodgers overwhelmed opponents on offense and got just enough quality pitching to make it work.
The Yankees would have become the first team in World Series history to force a Game 6 after falling behind 3-0. They got started early in Game 5, as Aaron Judge broke through his postseason demons with a two-run homer in the first, and the Yankees got one more when Jazz Chisholm Jr. went back-to-back.
It was a rough start for the Dodgers’ Jack Flaherty, who was more than solid in Game 1 but exited after 1 1/3 innings Wednesday with four earned runs to his name. A Giancarlo Stanton homer off Ryan Brasier then made it a five-run lead in the third inning.
Meanwhile, Gerrit Cole was doing exactly what the Yankees paid him to do. He threw four hitless innings to open the game, and then, well, the fifth inning happened.
A series of three major defensive miscues tied the game, with the Dodgers scoring five unearned runs as Yankee Stadium went from raucous to stunned. First was Judge dropping an easy fly ball. Second was Anthony Volpe bouncing a throw to third while trying to get the lead runner. Third was Gerrit Cole declining to cover first base on a routine grounder.
The Yankees took the lead back in the sixth inning on a Stanton sacrifice fly, but the Dodgers took it back in the seventh after Tommy Kahnle loaded the bases with no outs. Another miscue followed when Austin Wells gave Shohei Ohtani a free base on a catcher’s interference, and a pair of sacrifice flies then supplied the deciding runs.
After being down five runs, the Dodgers moved into World Series-winning position, and it was almost entirely thanks to the Yankees. Blake Treinen threw 2 1/3 scoreless innings to push the lead into the ninth, and then Walker Buehler, the Dodgers’ likely Game 7 starter, finished a game that should make Yankees fans vomit for years to come.
New York had a chance to make history just by sending the series back to Los Angeles and instead got to watch MLB’s other juggernaut celebrate a World Series in the Bronx.
Here’s how it all went down on Yahoo Sports:
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The Dodgers’ parade will start at 11 a.m. on Friday, and end with an event at Dodger stadium.
The Dodgers didn’t get a parade after winning it in 2020. This one will be different.
Freddie Freeman is your 2024 World Series MVP
He opened the Fall Classic with a record four straight games with a home run and had another key RBI tonight. There was no other choice than the Dodgers’ first baseman.
Again, one of the greatest seasons in baseball history.
In MLB history,
over 30 players have hit 50 HR in a season over 200 players have had 50 SB in a season over 150 players have won MVP over 1500 players have won a WS
Only one has done all four (same season or not): Shohei Ohtani.
Did Juan Soto just play his final game in a Yankees uniform?
Juan Soto almost certainly made himself some money this postseason. The only question is if the Yankees are the ones who will give it to him. Soto’s free agency figures to be the second-most lucrative in MLB history after Ohtani’s $700 million deal, and it could be worth even more when accounting for inflation due to the Dodgers star’s deferrals.
The Yankees and Mets loom as Soto’s biggest natural suitors, but the Dodgers were reported earlier this week to be interested. It’s going to be expensive for the Yankees to bring this team back.
Shohei Ohtani is a World Series champion
He didn’t do much in the World Series, but Shohei Ohtani helped get the Dodgers there. He is now a World Series champion, a Japan Series champion and a World Baseball Classic champion.
Arguably the most talented player in the history of baseball now has the one big thing that was missing on his résumé, and all it took was joining a Dodgers team that needed him. His 2024 season will be legendary in Japan.
Oh, yeah, and he can pitch next year.
That was Walker Buehler’s first career save.
Final: Dodgers 7, Yankees 6
The Dodgers have officially picked up their eighth World Series title and their first since 2020.
Dodgers win the World Series
And that’ll do it! The Dodgers win have officially won the World Series 4-1.
Austin Wells strikes out swinging, and the Dodgers are one out away. Alex Verdugo is up now for the Yankees.
Anthony Volpe grounds out to third, and one out is gone in the ninth.
Walker Buehler is on the mound now for the Dodgers here in the ninth.
Leiter struck out Edman, and then Smith grounded out to third to end the inning. The Yankees will head to the bottom of the ninth now down a run with the World Series on the line.
Kiké Hernandez was just walked, too, and Aaron Boone is headed out to the mound. Mark Leiter Jr. is coming in now to try to finish the inning for the Yankees and keep their deficit at a single run.
Teoscar Hernandez just opened the ninth with a base hit, and Taylor is in to run for him now and finish out the game in left. Taylor just advanced to second on a balk after Weaver tried to throw over to first too many times, too.
Stanton flied out to right on the first pitch of his at-bat, and then Treinen struck Anthony Rizzo out swinging to escape the inning.
The Dodgers are now just three outs away from winning the World Series.
And Treinen just walked Jazz Chisholm. He’s up to 37 pitches now with just one out in the eighth as Dave Roberts walks out to the mound. Treinen will stay in the game for now.
Juan Soto grounded out for the first out of the inning, but Aaron Judge followed it up with a perfect double to left. The Yankees are in position to take the lead once again here in the eighth.
Weaver threw only 13 pitches there, so decent chance he sticks around for the top of the ninth with 4-5-6 due up for the Dodgers.
