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OAN Staff James Meyers
8:54 AM – Thursday, October 31, 2024
The Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champions for the eighth time in franchise history.
It wasn’t easy as Los Angeles came back from a five run deficit to take Game 5 of the Fall Classic against the New York Yankees, 7-6.
The Yankees jumped on the Dodgers early, with Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm hitting back-to-back home runs in the first inning to put them up 3-0.
Then New York got another run in the second inning after an Alex Verdugo RBI single and Giancarlo Stanton smashed a solo home run in the third to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead after three innings.
Then it all changed in the fifth inning, with some baseball experts saying it was a complete collapse by the Yankees due to an array of errors.
It started when Judge dropped a routine line drive hit right at him. Then, it was followed by Chisholm being unable to handle a short throw at third. Gerrit Cole followed his teammates by not covering first base on a routine ground ball with bases loaded on what would have been the third out, which instead turned into an RBI single. With the score still 5-1, the Dodgers took advantage of the mistakes as the hottest hitter in the World Series Freddie Freeman and cleanup man Teoscar Hernandez each drove in two runs to make the game even at five.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever quite seen an inning like this, especially in a World Series or postseason game,” five-time World Series champion Derek Jeter said on the postgame broadcast.
“This is one of the greatest meltdowns I’ve ever seen in 40 years,” said former Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez during the postgame coverage.
However, New York was able to regain the lead in the sixth, but the Dodgers were given life again in the eighth inning. The Dodgers had bases loaded again before New York was able to get their first out off Tommy Kahnle, causing manager Aaron Boone to send out closer Luke Weaver. Gavin Lux was able to tie it again at 6-6 with a sacrifice fly, and then Shohei Ohtani was able to reach base on a catcher’s interference to load the bases again. Mookie Betts then hit a sac fly, giving the Dodgers a 7-6 lead.
New York was able to make it interesting in the bottom half of the eighth inning by getting runners on first and second with one out, but Stanton flew out, and Anthony Rizzo struck out to stop the threat, as closer Blake Treinen completed his 2.1 scoreless innings of work.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts gave the ball to Walker Buehler to finish off the last three outs for the save. He retired Anthony Volpe, Austin Wells, and Alex Verdugo in order to take home the title. Buehler joked after the game saying he wished he was in better shape in order to keep his heart rate down.
The Yankees almost became the first team to ever force a Game 6 after trailing 3-0 in the Fall Classic, only three other teams had even made it to five games.
“A lot of people counted us out… but these guys believed in one another,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Now, they’re world champions.”
Shohei Ohtani was able to capture his first World Series title in his first year with the Dodgers after multiple years with the Los Angeles Angels.
For other players, Betts won his third, Freeman picked up his second and Kershaw got his second ring despite being hurt most of the season.
This is the Dodgers first championship in a full season since 1988, despite winning it in the COVID-shortened 2020 season.
“There’s been a lot of people that want to discredit 2020, and I don’t want to harp on this a lot, but it’s so great to see the guys still here from then be able to finally silence the critics from then,” closer Blake Treinen said after the game.
Freddie Freeman won World Series MVP after hitting a home run in the first four games during the series, a feat that had never been done before.
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