(Photo courtesy of Reuters) “Dodgers celebrate World Series victory”
Liam O’Keefe
Connector Staff
The Los Angeles Dodgers won their franchise’s eighth World Series Championship against the New York Yankees last Wednesday. The series featured many big moments from both teams, but in the end the Dodgers made the plays that mattered most and were crowned World Champions.
Game one of this series came down to the very end. After a huge “fan interference” call took a Yankees home run off the board, the game was tied 2-2 going into extra innings. Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe gave the Yankees an early lead batting in Jazz Chisholm Jr. to bring the score to 3-2. However, that one run wasn’t enough as in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Dodgers quickly put two men on base. After a controversial call by the Yankees to intentionally walk All Star shortstop Mookie Betts, first baseman Freddie Freeman made them pay as he launched a walk-off Grand Slam to win Game 1. This was the first walk-off Grand Slam in World Series history.
The Dodgers looked like they would run away with a win in Game 2 as they had a 4-1 lead going into the ninth. However, after a series of errors by the Dodgers pitching, the Yankees found themselves with bases loaded and an opportunity to tie the series. That opportunity was squandered though as with two outs, pinch hitter Jose Trevino flew out to center field and the Dodgers took a 2-0 series lead.
Game 3 was the first game in the Bronx, but the Yankee home crowd didn’t stop the Dodgers hot streak as Freddie Freeman home run at the top of the first gave LA an early 2-0 lead. The Yankees offensive struggles continued, and they once again found themselves down 4-0 at the bottom of the ninth inning. A two-run homer by outfielder Alex Verdugo in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Yankees hope for a late comeback but it was too little, too late as the Dodgers took a 3-0 series lead.
Looking to avoid a sweep, the Yankees knew they had to play their best ball of the season, and they delivered on that promise. The scoring frenzy started early by Los Angeles when Freeman continued his series dominance and hit another two-run homerun. Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe continued to make magic happen for the Bronx Bombers as he hit a Grand Slam of his own in the third inning and from there the runs started pouring in for New York. Second baseman Gleyber Torres launched a three-run homer late in the game, and even outfielder Aaron Judge, who struggled in the series, drove a run-in to ensure the series didn’t end there as the Yankees won Game 4 with a score of 11-4.
With all the momentum going in the Yankees direction many felt good about the home team being able to force a Game 6. Those beliefs seemed justified as the Yankees got out to a 5-0 lead early. However, disaster struck the Yankees as multiple back breaking defensive errors from first baseman Anthony Rizzo and Judge allowed the Dodgers to tie the game up at 5-5 in the fifth. Outfielder Giancarlo Stanton had a sacrifice fly out to give the Yankees another lead, but the Dodgers struck back in the eighth to take a 7-6 lead that would ultimately secure the Dodgers the win.
Freeman took home the World Series MVP award despite only having the seventh-best odds to win the award going into the series. He is the only player in MLB history to hit a home run in six-straight World Series games.
Superstars Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge were the two favorites going in. The selling point for the series was the two best players in the league going at it in Judge and Ohtani but both players were relatively quiet in the series. Judge and Ohtani combined for just 6 hits at 37 total at bats and Judge delivered the only homerun between them. In fairness to Ohtani, he did pop his shoulder during the bottom of the seventh inning during Game 2.
Regardless, these two are still two of the league’s best and it isn’t crazy to assume we could see these two players going against each other again in a future World Series, but for now, Ohtani and the Dodgers should enjoy this title as we put the 2024 MLB season in the books.
