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LOS ANGELES, CA — The Dodgers ground out a Game 5 win to beat the Yankees 7-6 and take the World Series four games to one.
It was a thrilling, exhilarating, utterly frustrating World Series game for fans of the Dodgers and Yankees, alike.
The Dodgers managed to come back from a 5-0 start to the game for a nail-biter win. It was the largest comeback in World Series history.
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It wasn’t a slugfest with Dodger grand slams or even home runs. The pitching wasn’t great, but it was as good as it needed to be. Rather, it was a fitting win for this team, a gritty, opportunistic victory with every player doing their part.
“There was so much love in this clubhouse that won this game today — That’s what it was,” said Mookie Betts, whose hit drove in the winning run. “It was love, it was grit. It was just a beautiful thing.”
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Betts, who won his third championship Thursday, had a message for Dodgers fans waiting for their parade.
“We’re coming for you, LA.”
The Dodgers World Series Championship parade will be Friday morning in downtown Los Angeles.
Freddie Freeman was named the World Series MVP despite hobbling into the playoffs on a sprained ankle after a year of hardship, including missing games when his toddler, Max battled an autoimmune disorder.
“It seems like we hit every speed bump possible over the course of this year, and to overcome what we did with this group of guys — it’s special,” said Freeman.
Freeman managed to lock up the MVP trophy in game one when he hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history. He followed up with 12 RBI’s to tie the Series record set by Bobby Richardson over seven games in 1960. He hit four home runs in four consecutive World Series games, tying another all-time record.
“Twelve RBI’s? That means there were a lot of my teammates on base,” said Freeman in accepting the Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player trophy. “I’m just glad I got hot at the right time.”
SEE ALSO: Freeman Hits Walk-off Grand Slam To Win Game 1 Of The World Series
It was the Dodgers’ eighth championship and fourth World Series win against the Yankees.
In the end, it came down to the pitching. Star starter Walker Buehler came into the ninth inning as the closer to defend the Dodgers’ 7-6 lead. It was his first career save, and it was three up and three down.
First, he faced Anthony Volpe, who ground out at first. Then he struck out Austin Wells. Then he struck out Alex Verdugo for the World Series win.
The Dodgers poured onto the field to celebrate between the mound and first base, capping a season in which they won 98 games and finished with the best regular-season record.
“There’s just a lot of ways we can win baseball games,” Buehler said. “Obviously ,the superstars we have on our team and the discipline, it just kind of all adds up.”
Manager Dave Roberts credited the team’s belief in itself.
“We had a great season. We went through a lot of adversity,” said Roberts said as the team gathered onstage to accept the Commissioner’s Trophy. “A lot of people counted us out, but every single one of these guys, and a lot of people who aren’t here with us on this stage made an impact. And these guys believed in one another even when we were down five-nothing. They persevered, kept fighting, and now we’re world champions.”
They needed that faith to hold on two their only lead of the game in the eighth inning.
The Dodgers went into the bottom of the eighth inning with a 7-6 lead, and reliever Blake Trienen had to strike out the Yankees’ Rizzo with two outs and two on to defend the lead. He did.
Before that, the Dodgers seemed to need an outright miracle.
After getting off to a 5-0 lead in the first three innings, the Yankees appeared to be cruising to a Game 5 victory, but then came the error-ridden fifth inning.
That’s when the Dodgers put on a hitting and base-running clinic with two outs already on the board.
Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole’s game cratered when Kiké Hernández got on base with a single. Next, the Yankee’s star center fielder Aaron Judge dropped an easy fly ball hit by Tommy Edman. It allowed Hernández to get to second. Next, Will Smith was able to single after Anthony Volpe went for the out at third, but threw the ball short.
As the Yankees’ errors piled up, so did the scoring chances.
With the bases loaded, Cole struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani. The Dodgers appeared poised to strand the three men on base when Mookie Betts hit to first base for what should have been an easy out. However, Cole did not cover first baseman Anthony Rizzo as he caught the ground ball, leaving no one to catch the ball at first. The single drove in Hernández.
Then Freddie Freeman hit a single into center field to drive in Edman and Smith. With the score 5-3, Teoscar Hernández hit a two-run double to center field to tie the game. Cole then walked Max Muncy before facing Kiké Hernández once again. Hernández hit a grounder to short, allowing the Yankees to get Muncy out at second to end the five-run inning.
The 8th inning, however is when the Dodgers took their first lead of the game.
At the top of the 8th Gavin Lux stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and no outs. In the same situation in the fifth, he struck out. This time, he hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Kiké Hernández to tie the game 6-6.
With a man on third and first, Shohei Ohtani stepped into the batter’s box and was quickly sent to first due to catcher’s interference. That brought Mookie Betts to the batter’s box with three on for another sacrifice fly to Arron Judge in center field, driving in Tommy Edman for the Dodgers’ first lead of the game.
With two outs and two on, Freddie Freeman struck out to head into the 8th inning with a 7-6 lead
Before the fifth inning, the Yankees seemed unbeatable.
Aaron Judge busted out of a postseason slump with his first World Series home run, connecting for a two-run shot in the first inning that put the New York Yankees ahead in Game 5 against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The star slugger was batting just .152 in October and .133 during his first Fall Classic before sending a 403-foot shot to right-center on the first pitch he saw from starter Jack Flaherty.
Juan Soto was aboard after drawing a one-out walk.
It was the 16th postseason homer and third this year for Judge, expected to win his second AL MVP award in three years next month. He hadn’t gone deep in 29 plate appearances since a tying drive at Cleveland late in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series on Oct. 17.
Judge also homered in Game 2 of that series.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. followed with another home run off Flaherty, giving the Yankees back-to-back homers in a World Series for the fifth time and first since Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson connected in Game 5 at Dodger Stadium in 1977.
In the second inning, the Yankees’ Alex Verdugo hit a single to right field, driving in Volpe for a 4-0 lead. That was the end of the shaky night for Dodger starter Jack Flaherty.
In the third inning, Giancarlo Stanton hit a solo home run to right field for the 5-0 lead. After the Dodgers tied the game, Stanton drove in Soto the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly to get back the lead 6-5.
But, in the end, the Dodgers couldn’t be stopped.
As the team celebrated their first full-season World Series Win in decades in front of a mostly empty Yankees stadium, back home in Los Angeles, City Hall and the Hollywood sign’s ‘D’ glowed blue in honor of the boys in blue. Fireworks popped off across Southern California, and streets in Downtown Los Angeles were shut down as spontaneous crowds waving Dodger flags took over.
Mayor Karen Bass promised a Friday parade and a “celebration fitting for our championship team and our dedicated fans.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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