The Los Angeles Dodgers produced a stunning fightback to defeat the New York Yankees and clinch the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series on Wednesday with a dramatic come-from-behind 7-6 victory.
On a night of spellbinding drama at Yankee Stadium in New York, the Dodgers sealed their second MLB championship crown in five seasons and eighth overall after recovering from 5-0 down to complete a 4-1 series victory.
“It’s unbelievable,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “A lot of people counted us out… these guys believed in each other even when we were down 5-0 they persevered, kept fighting and now we’re world champions.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
The Yankees, who had kept the series alive with an 11-4 rout in game four on Tuesday, had looked poised to take the series back to Los Angeles for game six after home runs from Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm and Giancarlo Stanton.
Yankees starter Gerrit Cole produced a masterful performance from the mound to keep the Dodgers’ potent offensive line-up scoreless through four innings.
However, a catastrophic fifth inning by the Yankees, which included a litany of defensive errors, saw the Dodgers pile on five unearned runs to tie the score at 5-5.
Although the Yankees regained the lead through a Stanton sacrifice-fly in the sixth inning, the Dodgers hit back in the eighth with sac-flys of their own from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts to claim what turned out to be a winning 7-6 lead.
The Dodgers then brought back game three starter Walker Buehler to bag the final three outs in the ninth to clinch victory.
“Obviously [we are] resilient, but there’s so much love in this clubhouse, care — that care won this game today,” Dodgers star Betts said. “That’s what it was. It was love, it was grit. It was just a beautiful thing and I’m just proud of us and I’m happy for us.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone was disconsolate at the nature of the defeat, lamenting the self-inflicted errors that had allowed the Dodgers back into the game.
“As I said to the guys, obviously it stings now — but this is going to sting forever,” Boone said. “We just didn’t take care of the ball well enough… against a great team like that, they took advantage.”
Dodgers star Freddie Freeman, who blasted four consecutive home runs in the opening four games of the series, was named Series Most Valuable Player.
“I think we were all saying the first three innings — ‘let’s just get one, just chip away, we can do this,’” said Freeman, who drove in two runs in the fifth inning rally with a single. “There’s a couple of mistakes that happened, you’ve got to capitalize.”
The Dodgers had gone into Wednesday’s game quietly confident, with victorious game one starter Jack Flaherty back on the mound.
However, Flaherty’s eve-of-Halloween outing turned into a horror show as the revived Yankees bats cut loose to leave the Dodgers reeling.
Judge crushed a two-run homer in the first inning and then Chisholm followed it with a solo shot to put the Yankees 3-0 ahead, before Alex Verdugo drove in a run for Anthony Volpe to make it 4-0 in the second, prompting Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to remove Flaherty.
Stanton’s third inning solo home run made it a five-run game, but after that dream start, the wheels fell off in the fifth.
Enrique Hernandez launched the Dodgers rally with a single to lead off the inning and then Tommy Edman was given a reprieve when Judge flubbed a catch in center-field that left the Dodgers with two men on base and no outs.
The Dodgers loaded the bases after an error from Volpe, the Yankees shortstop’s throw to third base hitting the dirt.
The Yankees appeared to have stopped the bleeding after Cole struck out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani in quick succession.
However, a terrible mix-up between Cole and first baseman Anthony Rizzo allowed Betts to single and score Hernandez to make it 5-1.
Freeman then took full advantage, doubling to score Edman and Will Smith to make it 5-3 with runners on first and third. Teoscar Hernandez then drove a double to center-field to bring in two more runs and the game was suddenly tied at 5-5.
The Yankees reclaimed the lead in the sixth when Stanton flied out to deep center-field to bring home Juan Soto to leave the Yankees 6-5 up as the game headed to the late innings.
However, the Dodgers conjured another rally, with Lux and Betts bagging sac-flys to snatch a one-run lead at 7-6, leaving Buehler to close out victory in the ninth.
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