What a comeback!
The Yankees high-powered offense picked up right where it left off after Tuesday’s 11-run avalanche, as New York sat in the catbirds’ seat and took an early 5-0 lead behind home runs from AL MVP front runner Aaron Judge, who finally snapped out of his prolonged playoff slump, Giancarlo Stanton and Jazz Chisholm Jr. Then, chaos erupted,
The fifth inning was a house of horrors for the Yankees. Everything came unglued in the inning, as the Dodgers tied the game, 5-5, after a plethora of ugly defensive miscues by the Yankees including Judge’s first error all year and a mind-boggling miscommunication between Gerrit Cole and Anthony Rizzo.
After taking advantage of three errors to erase a five-run, fifth-inning deficit during one of the most unforgettable midgame meltdowns in baseball history that fans everywhere will be talking about for years to come, the Dodgers used eighth-inning sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts to defeat the Yankees 7-6 on Wednesday night.
“In spring training this is what we said we were going to do and we did it,” Betts said, champagne stinging his eyes.
However, the Yankees had a short memory, did not get rattled and took a 6-5 lead the following inning, but the Dodgers, once again, proved their toughness loading the bases against loser Tommy Kahnle with two runs in the eighth before the sacrifice flies off Luke Weaver to finish off the largest comeback ever in a World Series clinching win.
Judge hit a two bagger off winner Blake Treinen with one out in the bottom half and Chisholm walked. Manager Dave Roberts, who won a World Series 2004 as a player with the Boston Red Sox, walked to the mound with Treinen sitting at 37 pitches.
“I looked in his eyes. I said how you feeling? How much more you got?” Roberts recalled. “He said: `I want it.’ I trust him.”
Treinen retired Stanton on a flyout and struck out Rizzo.
Walker Buehler did not have a day off, making his first relief appearance since his rookie season in 2017, pitched a perfect ninth for his first major league save.
MVP, there was really no other option. Who else but Freddie Freeman, whose historic home run streak was snapped in Game 5 at six, but who still got in on the action with a two-run single. That gave him 12 RBIs in the series, tied for the most ever in a single World Series with Yankees second baseman Bobby Richardson, in 1960.
The rest of the stars came out to play.
Embed from Getty ImagesBetts, who also had a Fall Classic to remember, with 5 hits, 4 runs, and 4 RBIs, became the first active hitter with three World Series rings.
Buehler, who called his manager before the game saying if you need me, I am ready to go, closed out Game 5 with a perfect ninth just 48 hours after getting the win in Game 3, making him just the fourth starting pitcher to earn a win and a save in a single World Series.
Of the 234 teams to trail by five or more runs in a Series game, the Dodgers became just the seventh to win.
“This is going to sting forever,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I’m heartbroken.”
With several thousand Dodgers fans starting to party and celebrate in a mostly empty stadium, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred presented the trophy on a stage quickly put together in real time over second base.
Shohei Ohtani struggled (2-19, 0 RBI), but obviously made his presence felt after inking a $700 million contract with one of the greatest offensive seasons of all time.
“We were able to get through the regular season, I think, because of the strength of this team, this organization,” Ohtani said through a translator. “The success of the postseason is very similar.”
As previously mentioned, Freeman hit a two-run single to tie the Series record of 12 RBI, set by Bobby Richardson over seven games in 1960, and was voted Series MVP.
With the Dodgers one out away from losing Friday’s opener, Freeman hit a game-ending grand slam reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s homer off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in 1988’s Game 1 that sparked Los Angeles to the title. Who knew that was a sign of things to come.
A rare feat: This was just the eighth time in the wild card era (since 1994) that the team with the best regular-season record won the World Series, with the 2024 Dodgers joining the 1998 Yankees, 2007 Red Sox, 2009 Yankees, 2013 Red Sox, 2016 Cubs, 2018 Red Sox and 2020 Dodgers.
