Champions! Dodgers win World Series with wild Game 5 comeback vs. Yankees
NEW YORK – The Los Angeles Dodgers claimed their eighth World Series title in franchise history Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium and, like their 98-win season and their 11 wins in 16 postseason games, it came in a fashion both wholly predictable and thoroughly stunning.
In a five-run hole in Game 5 and facing New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole, the Dodgers staged a startling fifth-inning rally to tie the score, pushed across two more runs to take the lead for good in the eighth and then closed their eyes and hoped for the best from a bullpen stretched to its limit.
The result? A 7-6 Game 5 victory, a 4-1 conquest of the Yankees and the club’s first World Series title since 2020 and first in a full season since 1988.
“It seems like we hit every speed bump possible over the course of this year,” World Series MVP Freddie Freeman said. “And to overcome what we did as a group of guys, it’s special. This is what we start out to do every single spring training is to win a championship. I think it’s the hardest thing to do in sports.”
That title was launched by a ninth-inning, Game 1 home run from Kirk Gibson that turned a win into a loss. This championship, too, had a Game 1 walk-off hero Freeman, whose 10th-inning grand slam launched what looked to be a dominance of the Yankees as L.A. won the first three games.
But the Yankees struck back in Game 4 and seized a 5-0 lead in Game 5 before a pair of rallies – the first keyed by three Yankee misplays – did them in.
Both were started by innocent singles from Kiké Hernandez. The decisive blows lacked Gibson/Freemanesque drama – eighth-inning sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts to turn a 6-5 deficit into a 7-6 lead.
“I’m heartbroken, and I’m heartbroken for those guys that poured so much into this,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The ending is cruel. It always is.”
And the final bit of heroics came from a bullpen that picked up for starter Jack Flaherty and turned in 23 outs of nearly perfect relief, with a home run and sacrifice fly from Giancarlo Stanton the lone blemishes across the final 7 ⅔ innings.
Blake Treinen, who got the last out of the sixth, pitched a clean seventh and then stranded a pair of runners in the eighth when he struck out Anthony Rizzo on his 42nd pitch.
And then, it was right-hander Walker Buehler’s turn. The Game 3 winner was summoned on a day’s rest and set down the bottom of the Yankees’ order to close it out – the eighth pitcher to work on this night the Dodgers became champions once again.
“Certainly a lot of emotions from the way it started to certainly the way it finished,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I’m just so grateful to be in this chair, and what our guys did, the resilience, the fight that they had.”
What to Know
- 1The Dodgers won their eighth World Series and first since 2020, while the Yankees’ drought since 2009 persisted.
- Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back homers in the bottom of the first for a 3-0 lead, which increased to 4-0 in the second and 5-0 in the third.
- A sloppy defensive showing by New York in the fifth inning gave the Dodgers their first scores, eventually tying the game.
- A sacrifice fly from Giancarlo Stanton in the bottom of the sixth saw Juan Soto reach home for New York to take a 6-5 lead, but L.A. came back in the top of the eighth and didn’t look back.
- Star starter Walker Buehler entered in the ninth inning and retired the Yankees in order to close it out for L.A.
- Yankees ace Gerrit Cole faced Dodgers righty Jack Flaherty, who was pulled in the second.
World Series 2024 MVP: Freddie Freeman, obviously
NEW YORK — Freddie Freeman clutched the World Series MVP trophy and hoisting it high into the air after the Los Angeles Dodgers’ championship Wednesday night, let his emotions seep out, knowing just what this meant to him.
Freeman carried the Dodgers to a five-game conquest, hitting a home run in each of the first four games, driving in a World Series franchise-record 12 runs.
“This is everything,” Freeman said.
Few people outside his own family have the slightest of the frustrations, angst and fear that he endured throughout the season, only to culminate in baseball’s ultimate prize.
– Bob Nightengale
LA Dodgers parade 2024
The Dodgers announced after the game that the team’s long-awaited championship parade will take place on Friday in Los Angeles.
To the ninth: Dodgers 7, Yankees 6
With runners on first and second and one out, Dodgers right-hander Blake Treinen got Giancarlo Stanton fly out and struck out Anthony Rizzo to end the threat and send the game to the ninth with Los Angeles up 7-6.
Dodgers take eighth-inning lead with two sac flys
NEW YORK – After a wild three nights at Yankee Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers suddenly find themselves six outs from a World Series championship.
After overcoming a five-run deficit thanks to a disastrous inning from the New York Yankees, the Dodgers took the lead for the first time in Game 5 by pushing across two runs in the top of the eighth against a pair of Yankee relievers.
The tying and go-ahead blows were sacrifice flies by Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts. The startling moment was a catcher’s interference call on a Shohei Ohtani swing.
And of course, it was all started by Kiké Hernandez, whose leadoff single off Tommy Kahnle started the two-run rally – just as his single in the fifth sparked a five-run inning that erased a 5-0 deficit.
How many teams have rallied from 3-0 World Series deficit?
The New York Yankees face a monumental task in their bid to overcome a 3-0 deficit in this year’s World Series. However, they’ve already defied recent history by taking the first step.
In defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers 11-4 on Tuesday night, the Yankees live to fight another day, with Game 5 on tap Wednesday night in the Bronx.
There have been 25 teams in World Series history who have trailed 3-0. The Yankees are one of just four to have even forced a Game 5. Of those four teams, none has ever made it to a Game 6.
Yankees lineup today: World Series Game 5
- Gleyber Torres (R) 2B
- Juan Soto (L) RF
- Aaron Judge (R) CF
- Jazz Chisholm Jr. (L) 3B
- Giancarlo Stanton (R) DH
- Anthony Rizzo (L) 1B
- Anthony Volpe (R) SS
- Austin Wells (L) C
- Alex Verdugo (L) LF
Dodgers lineup today
- Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
- Mookie Betts (R) RF
- Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
- Teoscar Hernández (R) LF
- Max Muncy (L) 3B
- Enrique Hernández (R) CF
- Tommy Edman (S) SS
- Will Smith (R) C
- Gavin Lux (L) 2B
Yankee fans banned after fan interference on Mookie Betts
The two New York Yankees fans who were ejected from Game 4 on Tuesday night for interfering with Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Mookie Betts won’t be back in their seats down the right field line for tonight’s game.
Despite his initial claim made to ESPN, season-ticket holder Austin Capobianco and his friend John Peter will not be allowed back in the ballpark for Game 5 on Wednesday, the Yankees announced.
“The Yankees and Major League Baseball maintain a zero-tolerance policy toward the type of behavior displayed last night,” the Yankees said in a statement. “These fans will not be permitted to attend tonight’s game in any capacity.”
Yankees, inspired by Red Sox ’04 comeback, want to make history
NEW YORK − The electronic board in the New York Yankees clubhouse Tuesday night revealed their strategy in this World Series for everyone to see.
“Win Tomorrow Fly Thursday.”
The Yankees plan to be on that flight to Los Angeles after trouncing the Dodgers, 11-4, and staying alive in the World Series, with their players reiterating the mantra made famous by Kevin Millar of the Boston Red Sox in 2004.
“Don’t Let Us Win Tonight.”
It was the year the Red Sox became the first and only baseball team in postseason history to be down 3 games to 0 and come back and win the series against the Yankees in the ALCS, leading to their first World Series title since 1918.
The documentary of that historic comeback was just released on Netflix.
“I’d like to make another one,” Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo grinned.
− Bob Nightengale
What’s the record for most home runs in a World Series?
Freddie Freeman has hit four home runs in the World Series − one in each of the first four games. Can tie the record (5) in Game 5? If so, he would joins:
- Reggie Jackson (Yankees, 1977)
- Chase Utley (Phillies, 2009)
- George Springer (Astros, 2017)
Ironically, Jackson’s five home runs came for the Yankees, who defeated the Dodgers in six games. In 2009, the Yankees defeated the Phillies in six games despite Utley’s five home runs. Finally, in 2017, Springer achieved this feat in seven games.
Dodgers punt, preserve best relievers for Game 5
NEW YORK – The champagne was on ice. The Commissioner’s Trophy was lurking, somewhere, in the bowels of Yankee Stadium. And Game 4 of the World Series – and a sweep of the New York Yankees – was there for the taking.
Yet for the Los Angeles Dodgers, trusting the process that guided them to a National League pennant and built a 3-0 lead over New York in this Fall Classic remained paramount.
So, when reliever Daniel Hudson, nursing a one-run lead in the third inning, lost his command and sprayed the ball all over the strike zone, manager Dave Roberts let him ride it out – even as it resulted in a go-ahead grand slam from Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe.
When the Dodgers clawed back to within one run in the fifth inning, the Dodgers’ high-leverage relievers remained holstered – and long man Landon Knack gave up a home run an inning later to Austin Wells.
And then, trailing by just two runs heading into the bottom of the eighth, the last man on the pitching roster, right-hander Brent Honeywell, was tasked with keeping it close – and instead ended up wearing it all, giving up five runs to put the game out of reach.
Game 4 of the World Series was a different animal. With the Dodgers holding a 3-0 Series lead, there’d be no closer Blake Treinen, no fire-balling set-up man Michael Kopech, no Ryan Brasier or deathly lefties Alex Vesia or Anthony Banda – not unless the Dodgers held a lead and could nail down the championship.
“We’ve got all the faith in the world in Doc,” says catcher Will Smith, who hit a solo home run and guided the Dodgers’ four pitchers through this night. “This whole postseason, he’s been doing that, so sticking with him, he’s been doing great.
“We’re just trying to manage this whole series, keep everything fresh and ready to go. Be back tomorrow, everybody will be healthy.”
– Gabe Lacques
