The Los Angeles Dodgers had $1.18 billion reasons to win the World Series — and they did.
In a Fall Classic classic, this juggernaut of a Dodgers team steamrolled its way to the franchise’s eighth World Series championship — now tied with the Giants for fourth-most in history and one fewer than the Red Sox.
THE LOS ANGELES DODGERS ARE THE 2024 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS! 🏆 pic.twitter.com/dyqGSm7YHd
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 31, 2024
They needed a little help from an absolutely glorious implosion by the Yankees in the fifth inning, which began with a Gerrit Cole no-hitter in progress and a 5-0 lead... and ended with the game tied 5-5.
We take another look at how the 5th inning unraveled for the Yankees, ultimately leading to 5 runs for the Dodgers pic.twitter.com/Znsfiljd0R
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 31, 2024
World Series MVP Freddie Freeman didn’t homer in this one, and he didn’t need to. This time, the decisive swing came from who else but Mookie Betts on a tie breaking sacrifice fly in the eighth after New York had reclaimed — then regurgitated - the lead once more.
MOOKIE BETTS GIVES THE @DODGERS THE LEAD IN GAME 5! #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/BoM2KW0608
— MLB (@MLB) October 31, 2024
And the final image from this World Series? A clean-shaven Alex Verdugo striking out on a Walker Buehler breaking ball...
WALKER BUEHLER CLOSES IT OUT! #CHAMPS pic.twitter.com/1S2242udt6
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) October 31, 2024
For Betts, Freeman, Shohei Ohtani — the greatest player in the game today, and perhaps of all time, and now rightly a World Series champion— and the Dodgers, it was an inevitable result that they still earned every bit of.
Once-in-a-lifetime performance by Shohei Ohtani this season 🏆
— ESPN (@espn) October 31, 2024
🔹 Started the 50/50 club
🔹 Won World Series in his first postseason
🔹 First to reach 400 total bases since 2001
🔹 First to finish top-2 in HR and SB since 1909
🔹 Most single-season games (16) with a HR & SB ever pic.twitter.com/one7fmxlg3
“We’re obviously resilient,” Betts told the FOX broadcast after the win. “It was love, it was grit, it was just a beautiful thing.”
Now a three-time World Series champion, twice with L.A., Betts’ primary baseball legacy has officially shifted from Red Sox great to Dodgers great.
When he inevitably enters Cooperstown, he will do so wearing an L.A. hat and Dodger blue.
“Yeah, I’m super excited about that,” Betts said about the pending Hollywood World Series parade he didn’t get in 2020. “We comin’ L.A.”
That’s a shame (not for Betts, who took another step toward cementing himself as one of the greatest to ever play the game, but for Boston fans who should have been able to call him their own forever)...
But… how ‘bout them Yankees?
New York came oh so close to their first World Series title in 15 years. Aaron Boone’s team could practically taste their 28th world championship…
Then Freeman, Betts and the Dodgers happened. So, at least we have that going for us, Red Sox Nation...
Good for them. Good for Dave Roberts, Kike Hernandez, Ryan Brasier and Michael Kopech, too.
In truth, New York didn’t stand a chance against baseball’s ultimate heavyweight. Nobody did (no, not even the Padres, who failed to show up and went down with a whimper in Game 5 of the NLDS). And for the next half decade, I don’t expect that to change if L.A.’s roster can stay healthy.
While watching a team full of former Sox and friendly faces is bittersweet, there’s reason for optimism for Boston… or, at least, the AL East.
The spotlight on Boone, Brian Cashman and a Yankees franchise that hasn’t won in far too long should never be brighter than it will be this offseason. Will Boone be brought back? Will the Yankees re-sign Juan Soto? How will Aaron Judge respond from a disastrous performance on the sport’s biggest stage?
"At the end of the day, we're gonna look at every situation, every offer that we'll get and take the decision from there"
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) October 31, 2024
Juan Soto on the perception that he wants to stay in New Yorkpic.twitter.com/cNZm0N4hZQ
A loss like this has the potential to break the 27-time champions.
And again, to the great Jerry Seinfeld… that’s a shame.
Now, the offseason begins in earnest. And everybody — the Yankees, and certainly the Red Sox — will be playing catch-up.
