The Los Angeles Dodgers won their eighth World Series title in franchise history and first since 2020 on Wednesday night, coming back from a five-run deficit to complete a Hollywood ending to their season.
Los Angeles rallied back from an early hole to beat the New York Yankees 7-6 in Game 5 at Yankee Stadium, accomplishing one more piece of history with the biggest comeback to clinch a World Series in baseball history.
The Dodgers trailed 5-0 after four innings after the Yankee bats started off hot with back-to-back home runs from Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. in the first inning. They were the first back-to-back homers for the Bronx Bombers in the World Series since Thurman Munson and Reggie Jackson did it in Game 5 in 1977, also against the Dodgers.
Up 4-0, New York slugger Giancarlo Stanton added another homer in the third inning, getting Yankee Stadium rocking as the home fans began to believe in an incredible comeback.
But costly Yankees’ errors and clutch hitting by LA helped the Dodgers rally to tie the game at 5-5 in a deflating moment for the once-surging Yankees in the fifth.
With a man on first, Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman lined one to center field, but Judge failed to catch the routine ball for the fielding error.
The next batter, catcher Will Smith, grounded one to Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe who tried to throw out the runner at third but couldn’t as all runners advanced safely. Volpe was given an error on the play.
With the bases loaded and no one out, Yankees ace Gerrit Cole would strike out the next two batters. Now with two outs, Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts hit a soft grounder to Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo, but Cole did not cover first base and Rizzo couldn’t beat the speedy Betts to the bag, giving Los Angeles its first run of the game.
The next batter, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman – named the World Series MVP after his incredible series – singled to center, driving in two runs and making the score 5-3. Then Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez hit a double to center, driving in two more to tie the contest at 5-5. All five runs in the inning were unearned.
The Yankees reclaimed the lead 6-5 in the sixth on Stanton’s sacrifice fly, but a pair of sacrifice flies from second baseman Gavin Lux and right fielder Mookie Betts gave the Dodgers their first lead of the game at 7-6 in the top of the eighth.
The runs were all scored off reliever Luke Weaver, the Yankees’ closer who had pitched remarkably throughout October. Inheriting a bases-loaded, no-out jam, Weaver gave up the tying and eventual winning run on the sacrifice flies, which were sandwiched around a catcher’s interference that allowed superstar Shohei Ohtani to reach base.
Ohtani, the man with the richest contract in baseball history, was not much of a factor in the series after suffering a shoulder injury in Game 2.
There were still a couple more chances for the Yankees. The Dodgers turned to reliever Blake Treinen, their own stalwart bullpen arm who had come in an inning before, and he created and then got out of a jam.
Judge rocked a double to left and Chisholm followed up with a walk, and the House That Jeter Built was once again rocking. But Treinen got Stanton to fly out and struck out Anthony Rizzo, stranding Judge and Chisholm and stymying what ended up being the Yankees’ best shot at getting back in the game.
Game 3 starter Walker Buehler made a surprise appearance that sealed his own incredible October story. Buehler returned earlier this season from Tommy John surgery but had a lackluster season before looking like his dominant self in October.
When he came on to pitch the ninth inning on short rest, he made an unlikely appearance seem routine, setting down the Yankees in order and striking out left fielder Alex Verdugo to seal the win.
Celebratory clubhouse
The Dodgers last won the World Series in 2020 in the shortened Covid-19 pandemic season. While they were able to celebrate on the field at the time, there was no parade in the streets of LA. Manager Dave Roberts, who has been lauded for his work guiding his team of megastars throughout this season, celebrated with a rhetorical question.
“Yeah! Who wants a parade?!” he yelled to the traveling Dodger fans who remained in Yankee Stadium during the postgame ceremony. The team announced that the parade will be held on Friday.
CNN’s Omar Jimenez was present in the Dodgers clubhouse as they celebrated their win at Yankee Stadium, saying that he could “barely even see the camera” because of the champagne and beer which had been sprayed in revelry.
Dodgers players, decked out in goggles as is now traditional for title-winning teams, shared hugs – including the Japanese pairing of Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto – and enjoyed the moment with music blaring in the background, including unofficial LA city anthem, Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
“This is a team coming in setting a lot of records, had high expectations and delivered. This is a manifestation of all that hard work,” Jimenez said while being soaked by the LA squad. “You’ve got the celebration, you’ve got the beer poured on it and, most importantly, you get the World Series trophy.”
Dodgers fans back in Los Angeles took to the streets to celebrate their team’s Fall Classic victory, with fireworks set off around the city and outside Dodger Stadium, and police warning of affected traffic because of the celebrations.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) also issued a “dispersal order” at Olympic Boulevard and Figueroa Street near the stadium after an “unlawful assembly.” They also said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that they were responding to a “hostile crowd” surrounding a metro bus in downtown Los Angeles which was attempting to set it on fire.
Police noted that there reports of looting at stores in the area and that projectiles were thrown at officers earlier in the evening as well. Mayor Karen Bass had earlier warned residents that “violence will not be tolerated.”
This story has been updated with additional information.