Los Angeles Dodgers players flood onto the field after beating the New York Yankees to win the MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York on Wednesday. USA TODAY SPORTS VIA REUTERS
NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series championship in five seasons, overcoming a five-run deficit with the help of three Yankees defensive miscues and rallying on sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts in the eighth inning to beat New York 7-6 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.
Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning, Alex Verdugo's RBI single chased Jack Flaherty in the second, and Giancarlo Stanton's third-inning homer against Ryan Brasier built a 5-0 Yankees lead.
But, on Halloween eve, in an inning that will haunt Yankees fans forever, errors by Judge in center and Anthony Volpe at shortstop, combined with pitcher Gerrit Cole failing to cover first base on a Betts grounder, helped Los Angeles score five unearned runs in the fifth.
After Stanton's sixth-inning sacrifice fly put the Yankees back ahead 6-5, the Dodgers loaded the bases against relief pitcher Tommy Kahnle in the eighth, before the two sacrifice flies off Luke Weaver sealed it for LA.
Judge doubled off winner Blake Treinen with one out in the bottom half and Chisholm walked. Manager Dave Roberts walked to the mound with Treinen 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 Anthony Rizzo.
Walker Buehler, making his first relief appearance since his rookie season in 2018, pitched a perfect ninth for his first major league save.
"We're obviously resilient, but there's so much love in the clubhouse that won this game today," Betts said. "That's what it was. It was love, it was grit. I mean, it was just a beautiful thing. I'm just proud of us and I'm happy for us."
The Los Angeles Dodgers' Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman celebrate scoring during the fifth inning in Game 5 of the MLB World Series against the New York Yankees on Wednesday. AP
When Buehler struck out Verdugo to end the game, the Dodgers poured onto the field to celebrate between the mound and first base, capping a season in which they won 98 games and finished with the best regular-season record.
With several thousand Dodgers fans remaining in a mostly empty stadium, baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred presented the trophy to LA.
"There's just a lot of ways we can win baseball games," Buehler said. "Obviously the superstars we have on our team and the discipline, it just kind of all adds up."
Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers' record-setting $700 million signing, went 2 for 19 with no RBIs, and had one single after separating his shoulder during a stolen base attempt in Game 2.
Freddie Freeman hit a two-run single to tie the Series record of 12 RBIs, set by Bobby Richardson over seven games in 1960, and was voted Series MVP. With the Dodgers one out 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 LA's run to the title.
It's the Dodgers' eighth championship, and seventh since leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles. It's their first in an unshortened season since 1988. They won a neutral-site World Series against Tampa Bay in 2020 after a 60-game regular season, and couldn't have a parade because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Yankees captain Aaron Judge makes a dramatic catch at the wall to deny LA's Freddie Freeman an extra-base hit during the fourth inning of Game 5 in the World Series Game 5 on Wednesday. AP
These Dodgers of Ohtani, Freeman and Betts have now joined the 1955 Duke Snider and Roy Campanella Boys of Summer, the Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale era that spanned the three titles from 1959-65, the Tommy Lasorda-led groups in 1981 and '88 and the Betts and Clayton Kershaw champions of 2020.
Roberts won his second championship in nine seasons as manager of the Dodgers, matching Lasorda and trailing the four of Walter Alston. The Dodgers won for the fourth time in 12 World Series meetings with the Yankees.
New York remains without a title since winning its record 27th in 2009.
The Yankees acquired Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres in December knowing he would be eligible for free agency after the 2024 Series. The 26-year-old star went 5 for 16, with one RBI in the Series heading into what will be an intensely followed bidding war on the open market. Judge, meanwhile, finished 4 for 18 with three RBIs.
Cole didn't allow a hit until Kike Hernandez singled to lead off the fifth.
Judge, who an inning earlier made a leaping catch at the wall to deny Freeman an extra-base hit, dropped Tommy Edman's fly-out to center. Shortstop Volpe then bounced a throw to third on Will Smith's grounder, allowing the Dodgers to load the bases with no outs.
Cole struck out Lux and Ohtani, and Betts hit a grounder to Rizzo. Cole however, failed to cover first, pointing at Rizzo to run to the bag as Betts outraced the first baseman.
Freeman followed with a two-run single and Teoscar Hernandez hit a tying two-run double. Max Muncy walked before Kike Hernandez grounded into a force-out on Cole's 48th pitch of the inning.
The Los Angeles Dodgers hoist the Commissioner's Trophy after beating the New York Yankees in Game 5 to win the MLB World Series at Yankee Stadium in New York on Wednesday. USA TODAY SPORTS VIA REUTERS
"We just took advantage of every mistake they made in that inning," Teoscar Hernandez said. "We put some good at-bats together. We put the ball in play."
Stanton's sixth-inning sacrifice fly off Brusdar Graterol put the Yankees ahead 6-5, but the Dodgers rallied one last time in the eighth.
Kike Hernandez singled off Tommy Kahnle leading off. Edman followed with an infield hit and Smith walked on four pitches. Lux's sacrifice fly off Luke Weaver tied the score. Ohtani reached on catcher's interference and Betts followed with another sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers their first lead.
In 2012, the Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman from Tampa Bay to head their baseball operations two years later. He boosted the front office with a multitude of analytics and performance science staff, and ownership supplied the cash.
Los Angeles went on an unprecedented $1.25 billion spending spree last offseason on deals with Ohtani, pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and James Paxton, and outfielder Teoscar Hernandez.
Faced with injuries, the Dodgers acquired Flaherty, Edman and reliever Michael Kopech ahead of the trade deadline, and all became important cogs in the title run.
There could still be more spending from LA — and more bad news for the Yankees. The newly minted champions are sure to be in the mix during Soto's off-season contract negotiations, and the former Padre is not ruling out a move back west.
"I'm really happy with the city, with the team, how these guys do, but at the end of the day, we will see," Soto said. "I'll be open to listen to every single team."
