The Los Angeles Dodgers are heading back to the World Series, as they defeated the New York Mets in Game 6 of the NLCS, 10-5, to win the National League pennant.
The Dodgers, reaching the Fall Classic for the first time since the shortened 2020 season, are set to host Games 1 and 2 of the World Series against the New York Yankees, who beat the Cleveland Guardians on Saturday night to make it back for the first time since 2009.
The Dodgers and Yankees, two iconic and storied franchises in MLB, haven’t met in the World Series since 1981, when it was New York hoisting the trophy at the end of the series.
It was no easy feat for the Dodgers, as the Mets were hoping they could see another Subway Series as they continued to fight with a Game 5 victory at Citi Field to send things back to Los Angeles.
However, the Dodgers did not let this one go to a decisive Game 7, getting the job done at their home Dodger Stadium.
And it wasn’t the usual suspects of Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts, who were catalysts in winning four games in this series.
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Instead, it was the Dodgers’ cleanup hitter, shortstop Tommy Edman, who continued to have a hot postseason with a four-RBI night that included a two-run home run in the four-run bottom of the third inning for Los Angeles.
After the Mets got on the board with a run in the first inning – Pete Alonso reached on an infield single to score Francisco Lindor from third base – Edman found himself up with Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez on when he laced an RBI double to give the Dodgers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish all game.
Then, in that third inning, Edman launched a 406-foot homer off Mets starter Sean Manaea that was followed by Will Smith hitting a two-run bomb of his own to start pulling away from New York, 6-1.
The Mets, a team that could never be counted out until the 27th man went down throughout this postseason, started to chip away at the Dodgers’ lead as Mark Vientos belted a two-run home run of his own in the top of the fourth inning off Ryan Brasier. Vientos, the rookie third baseman who has been a godsend for the Mets this October, hit his fifth homer of the postseason.
But what crushed the Mets in the end was their inability to capitalize with runners on base, leaving 12 total including a bases loaded situation in the top of the sixth when they were down 6-3. Jesse Winker thought he had a soft fly ball to left field that could fall, but Hernandez caught it to end the threat.
In the top of the eighth inning, owning a 7-4 lead, the Dodgers saw veteran reliever Blake Treinen mow down Brandon Nimmo, Vientos and Pete Alonso, striking out the side to give his team just three more outs for the pennant.
But all the pressure was taken off Treinen in the top of the ninth after the Dodgers tattooed Kodai Senga, scoring three runs to mark 10 runs for the second time this series against the Mets. The Dodgers scored at least six runs in all but one game against New York throughout this NLCS.
Treinen allowed a couple hits and a run with two outs in the top of the ninth, but he got Francisco Alvarez to ground out to second to seal the win.
In the box score, Ohtani went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and one RBI, while Hernandez had the exact same stat line. Second baseman Chris Taylor, the Dodgers’ nine hitter, also added two hits on three trips to the plate.
And on the mound was virtually everyone out in the Dodgers’ bullpen, with Michael Kopech starting things off and everyone from Anthony Banda, to Evan Phillips, to Daniel Hudson and finally Treinen finishing it off in an “all hands on deck” outing for manager Dave Roberts’ club.
The Dodgers were the top seed in the National League, and the Yankees were the same in the American League. An old rivalry is reborn in the Fall Classic, which begins with Game 1 on Oct. 25 in Los Angeles.
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