Los Angeles Dodgers beat New York Yankees to win World Series, Freddie Freeman named MVP

For the eighth time in franchise history, the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series Champions. Wednesday night will go down as a famous one for the Dodgers, finishing off a 4-1 series win against the New York Yankees in the Bronx and celebrating their championship on the road. It’s the second title won under manager Dave Roberts, with the last being during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season.

Los Angeles had an opportunity to sweep New York on Tuesday but an offensive explosion for the Yankees kept them alive for another day. Game 5 proved to be too much for them as another edition of Jack Flaherty vs. Gerrit Cole went in favor of the Dodgers.

It was all Yankees in the early going. Aaron Judge got things going with a two-run home run to put New York out in front, and Jazz Chisholm made it back-to-back jacks to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead. That advantage grew to 5-0 after Alex Verdugo’s RBI single and Giancarlo Stanton’s solo home run, which appeared to put the Yankees firmly in the driver’s seat.

Then, the fifth inning happened. New York committed two errors and Cole didn’t cover first base on a ground ball to Anthony Rizzo as part of a disaster on defense. That allowed the Dodgers to come all the way back, scoring five unearned runs to tie things up at 5-5.

The Yankees didn’t go away, though. A sacrifice fly from Stanton put them back out in front, 7-6, but the Dodgers took their first lead of the night in the eighth inning. Aided by a catcher’s interference call, sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts made it a 7-6 ballgame, and that lead held into the bottom of the ninth. Walker Buehler came out of the bullpen to close it out and got Alex Verdugo for the final out.

Los Angeles began their run against a division rival in the NLDS, taking down the San Diego Padres in five games. Another New York team awaited in the NLCS but despite putting up a good fight, the Mets fell to the Dodgers in six games. Just 16 games were required to take home the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Unsurprisingly, Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman was named World Series MVP. His Game 1 walk-off grand slam will be remembered in baseball for a long, long time — producing a historic moment for the sport. Freeman wound up homering in the first four games vs. the Yankees, breaking the record for consecutive games with a home run in the World Series, dating back to his time with Atlanta.

Nick Schultz contributed to this report.