The Dodgers reach the World Series vs. the Yankees
LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers began their season ensnared in a gambling scandal in South Korea with Shohei Ohtani acting as an interpreter, spending the summer plagued by injuries that included every member of their starting rotation, but there they are partying into the night as a stadium on Sunday. Speakers “I love LA.”
The Dodgers, returning to the World Series for the fourth time in eight years, routed the New York Mets 10-5 at Dodger Stadium in the NLCS – 4 games to 2 to take the National League pennant.
They will face the New York Yankees in the World Series, bringing Major League Baseball its dream LA-NY matchup, starting Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
“It's been a fun ride,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “There's a great focus with our guys, a hunger, and a real good competitiveness and fight.
“Personally, I'm just lucky, I have a lot of great people around me, most importantly the players. But I am very grateful to be here. I really do.
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“You have to enjoy these moments. I couldn't be more proud of our boys.”
The sellout crowd showed its own gratitude, staying in their seats to cherish the celebration instead of leaving early to beat traffic.
“To be able to do it in front of our home crowd,” Dodgers infielder Enrique Hernandez said, “everything. They come, they show up for us year after year, year after year on a daily basis, we lead baseball in annual attendance.
“I can say that our fan base is as well traveled as any fan base in all of baseball. Everywhere we go, there's a huge swath of blue in the stands. And to be able to do that at home means everything to us because we can celebrate with them.''
The Dodgers' Holy Grail is that World Series parade.
They won the World Series in 2020, but it was a Covid year, winning the title at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas. Instead of spraying champagne, they were handing out masks.
There was no parade.
They haven't had a parade since 1988 when they stunned the Mets in the NLCS and stunned the Oakland A's in the World Series.
Now they are four wins away.
The Dodgers will tell you personally that once they got past the San Diego Padres in the NL Division Series, they thought they were going to the World Series. Their biggest road bump in the regular season came in mid-September when they received news that starter Tyler Glasnow was out for the year, leaving them wondering how they would slice their starting rotation in October.
“Everybody was panicking because we had a lot of injuries,” Dodgers left fielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “We lost a lot of pitchers. It was a time when we felt like we were down as a team.”
Roberts, who called a few meetings, brought everyone together and delivered a message that continued to resonate through the regular season, the Division Series and the NLCS and now the World Series.
“The message was basically that I can't trust them any more than they trust each other. They have to believe in themselves, right? And I felt we had enough talent in house to do that.
“I just wanted to bring it to light.”
The Dodgers took the advice, took off and never looked back.
“One meeting changed everything,” said Teoscar Hernandez. “We realized that we have the potential, we have the players, we're still the Dodgers. We can do something special with healthy people.''
It certainly helps, when you make a smart trade at the deadline and acquire injured super utility player Tommy Edman from the St. Louis Cardinals.
Edman, the Dodgers' starting shortstop and cleanup hitter in the series, became not only their most valuable player – and NLCS MVP. He scored a franchise-record 11 runs in the series, including a two-run double in the first inning and a two-run homer in the third.
For sure, it will be remembered as a rather fun series with every game decided by four runs or more, with the only game to change seeds being Sunday.
The Dodgers used seven different relief pitchers to seal their World Series berth. It wasn't always pretty with Michael Kopech pitching an ugly first inning. He walked two batters, threw a wild pitch and was fortunate to leave the first inning down just 1-0.
The Dodgers, who managed just two hits off Mets starter Shawn Mania in Game 2, beat him into submission on this night. He lasted just two innings, giving up six hits and five earned runs in his shortest outing since April 2023 when he was with the San Francisco Giants.
“This is the first time I've seen him with his new arm angle,” Enrique Hernandez said. “I felt like that day, we were just trying to score a lot of runs with one swing instead of doing what we've done this postseason — which is do your part and pass the baton and keep the line moving.' '
The Dodgers did just that, reaching base in four of their first six batters, and by the end of the night, every player had reached base except for rookie Andy Page. Five different batters had at least one run.
Now, they head into the World Series with just three healthy starting pitchers – Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty and Walker Buehler – and an All-Star first baseman in Freddie Freeman, who didn't start for the second game of the series.
“I don't like excuses,” Roberts said. “I don't like to hear them. A lot of unexpected things can happen during a long baseball season and we have a lot of good players.
“But that's not really what I think, they believe. And they believe they are the best.''
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Here's how Sunday's game unfolded:
The Dodgers added three runslead 10-4 heading into the ninth
The Dodgers can experience the World Series
Los Angeles added three more runs to their lead to make it a 10-4 ballgame heading into the ninth inning. Chris Taylor and Shohei Ohtani got on base to start the inning and Mookie Betts hit a double to bring in a run. In the next at-bat, Teoscar Hernandez hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in Ohtani.
After Bates was thrown out at home, Tommy Edman reached on a fielder's choice and Max Muncy drew a walk. Next, Keke Hernandez hit a single through right field to bring in a run.
The Dodgers are three outs away from the World Series
LOS ANGELES – Blake Treinen came in and shut it down.
Dodgers relievers struck out in the eighth inning, dropping the heart of the Mets lineup of Brandon Nimmo, Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso. Now, the Dodgers are three outs away from going to the World Series.
Mets get the run back in the seventh
LOS ANGELES — The Mets weren't done yet, as Francisco Alvarez added a run to make it a 7-4 game.
Tyrone Taylor and Jeff McNeil hit back-to-back singles, moving Taylor to third. Alvarez hit a fly ball to right field to Mookie Betts, a sacrifice fly that was deep enough for Taylor.
Run by Shohei Ohtani: Dodgers up 7-3
LOS ANGELES — Shohei Ohtani continues to be dominant with runners in scoring position.
Down 0-2, Dodgers slugger Ryne Stanek took a full count and hit a ball to center field that Tyrone Taylor couldn't reach. The ball bounced off his glove and Will Smith homered from second to make it a 7-3 game.
Mate leaves the load base again
LOS ANGELES — A no-hitter with runners in scoring position started to hurt the Mets, again leaving the bases loaded.
Francisco Alvarez led off the sixth inning with a single, and after two outs, Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso drew walks off Evan Phillips. It was left to Jesse Winker, but he hit a weak fly ball to shallow left field that was caught by Teoscar Hernandez to end the inning without any scoreboard damage.
New York is now 1 for 8 with RISP and has put 11 runners on base.
Mets trim lead with Mark Vientos homer
LOS ANGELES – Mark Vientos' hot October continued and he kept the Mets alive in Game 6 with a home run.
With Francisco Alvarez on base, Vientos hit a slider from Ryan Brasier 401 feet to center field for a two-run blast to make it 6-3. It was the fifth home run for Vientos this postseason.
Will Smith hits a two-run homer to make it 6-1
The Dodgers are hot.
Will Smith hit his team's second two-run home run of the inning, this one off Phil Matton with two outs, sending the Dodgers Stadium crowd into a frenzy and sending the Dodgers into the fourth with a 6–1 lead.
Tommy Edman stays hot, hits two-run home run: LA leads 4-1
LOS ANGELES – Tommy Edman is making a case for NLCS MVP.
He had already hit a two-run double in the first inning, and with Teoscar Hernandez in the third, he drove a Shawn Manaya fastball 406 feet to left-center field to make it a 4-1 game.
Edman now has 11 RBIs in the series, a Dodgers postseason record.
Manea would walk Max Muncie in the bottom at bat and that would be the end of his night.
Mets left the bases loaded, still down 2-1
LOS ANGELES – It's only been three innings but the Mets have stranded plenty of base runners.
New York was able to load the bases in the third inning with Jeff McNeill batting, but Anthony Banda allowed him to swing at a slider in the dirt to end the threat. So far, the Mets are 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position and seven left on base.
Tommy Edman's two-run double gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead
The Mets' lead didn't last long thanks to a two-run RBI from one of Los Angeles' hottest hitters in Tommy Edman.
Shohei Ohtani hit a single and Teoscar Hernandez missed a home run just two batters later, setting up Edman with runners on the corners. He fouled off three pitches from Sean Mania and, in the sixth, hit a liner into the left field corner, allowing both runners to score to make it 2-1.
Surprisingly, this is the first lead change in the series.
Mets score first inning error
LOS ANGELES — New York is on the board in the first inning, off Dodgers pitcher Michael Kopech.
After Francisco Lindor walked on four pitches, a wild pitch moved him to second and a groundout by Brandon Nimmo moved him to third. With two outs, Pete Alonso hit a flare into the infield and second baseman Chris Taylor couldn't get a proper throw to first, allowing Lindor to score and make it 1-0. Taylor was charged with an error on the play.
Dodgers vs. Mets game 6 times
Sunday is scheduled for first pitch 8:08 pm ET.
- Location: Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California
- Date: Sunday, October 20
- Time: 8:08 pm ET
Dodgers vs Mets Game 6 TV Channel
Today's Mets lineup: NLCS Game 6
- Francisco Lindor (S) SS
- Brandon Nimmo (L) LF
- Mark Vientos (R) 3B
- Pete Alonso (R) 1b
- Jesse Winker (L) DH
- Starling Marte (R) RF
- Tyrone Taylor (R) cf
- Jeff McNeil (L) 2b
- Francisco Alvarez (R) c
Dodgers lineup for NLCS Game 6
- Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
- Mookie Bates (R) RF
- Teoscar Hernandez (R) LF
- Tommy Edman (S) SS
- Max Muncie (L) 1b
- Enrique Hernandez (R) 3b
- Andy Page (R) cf
- Will Smith (R) c
- Chris Taylor (R) 2B
Michael Kopech started for the Dodgers
Ryan Brasier started the Dodgers' first two bullpen games of the postseason, but Dave Roberts is going to start Game 6 alongside Michael Kopech. Kopech has arguably been the Dodgers' best reliever since arriving from the White Sox at the trade deadline and could still give up a run in the 2024 postseason.
“I think we all felt that it was a part of a lineup that we liked Michael,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts explained before the game. “He's started the game before. And just feels like it's the best opportunity to score in the first innings and then move on.”
Freddie Freeman Injury: Dodgers 1B out of Game 6 lineup
“He felt at the end, we felt it was best for him to give him another day,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Sunayer pregame. “He's probably been delayed in batting but the defense – he took batting practice yesterday. Looked good. But didn't feel like himself. So we felt that maybe another day would help.”
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