Los Angeles, CA – October 20: Mookie Betts #50 of the Los Angeles Dodgers flips his glove as the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate after defeating the New York Mets 10-5 to win game 6 of a National League Championship Series at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday, October 20, 2024. Dodges will face the New York Yankees in the World Series. (Photo by Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
The last time this happened, not a single player on the Dodgers roster was alive. Manager Dave Roberts was just nine years old. But when you put on the uniform of the Los Angeles Dodgers, history follows you, it’s inescapable.
Now, history is upon them. For the 12th time it will be the Dodgers versus the New York Yankees in the World Series.
The Dodgers journey to baseball’s dream destination was unconventional and fraught with obstacles. They needed three bullpen games and every single player on the 26-man roster to get here.
One of those players was utility man Tommy Edman.
Edman hit a home run and knocked in four runs as the Dodgers defeated the New York Mets 10-5 in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series to clinch their 22nd pennant in franchise history.
"This is what you always dream about as a little kid," said Edman, who was named the MVP of the series. "I get to play in the World Series, and I get to play in it for the Dodgers against the Yankees. It's pretty surreal."
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The celebration in the Dodgers’ clubhouse after punching their ticket to the 2024 World Series was one of relief and exultation. In a vacuum, they could have cared less about who they play next, they were ecstatic to get past the “OMG” Mets and back to their first Fall Classic since 2020.
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"We're going to celebrate tonight, as we should," said Dodgers' manager Dave Roberts after the game. "But after that, I think the whole world was looking forward to this potential matchup between the Yankees and the Dodgers, this showdown."
For Edman, the winner of the NLCS MVP, after finishing 2-for4 with a double, home run, and four RBI in the game, it will be his first time playing in the World Series.
"I kept getting up with guys on base and had a lot of opportunities to drive runs in," said Edman of his record-tying 11 RBI during the series. "Playing in the World Series is a dream come true."
For two-time MVP Shohei Ohtani, it’s his first World Series after languishing a few miles up the freeway in Anaheim for the last six seasons.
"I feel like I've finally arrived at this stage," said Ohtani through an interpreter. "The goal was to get this far. I pictured myself getting this far. So just to be able to play on this stage with this team, I'm just so glad to be here."
For Teoscar Hernandez, who had the biggest smile than anyone in the postgame clubhouse, it punctuates a risky decision in the offseason to sign with the Dodgers, validating that choice as he will also play in his first World Series.
"It paid off," Hernández said of his decision to sign with the Dodgers. "I'm the kind of guy who like to take risk, and this was definitely a risk, but I made the decision based off of which team gave me the best chance to win, and now I'm playing in the World Series. This is a dream come true."
Sunday’s Game 6 nerve-racking victory came from all angles and involved almost all the players on the Dodgers roster.
Edman, who can play centerfield, shortstop, and second base knocked in the first two runs of the game with a two-out, two-run double down the left field line in the bottom of the first inning.
Tommy Edman gives the @Dodgers the lead!
— MLB (@MLB) October 21, 2024
He's driven in NINE runs this series 😤 #NLCS pic.twitter.com/Q4qy8kM4dT
Edman, who may have been the biggest acquisition for the Dodgers during a flurry of trade deadline moves that also featured Game 1 winner Jack Flaherty and Game 6 opener Michael Kopech, extended the lead with a two-run homer in the bottom of the third inning.
TOMMY EDMAN!
— MLB (@MLB) October 21, 2024
HE'S DRIVEN IN ALL FOUR @DODGERS RUNS TONIGHT! #NLCS pic.twitter.com/qlZSadVZMU
"I never imagined once we acquired him, that he'd be hitting fourth in a postseason game," said Roberts of his cleanup hitter in Game 6. "But I trust him. The guys on the team trust him. He's made huge defensive plays for us and had huge hits. We are just very fortunate to have a player like Tommy."
Will Smith followed with a two-run homer that put the Dodgers ahead 6-1, and sent the 52,674 blue towel waving fans into a frenzy. That was the moment they collectively began counting outs.
WILL SMITH!
— MLB (@MLB) October 21, 2024
IT'S BEEN ALL @DODGERS IN THIS ONE! #NLCS pic.twitter.com/uZxgOEvLnO
The Dodgers deployed the full arsenal of their bullpen by rolling out seven different relievers to cobble together 27 outs.
Ben Casparius, who started the season in Double-A, was the only reliever to throw more than one inning of scoreless relief.
Ironically, it was veteran reliever Blake Treinen, that recorded the final six outs to send the Dodgers to the World Series. Treinen, who played a major role in relief during the 2020 title run, was not able to participate in the postseason the last three. Finally healthy, and back to full strength, he put the Boys in Blue on his back when they needed him most.
"I've been through a lot," said Treinen reflecting on his own journey since winning the World Series inside the Bubble in 2020. "I've done a lot of digging on who I was as a person, and who God created me to be. To be back here, and to have the opportunity to just play at this level, there's just so much to be grateful for."
The Mets left 13 more men on base in a series full of missed opportunities. On Sunday, they stranded the bases loaded not once, but twice during the game. All six games of the series were decided by four runs or more, the only time that's happened in history.
Evan Phillips escapes the bases-loaded jam! #NLCS pic.twitter.com/kenovjjogF
— MLB (@MLB) October 21, 2024
Now it’s time for a different team from New York to take center stage and try their hand at beating the Dodgers, the team that finished with the best record in baseball during the regular season.
Cue the highlights from the previous 11 times the Dodgers and Yankees met in the World Series. Names like Pee Wee Reese, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Roy Campanella, Mickey Mantle, Whitey Ford, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, and Reggie Jackson, will now be joined by Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Mookie Betts, Giancarlo Stanton, Juan Soto, Freddie Freeman, Gerrit Cole, and Walker Buehler in the rivalry’s lore.
Surely the Dodgers will bring members of the 1981 championship team that defeated the Yankees in six games the last time the two teams faced off. Because for legends like Dusty Baker, Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Fernando Valenzuela, Ron Cey, Pedro Guerrero, Rick Monday, Bill Russell, Steve Yeager, Mike Scioscia, Dave Stewart, Bob Welch and the rest of the heroes of that squad, a Dodgers-Yankees World Series means everything.
But for a city that hasn’t seen their team clinch a berth in the World Series at Dodger Stadium since 1988, and didn’t get to celebrate with a parade in 2020, Sunday’s victory means so much.
It means the Dodgers are back in the World Series, against the hated New York Yankees of all teams. It means a Fall Classic for the ages and the stuff of storytelling dreams. It means the ghosts of Dodgers and Yankees pasts will finally have company when the history books are read centuries from now.
Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled for Friday night at Dodger Stadium.
