The Los Angeles Dodgers have clinched the fall classic, beating the New York Yankees 7-6 in Game 5 to win Major League Baseball’s 2024 World Series.
The victory notched from a five-run deficit earlier in the game at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night marks the eighth World Series win in Dodgers’ franchise history. The contest this time around was made for high TV ratings, marking only the fifth time in more than a half-century that the Dodgers and Yankees have faced off for the world championship since the Dodgers relocated to from Brooklyn to the West Coast in 1958.
The first four games of the Series have averaged 14.9 million viewers across multiple linear and streaming platforms. Game 4 on Tuesday night averaged 16.2 million, according to Fox Sports.
Fireworks erupted across Los Angeles in celebration of the home town team’s triumph on the other side of the country. The 2024 Dodgers proved to be a team full of fan favorites, from slugger Freddie Freeman (who logged no less than four home runs and 12 RBIs during the Series) to the team’s superstar recruit Shohei Ohtani to Mookie Betts and pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Jack Flaherty, Walker Buehler and Game 5 winner Blake Treinen.
“It was tense every game until the very last out,” said Stan Kasten, Dodgers president and CEO, as he was handed the Commissioner’s Trophy by MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. “I know why they call it the World Series because this is the best feeling in the world.”
Freeman was unsurprisingly named the MVP of the World Series. The Dodgers star faced personal adversity off the field early on in the season after his baby son was diagnosed with the neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome. Meanwhile, Ohtani proved a huge force in his first year with the Dodgers. He made worldwide headlines in September after becoming the first player in modern baseball history to score a 50-50 — 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases. (Ohtani closed out the season with 59 stolen bases and 54 home runs, per ESPN stats.)
“I couldn’t ask for a better year. Holy cow,” Freeman said after being named MVP in the award presentation ceremony. When asked about his explosive performance during the post season and particularly during the Series, Freeman gave an aw-shucks response: “I’m glad I got hot at the right time.”
Dodger manager Dave Roberts shouted “this trophy belongs to everybody.” The team’s last world championship came in 2020 over the Tampa Bay Rays, but the celebration was muted as it came during the depth of the COVID pandemic.
“A lot of people counted us out,” Roberts said. “Every single one of these guys — they kept fighting.”
The team is sure to enjoy a string of parades and honors to make up for it after vanquishing its East Coast archrivals — starting Friday with a parade in downtown Los Angeles followed by an ticketed event at Dodger Stadium, per KNX News.
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