All of the negative comparisons to the 1990s Atlanta Braves and devaluing of a World Series title won during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season are no more. The Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champions in 2024. In many ways, this feels like long-awaited vindication for a team that has spent more than a decade dominating for 162 games, only for their season to end in disappointing fashion time and time again in October.
Detractors will still want to point to the free-spending nature of the Dodgers organization, but it was their ability to do all the little things right that pushed this team over the top in Game 5 against the New York Yankees. It certainly didn't look like the Dodgers would be popping champagne early Wednesday night when the Yankees built a 5-0 lead after three innings behind home runs from Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Giancarlo Stanton.
Then things got weird. Absolute Chaos in the Top of the 5th Inning While the Yankees offense was clicking, Gerrit Cole was also in complete control on the mound through four innings, keeping the high-powered Dodgers offense out of the hit column while needing just 49 pitches to record the first 12 outs of the game. Then came a fifth inning for the ages.
Here's the full play-by-play of an inning Yankees fans will be thinking about all offseason: With that, a 5-0 lead evaporated into a 5-5 tie, and Cole went from looking unhittable to laboring through a 38-pitch inning filled with high-stress pitches. It was the perfe.