Dodgers win and beat Yankees in five games

The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the 2024 World Series with a 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees in the Bronx on Wednesday, capping an impressive performance between baseball's two biggest, star-studded teams.

The 4-games-to-1 win in the best-of-seven series is the Dodgers franchise's eighth World Series title, second in five years and first since the pandemic-affected 2020 season. Previously had The Dodgers have not won Major League Baseball's Fall Classic since 1988 and before that in 1981, when they defeated the Yankees.

The Dodgers did it in dramatic fashion tonight, coming back from a 5-0 deficit after three innings against a Yankees team whose hitters finally woke up and chased Dodgers starter Jack Doherty. The Dodgers tied the game in the fifth with the help of three errors by the Yankees, then fell behind again, 6-5, before a two-run eighth inning got the job done and starter Walker Buehler closed the door on the Yankees with the save in the ninth. New York was trying to win its 28th World Series.

Los Angeles won the series with contributions beyond its star trio of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, all previous MVP winners (Ohtani is a contender for the NL MVP award this year after hitting 54 home runs and stole 59 bases – becoming the first 50-50 baseball player). Utility players like Tommy Edman, a trade deadline pick-up, and Kiké Hernandez provided key hits throughout the postseason, while a ragtag pitching staff that lacked starters Clayton Kershaw or Tyler Glasnow kept the Yankees' bats, which included the AL's MVP. But Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton are mostly at range, especially with runners in scoring position.

Freeman, who like Ohtani was battling an injury, earned World Series MVP honors by driving in two runs for the Dodgers tonight, giving him a World Series record 12 RBIs. He didn't hit a home run on Wednesday, but this year he became the first player in history to hit a home run in six consecutive World Series games since his time with the Atlanta Braves. His walk-off grand slam in Game 1 of that World Series appeared to discourage the Yankees for the next two games, a hole that proved too deep to climb out of.

The Yankees had avoided their first World Series victory in 12 years with a must-win in Game 4 on Tuesday, when their bats were used against the Dodgers' all-reliever rotation and won 11-4. These Dodger bullpen games had previously been successful in the playoffs against the San Diego Padres and then the New York Mets.

Judge singled in Game 4 and then hit a home run tonight as part of a three-run first inning, his first in a postseason in which he went 8-of-46 with 20 strikeouts.

A five-game World Series will certainly be a disappointment for Fox, as the company saw ratings increases in the country's largest media markets for the series featuring two of MLB's most storied franchises and was hoping for a tantalizing Game 7. The World Series through the first four games averaged 14.9 million viewers on Fox, Fox Deportes and Fox Sports streaming, the best numbers since 2017. Game 4, which the Yankees had to win, drew a series high of 16.7 million viewers.