By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Los Angeles Dodgers mounted a comeback for the ages to beat the New York Yankees 7-6 in Game Five on Wednesday and win their first World Series since 2020.
The Dodgers trailed 5-0 in the fifth inning and were down a run in the eighth before a sacrifice fly from All-Star Mookie Betts capped the biggest comeback win in a clinching game in World Series history.
“I definitely didn’t plan it out this way,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “Certainly a lot of emotions from the way it started to certainly the way it finished. Certainly all the momentum was on the side of the Yankees.”
New York had hoped to become the first team to force a Game Six after trailing 0-3 in a World Series but fell flat in their first trip to the Fall Classic in 15 years.
The Dodgers found themselves on the back foot almost immediately as slugger Aaron Judge delivered a two-run homer in the first inning and third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. sent another one over the wall immediately after.
Alex Verdugo added an RBI and Giancarlo Stanton homered to give the hosts a 5-0 lead but the New York defense unraveled from there with an untended first base allowing Betts to bat in the Dodgers’ first run.
Yankee Stadium fell into a grim silence as Freddie Freeman’s single sent two of his team mates home and Teoscar Hernandez doubled to level the game, undermining a fine performance from Yankees ace Gerrit Cole.
Stanton’s sacrifice fly saw the Yankees retake the lead in the sixth inning but that was wiped out by second baseman Gavin Luxs’ sacrifice fly and an RBI from Betts in the eighth.
The showdown between two marquee franchises had been a boon for Major League Baseball, with Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani driving record TV ratings in his native Japan.
Ohtani, who this year became the first player to hit 50 homers and have 50 stolen bases in a single season, played despite suffering a shoulder injury in Game Two.
“We were able to get through the regular season, I think, because of the strength of this team, this organization,” he said.
It was also a chance for the Dodgers to exorcise some of their postseason demons. They had won 100 or more games in each of the three seasons following their 2020 World Series win but walked away empty handed each time.
Reaching the postseason for a 12th consecutive time, the path to the Commissioner’s Trophy did not seem so clear this time around either, despite having an MLB-best 98 wins and 64 losses this season.
Freeman struggled with a right ankle injury suffered late last month, their starting rotation was rocked by injuries, and Roberts was forced to go to a bullpen game in their disastrous 11-4 Game Four defeat.
“It wasn’t easy, but our guys fought and played every day the right way, played to win,” said Roberts.
“There was a lot of back filling on talent because of injury, a lot of young players cut their teeth, which is good. But one thing is that we just kept going. Even in the postseason, I don’t think anyone had us picked.
“I don’t think they had us picked to get out of the first series.”
Freeman became the only player to hit a home run in the first four games of a World Series, including a walk-off grand slam in Game One, and was named Most Valuable Player.
“It seems like we hit every speed bump possible over the course of this year,” he told reporters. “And to overcome what we did as a group of guys, it’s special.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery, additional reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles and Frank Pingue in Toronto; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
