The Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League West for eight straight years, coming up short of a World Series title in the first seven of those years.

Finally, in front of a partial capacity crowd at Globe Life field in Texas, they finally captured their first World Championship in 32 years. 

It was a long road for the Dodgers, who had a scare in the NLCS round when they came back from down 3-1 against the Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers had a tight matchup, with a team that had an opposite playing style, the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays defeated the Houston Astros in the ALCS in a 4-3 series after taking a 3-0 lead. 

The Dodgers posed a lineup of some of the best hitting starters of the last few years, but matched with a question mark at pitching. The Rays were quite the opposite, with left fielder Randy Arozarena and second baseman Brandon Lowe being the only nasty hitters in the Rays lineup. The pitching for Tampa Bay was dominant however, with ace Blake Snell and supporting starters Tyler Glasnow and Charlie Morton. 

The Dodgers definitively took Game 1 behind a two run homer from Bellinger and the first home run of Mookie Betts’ postseason to lead their way at a 8-3 victory. The Rays would flip the script in Game 2, jumping out to a 4-0 lead and later holding on for the 6-4 victory to knot up the series at one. Brandon Lowe’s three RBIs seemed to be the determining factor for the Rays.

The exact same happened for the Dodgers in Game 3, quickly picking up their 4-0 lead that would stay put into their 6-2 win. LA first baseman Max Muncy had a monster game, picking up his two RBIs to pair with third baseman Justin Turner’s two hits. After the Dodgers claimed their 2-1 series lead, all eyes were on the enormous Game 4.

The Dodgers stole the early lead in the game, with Turner blasting a solo home run in the opening inning to open the scoring. They kept the run going when future World Series MVP shortstop Corey Seager homered himself, extending the lead to 2-1. The home runs continued in the fourth when rookie sensation Randy Arozarena homered to cut the lead in half. In the top half of the fifth, Muncy would bring in Seager from second on a deep single, but Muncy would get thrown out at second, shifting the lead to 3-1 but ending the Dodgers’ hitting order.

The fourth home run of the game came in the bottom half of that inning, with Rays right fielder Hunter Renfroe blasting one into left field. This was followed up by an RBI double by Dodger second baseman Kiké Hernandez that made it a 4-2 game in the top of the sixth. In the bottom half, the bases would load up with Arozarena on second and first baseman Ji Man-Choi on first. As Lowe stepped up to the plate, he would crush a three run homer that put the Rays on top for the first time in the game, 5-4. Just after that in the top of the seventh, the Dodgers would pinch hit Joc Pederson for AJ Pollock. Pederson would score both Seager and Turner on a single, reclaiming a 6-5 lead for the Dodgers. 

In the bottom of the seventh, Rays center fielder Kevin Kiermaier tied it up with his own solo home run. This was followed by another Corey Seager RBI to make it a 7-6 Dodgers lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. In came Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, who despite being known as the Dodgers’ pure closing pitcher for the last few years, is also known for choking a few big playoff games, including Game 5 against the Astros in 2017. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Brett Phillips came in off the bench for the Rays with two runners in scoring position. With a single into shallow right field, Kiermaier scored the tying run, but then center fielder Chris Taylor bobbled the ball, relaying it in late to Muncy, who would throw it to catcher Will Smith as Arozarena stumbled to the ground after rounding third. With the ball in his glove, Smith dropped the throw, allowing Arozarena to score the series tying run with ease, and giving the Rays a huge 8-7 Game 4 victory.

Despite what seemed to be a major momentum shift for Tampa Bay, the Dodgers would end up winning Game 5 and Game 6 to clinch the series victory. Game 6 featured one of the most mind-numbing manager calls in MLB history, when Rays manager Kevin Cash pulled starter Blake Snell after allowing just two hits in six innings with a 1-0 lead. Immediately after this decision, the Dodgers took a game winning 2-1 lead that translated to a 3-1 series winning victory.

The Dodgers celebrated their first title since the days of Orel Hersheiser in 1988, and they helped bring home the second title to the city of Los Angeles in just a month, restoring Los Angeles to the city of champions it once was.