Wave Wire Services
LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers won their first World Series championship since 1988 Oct. 27, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays, 3-1, to win the best-of-seven series four games to two.
Mookie Betts set up the tying run with a sixth-inning double, scored the go-ahead run and added an insurance run by homering on an 0-2 pitch from Pete Fairbanks leading off the bottom of the eighth at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Corey Seager was unanimously selected as the recipient of the Willie Mays World Series MVP Award. Seager reached base on 14 of his 26 plate appearances in the series for a .538 on-base percentage, had a .400 batting average with eight hits in 20 at-bats with two home runs and five RBI, including driving in the run that put the Dodgers ahead to stay in game six.
Seager was also the MVP of the National League Championship Series. He is the eighth player to be the MVP of both a league championship series and World Series.
The Dodgers were held to one hit — Chris Taylor’s single leading off the top of the third — through 5 1/3 innings, when Austin Barnes, the No. 9 hitter in the Dodgers’ lineup, singled off Blake Snell with one out in the sixth.
The hit prompted Tampa Bay manager Kevin Cash to replace Snell with Nick Anderson.
Betts, the first batter to face Anderson, hit a 2-0 fastball for a double, advancing Barnes to third. Barnes scored the tying run on Anderson’s wild pitch.
Seager, the next batter, hit a ground ball to Rays’ first baseman Ji-Man Choi. Betts broke for home and beat Choi’s throw to the plate for what proved to be the winning run.
Victor Gonzalez, the fifth of seven Dodger pitchers, was credited with the victory, retiring all four batters he faced, striking out three.
Julio Urias retired all seven batters he faced, striking out four, for the save.
Tampa Bay scored its run when Randy Arozarena, its second batter, homered off rookie right-hander Tony Gonsolin. The home run was Araozarea’s 10th of the postseason, extending his record.
Many individual and team postseason records were broken in 2020 because of the additional round caused the expansion of the playoffs to eight teams in each league, three more than last season.
Anderson was charged with the loss, allowing one hit and one run in one-third of an inning. Snell struck out nine and joined Roger Clemens as the only pitchers in World Series history to strike out at least nine batters while not permitting a walk or more than two hits.
Snell also joined Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax as the only left-handers in World Series history to strike out five or more batters in the first two innings of a World Series game.
Gonsolin pitched 1 2/3 innings, allowing one run and three hits, striking out four and walking two.
Dodger third baseman Justin Turner was removed from the game before the start of the eighth inning because of a positive coronavirus test, Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed.
“Thanks to everyone reaching out! I feel great, no symptoms at all,” Turner tweeted at 9:28 p.m.
“Just experienced every emotion you can possibly imagine. Can’t believe I couldn’t be out there to celebrate with my guys! So proud of this team & unbelievably happy for the City of LA. #WorldSeriesChamps.”
A photo of Turner without a mask joining his teammates for a team picture on the field after the game was posted on Twitter.
Ken Rosenthal, a reporter on Fox’s Major League Baseball telecasts, tweeted that a positive result from a coronavirus test Turner took Oct. 26 came back in the second inning.
Turner’s test from earlier in the day “was then expedited, and when it came back positive, he was removed from the game,” Rosenthal tweeted.
The Dodgers issued a statement Oct. 28, saying a celebration of the championship would not be held for awhile.
“This season was everything we believed it could be,” the statement said. “It was just missing one thing: The best fans in baseball. While the wait for a world championship is finally over, a celebration worthy of our great fans and the city of Los Angeles will unfortunately have to wait until it is safe to do so. We can’t wait to celebrate together!
