In Rob Manfred’s desired battle of the coasts for the 2024 World Series, Shohei Ohtani’s Dodgers clashed against Aaron Judge and the Yankees. The series was a best-of-seven series starting on Friday, October 25 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
Game 1 was set up to be a pitcher’s duel with aces starting for both teams: Jack Flaherty for the Dodgers and Gerrit Cole for the Yankees. After just one run for the Dodgers in five innings, Giancarlo Stanton continued his red-hot postseason with a go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth inning off Flaherty. The Dodgers scratched out a run in the bottom of the eighth on a Mookie Betts sacrifice fly, forcing the game to extras.
After retiring Judge to end the Yankees’ ninth, Blake Treinen returned but couldn’t settle in. He allowed a hit to Jazz Chisholm Jr. then walked Anthony Rizzo, and Anthony Volpe scored Chisholm Jr. on a fielder’s choice to give the Yankees a lead. The Dodgers would not go down without a fight. With Jake Cousins in for the Yankees to close, the Dodgers loaded the bases with two outs and Freddie Freeman at the plate. Manager Aaron Boone called on Nestor Cortes Jr. to shut the doors in his first outing since September 18. Freeman didn’t let that happen, as he hit the first pitch he saw 409 feet into the right field seats for a walk-off grand slam. The Dodgers took a series lead with the 6-3 victory as Treinen secured a win and Cousins took the loss.
Freddie Freeman admires his walk-off grand slam of Nestor Cortes. (Source: AP)
In Game 2, rookie starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto took advantage of the Dodgers’ momentum from Game 1 and allowed nothing but a Juan Soto home run and a couple of walks over 6 ⅓ innings, striking out four. Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernandez and Freeman homered for the Dodgers as they took a 4-1 lead to the ninth inning.
Treinen entered in relief once again and struggled immediately, allowing a lead-off single to the right field wall from Soto. He struck out Judge but then allowed hits to Stanton and Chisholm Jr. and hit Rizzo with a pitch. With two outs and the bases loaded with a two run lead, Long-time Dodgers manager Dave Roberts turned to southpaw Alex Vesia to face Yankees lefty catcher Austin Wells. Fellow catcher Jose Trevino pinch-hit and hit the first pitch he saw to deep left-center field. The ball hung up for Edman as the Dodgers won 4-2 to take a 2-0 series lead. Yamamoto’s dominant outing earned him a win, Carlos Rodón gave up four earned runs over 3 ⅓ innings for the loss and Vesia threw one pitch to record the save.
Back in the Bronx for Game 3, Clarke Schmidt and the Yankees dueled the Dodgers with Walker Buehler starting. Another two-run home run from a hobbled Freeman in the first inning put the Dodgers up and they never lost the lead. RBI hits from Betts and Kike Hernandez added to their lead as the Dodgers put up four runs against the Yankees. Buehler threw five scoreless innings before handing the ball to his bullpen, which was scoreless other than an Alex Verdugo two-run homer in the ninth. Buehler got the win and Schmidt the loss, as the Dodgers won 4-2 to put the Yankees on the brink of being swept.
Freddie Freeman hit his third home run in as many games of the series, giving him homers in his last five World Series games. (Source: AP)
Facing Yankees Rookie of the Year candidate Luis Gil in the first inning, Freeman homered for his fourth straight game to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead. Roberts opted for a bullpen game in Game 4, started by rookie Ben Casparius. Casparius allowed one earned run over two innings of work before handing the ball to Daniel Hudson. The Yankees rallied against Hudson with a third inning grand slam from Volpe, giving them a 5-2 lead. Despite a couple more runs against Gil in the fifth inning, the Yankees pulled away with late homers from Wells and Gleyber Torres and won Game 4 11-4, forcing a fifth game. Reliever Clay Holmes retired all four Dodgers he faced for his third win of the postseason and Hudson gave up four runs in his inning for his first loss of the postseason.
Anthony Volpe’s first career postseason homer was a grand slam, giving New York a Game 4 win. (Source: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images)
Back to the aces for Game 5, Cole faced off against Flaherty in a rematch of Game 1. The Yankees took a first inning 3-0 lead with back-to-back home runs from Judge and Chisholm Jr. For four innings, Cole was unhittable, with the only baserunners allowed being on walks. In the fifth, though, Kike Hernandez led off against Cole with the Dodgers’ first hit of the day. Edman and Will Smith followed by reaching on errors by Judge and Volpe, respectively. Cole struck out Gavin Lux then Ohtani, but a 49.8 MPH ground ball to first from Betts led to the Dodgers first run, as Cole forgot to cover first. Freeman and Teoscar Hernandez followed, each with two-run hits to tie the game at five. All five runs in the inning were unearned.
The game remained tied until Stanton continued his red-hot postseason with a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the sixth facing reliever Brusdar Graterol. Just six outs away from forcing a trip back to California, Tommy Kahnle entered to shut the Dodgers down. He faced three batters, each of whom reached, and Boone was forced to turn to closer Luke Weaver for the third day in a row. He allowed sacrifice flies from Lux and Betts to give the Dodgers a 7-6 lead. The Dodgers got scoreless innings from Treinen and Buehler to finish the game and the series, as they beat the Yankees in the 2024 World Series 4-1. Treinen retired seven Yankees on 42 pitches for the win, Kahnle’s brief eighth inning appearance gave him the loss and Buehler recorded his first career save to send the Yankees home once again. This was the Dodgers’ eighth World Series win, their first since 2020.
Walker Buehler’s first career save gave the Dodgers their eighth World Series title. (Source: Getty Images)
Series Most Valuable Player
Freddie Freeman. Freeman had one of the most memorable World Series ever. Playing through a severely sprained ankle, he started every game and batted .300, recording six hits in twenty at-bats. He homered in all but one game and drove in twelve runs with an OPS of 1.364.
Least Valuable Player
Gleyber Torres. Despite all the criticism of the Yankees being on Aaron Judge, Gleyber Torres played a far worse series and was the key to the Yankees’ failure. After very strong series against the Royals and the Guardians, Torres led off each game against the Dodgers and still left ten runners on base. He went 3-21, a .143 batting average, with just three RBIs and a .583 OPS.
