Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani holds the World Series championship trophy after his team's Game 5 victory over the New York Yankees on October 30 at Yankee Stadium. (©Ashley Landis/AP)
Read the full story on SportsLook - Dodgers Overcome a 5-0 Defecit in Game 5 and Win the World Series.
The Los Angeles Dodgers erased a five-run deficit in the fifth inning and rallied past the New York Yankees in the eighth inning in Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday night, October 30.
As a result, the Dodgers defeated the Yankees 7-6 to capture the franchise's eighth MLB title ― their second under manager Dave Roberts, who was born in Okinawa.
And it's their first World Series crown with Japanese superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the team. They signed 10- and 12-year blockbuster contracts in the offseason.
The Dodgers overcame two deficits at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday and put themselves in position to win the game if their bullpen didn't blow the lead.
With the Yankees down to their final three outs and the Dodgers clinging to a one-run lead, longtime skipper Roberts, who has guided the team since 2016, summoned Walker Buehler from the bullpen.
The hard-throwing right-hander was the Game 3 starter (five innings of two-hit, no-run ball) and hadn't made a relief appearance since 2018. He embraced the challenge with the game ― and the team's championship aspirations ― on the line.
Buehler was LA's eighth pitcher of the night.
Preserving the Lead in the 9th
As the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the ninth, shortstop Anthony Volpe, who bashed a grand slam in New York's Game 4 win, stepped into the batter's box representing the tying run in this high-pressure duel.
Buehler won the battle, coaxing Volpe to hit a groundout to third. Max Muncy fielded the ball and fired it to first baseman Freddie Freeman.
The next two Yankees batters, Austin Wells and Alex Verdugo, both struck out on knuckle curves.
Wells ran the count to 3-2 before he fanned.
Verdugo got ahead in the count (1-0) before Buehler, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, seized control. The left fielder swung and missed on three straight pitches: a cut fastball and back–to-back deceptive breaking balls. Buehler got the save, the Dodgers nabbed the title, and he raised both arms in triumphant celebration after the third out.
Then Buehler hugged catcher Will Smith. Dodgers teammates raced out of the dugout to join the title-winning celebration on the field.
Moments later, Roberts while speaking on ESPN Radio, described the scene as "pure elation."
"That was awesome, that was as cool a baseball experience as I'll ever have probably," Buehler said in a postgame interview on ESPN Radio. "I'm just thankful, man. That was an unbelievable game."
World Series Euphoria for Ohtani and Teammates
Speaking to reporters after Game 5, an emotional rollercoaster for both teams, Ohtani summed up his views on the experience.
"I'm honored to be able to be part of a season where we played the longest, and to be able to get to know this team," Ohtani said in the postgame news conference. "My first year and experience winning a World Series has been a tremendous honor."
Reflecting on the entire season, including his former interpreter Ippei Mizuhara's gambling scandal in the spring, Ohtani added, "We were able to get through the regular season, I think, because of the strength of this team, this organization. And the success of the postseason is very similar to how we were able to pull it off during the regular season."
Ohtani played the final three games of the Fall Classic after sustaining a partial dislocation of his left shoulder (subluxation) in Game 2 on an unsuccessful stolen base attempt in the seventh inning.
"His swing is still fluid even though he's not on time," ESPN Radio analyst Eduardo Perez said during the game.
Batting leadoff, Ohtani went 0-for-4, including a strikeout, on Wednesday. Ohtani finished the World Series with a .105 batting average (2-for-19).
For Ohtani, a look of pure joy appeared on his face after the Dodgers clinched the title. Moments earlier he was clapping in the dugout as Buehler pitched against Verdugo and the Yankees were down to their final out.
Big Start for the Yankees
Facing Dodgers starter Jack Flaherty, the Yankees quickly took a 3-0 lead in the first inning with back-to-back homers by Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr.
Judge led MLB with 58 home runs in 2024, four more than National League leader Ohtani. On the first pitch of his first at-bat in Game 5, his round-tripper to right, a two-run shot that scored Juan Soto for the first run of the game, was his first homer of the World Series.
Chisholm then sent a 2-1 fastball over the right-center field fence to make it 3-0.
Verdugo extended the lead to 4-0 on an RBI single in the second inning.
Flaherty, a 13-game winner in the regular season, was taken out of the game with one out in the second. He allowed four runs and four hits in his 1⅓ innings.
In the third inning, the Yankees pulled ahead 5-0 on a Giancarlo Stanton solo shot to right. It was his seventh homer of this postseason.
Continue reading the full story on SportsLook.
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Author: Ed Odeven
Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.
