Dodgers triumph in pandemic-altered season

The Los Angeles Dodgers have made the Major League Baseball playoffs for eight consecutive years, but those appearances only resulted in two heartbreaking World Series defeats. On Tuesday night, they finally broke through. The Dodgers won their first title in more than 30 years to cap off a coronavirus-shortened season with a 3-1 Game 6 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays in Arlington, Texas.

How did the Dodgers get here? Rays ace pitcher Blake Snell dealt nine strikeouts and allowed no runs through five innings. But after manager Kevin Cash pulled him in the bottom of the sixth, the Dodgers immediately scored twice in a row to take a lead they would not relinquish. Superstar outfielder Mookie Betts, brought over from the Boston Red Sox in the offseason, scored two runs, including a solo homer in the eighth inning. Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager won the series MVP award. Because of coronavirus, the World Series games all took place at Globe Life Field in Arlington with just 11,500 fans in a stadium that holds 40,000. Los Angeles third baseman Justin Turner had to leave the game in the seventh inning because his latest COVID-19 test result came back positive. Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said Turner was already in close contact with his team and said they will all undergo another round of tests before leaving Texas.

Dig deeper: From the WORLD archives, read Sharon Dierberger and Lynde Langdon’s account of the road to the 2020 MLB season.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report since its initial posting.