The Los Angeles Dodgers pour out of the dugout to celebrate their World Series victory after relief pitcher Julio Urias (foreground) strikes out Willy Adames of the Tampa Bay Rays to give the Dodgers the 3-1 win at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, on Oct. 27, 2020.
Credit: © Tom Pennington, Getty Images

The Los Angeles Dodgers, one of the best teams in baseball over the past four years, finally have a championship to show for it. They defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 on October 27 to win the 2020 World Series in six games. It was the team’s first championship since 1988.

The Rays took an early 1-0 lead in Game 6 on a home run from rookie Randy Arozarena. Starting pitcher Blake Snell tied Dodger batters in knots for the first five innings. But after Snell yielded a sixth-inning single, Rays manager Kevin Cash opted to remove him in favor of the team’s formidable bullpen. The decision immediately backfired as reliever Nick Anderson allowed two runs to score. It was all the offense LA would need, as manager Dave Roberts mixed-and-matched seven different pitchers in a stifling performance. Game 6 featured a total of 27 strikeouts, the most ever in a 9-inning World Series game.

Both teams emerged from an abbreviated 60-game regular season with the best records in their respective leagues and survived a grueling playoff schedule featuring an additional round of games. The Dodgers had reached the World Series in two out of the previous three years, only to lose to the American League (AL) club. Their 2017 defeat was rendered especially bitter when a subsequent revealed that the Houston Astros, to whom the Dodgers lost, had been cheating. From 2016 to 2018 and possibly longer, Houston made use of a camera feed that was part of their home stadium’s instant replay system to view and decode opposing catcher’s hand signals. Pitch information was relayed to players in the dugout and to batters on the field. In some cases, players in the dugout cued batters to the upcoming pitch by banging on a trash can.

The 2020 Dodgers relied on contributions from many stars to take the championship. Shortstop Corey Seager was named series Most Valuable Player (MVP) with a .400 batting average and 2 home runs. Outfielder Mookie Betts, an offseason acquisition from the Boston Red Sox, delivered clutch base-running, catches, and home runs throughout the playoffs, including a homer in the eighth inning of Game 6 to pad LA’s lead. Ace starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw, much-maligned for poor performances during previous playoff runs, turned in several solid postseason outings.

The Dodgers’ celebration was marred by news of a positive COVID-19 test by third baseman Justin Turner. The veteran was removed from the game in the eighth inning after the team learned of the result. Major League Baseball (MLB) operated its postseason in a bubble like other North American sports, keeping players and team personnel confined in hotels near neutral-site ballparks. (The World Series was played entirely at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, normally home of MLB’s Texas Rangers.) Turner’s case was the first positive result during the postseason.

The Dodgers overcame a heartbreaking loss in Game 4 to win the series. The lead changed hands four times, all after the fifth inning. The game ended with the wildest play to ever occur during major-league playoff baseball. With the Rays down 7-6 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, backup outfielder Brett Phillips pinch-hit with runners on first and second. He laced a single into right-center field off Dodgers closer Kenley Jensen. Center fielder Chris Taylor bobbled the ball, allowing the tying run to waltz home. Trailing runner Randy Arozarena attempted to score as well, but he stumbled and fell while rounding third. The ball reached home in plenty of time, but catcher Will Smith, expecting a close play at the plate, spun to apply the tag too quickly. The ball clanked off his mitt and rolled into foul territory. Arozarena scrambled to his feet and stumbled home, securing a shocking 8-7 Rays victory.

The playoffs were a coming-out party for the Rays’ Arozarena. The Cuban outfielder was called up in late August and hit a robust .281/.382/.641 with 7 home runs in just 23 games. His postseason performance, however, was nothing short of historic. Over the course of 20 games, he mashed a spectacular .377/.442/.831 with a postseason-record 10 homers.

Arozarena was part of a low-cost Rays team featuring castoff veterans and young stars. Two of the Dodgers’ highest-paid players, Kershaw and Betts, together earned just $2 million less than the entire Rays roster. The small-market club was able to parlay its meager payroll into a ticket to baseball’s championship series through shrewd acquisitions, analytics, and management. The Rays will need to continue their shrewdness to stay ahead of their free-spending AL East rivals, the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, in 2021 and beyond.

The Dodgers, on the other hand, combine their comparable shrewdness with a massive payroll. Betts signed a lucrative contract extension before playing even a single game in LA. Several young starters are vying to take the veteran Kershaw’s place as ace of the pitching staff, though not if the old left-hander has anything to say about it. The reigning champions may be the team to beat for years to come.

January 30, 2019

On Jan. 31, 1919, 100 years ago tomorrow, American baseball star and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson was born in the southern Georgia town of Cairo. In 1947, Robinson became the first African American to play modern Major League Baseball (MLB). An immensely talented athlete—he hit, ran, and fielded his way to the Baseball Hall of Fame—Robinson is also remembered for his courage and demeanor in the face of brutal racism on and off the baseball field.

Jackie Robinson was born 100 years ago on Jan. 31, 1919. Credit: © MLB Photos/Getty Images

Tomorrow, the Jackie Robinson Centennial Celebration, a year-long tour organized by the Jackie Robinson Foundation, begins with a photograph exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York. Various other events will follow in cities across the country—including a speakers’ series, a jazz concert, and a traveling artifact exhibit. The tour ends in December with the grand opening of the new Jackie Robinson Museum in New York City. The Jackie Robinson Foundation provides scholarships and education programs for minority youths and oversaw the creation and funding of the museum.

Jackie Robinson, shown here sliding into home plate, was the first African American player in modern Major League Baseball. Credit: UPI/Corbis-Bettmann

Jack Roosevelt Robinson was born in Georgia, but his family took him to southern California when he was an infant. Robinson starred in football, basketball, baseball, and track in high school and at Pasadena Junior College. He transferred to the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1939. There, he earned varsity letters in the same four sports. In 1941, Robinson dropped out of UCLA to help support his mother by working at a youth camp. He also played minor league and semiprofessional football. (Jackie’s older brother, Mack, was also an excellent athlete: he was faster than all sprinters except teammate Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympic Games.)

From 1942 to 1944, during World War II, Robinson served in the United States Army. Robinson started his professional baseball career in 1945 with the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro American League. The league was made up entirely of blacks. At the time, baseball was racially segregated—that is, black players were not allowed to play in the major or minor leagues. In 1946, Robinson broke through baseball’s racial segregation barrier by playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers’ minor league team in Montreal, Quebec.

In 1947, Robinson joined the Dodgers to become the first African American in the big leagues since the 1880’s. Robinson’s impact on segregation in sports went far beyond the Dodgers. After baseball desegregated, other professional sports quickly followed, and a number of previously segregated hotels and restaurants began to admit blacks. Robinson was a six-time National League (NL) All-Star and the NL Most Valuable Player in 1949. He retired after the 1956 season.

In 1956, Robinson received the Spingarn Medal. The medal is an award given annually to an outstanding African American. Robinson was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. He died on Oct. 24, 1972.

In 1997, on the 50th anniversary of Robinson’s breaking the MLB color barrier, his uniform number, 42, was retired across the league. No single player now wears 42, but every April 15—the date of his first MLB game—every player wears 42 for Jackie Robinson Day. In 2013, the motion picture 42 detailed Robinson’s life story. Robinson played himself in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story.

November 2, 2018

On Sunday, October 28, the Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 to win the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series four games to one. For the Red Sox, it was their fourth MLB title in the last 15 years. For the Dodgers, it was the latest in a long succession of postseason disappointments. It was the second-straight World Series defeat for Los Angeles, and it was the team’s 12th fruitless trip to the postseason since last winning a title in 1988.

Red Sox players jubilantly rush the mound as catcher Christian Vázquez leaps into the arms of pitcher Chris Sale, who recorded the final out of Boston’s World Series-clinching 5-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Oct. 28, 2018, at Dodger Stadium. Credit: © Harry How, Getty Images

Carrying by far MLB’s highest team payroll (around $230 million), the Red Sox set a franchise record with 108 wins during the 2018 regular season. The team won the American League East division and then knocked off the 100-win New York Yankees and the 103-win Houston Astros in the playoffs—no easy accomplishment. The Dodgers, also big spenders with a $200 million payroll (the league average is $139 million), eked out the National League West by defeating the Colorado Rockies in a one-game playoff after the teams finished the season tied with 91 wins. The Dodgers then beat the Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers in the playoffs to reach the World Series.

In Boston, the Red Sox capitalized on clutch hitting and just enough pitching to win World Series games one and two. In Los Angeles, game three was a marathon 3-2 extra-inning win for the Dodgers that broke World Series records for most innings (18), longest duration (7 hours, 20 minutes), and most combined pitchers (18) and players (46) used. In an interesting note of contrast, the entire 1939 World Series finished in less time, when it took the Yankees 7 hours, 5 minutes, to sweep the Cincinnati Reds.

In game four of the 2018 World Series, the Dodgers blew a 4-0 lead en route to a crushing 9-6 loss. Game five was merely a formality as the Red Sox jumped ahead early and cruised to a 5-1 series-clinching win. Boston first baseman Steve Pearce, a journeyman player acquired at mid-season, was named World Series Most Valuable Player. Pearce had just four hits, but three of them were timely home runs.

The 2018 World Series was a rematch of the 1916 fall classic, in which the Red Sox beat the Brooklyn Robins four games to one. The Robins officially became the Dodgers in 1932 and moved to Los Angeles in 1958.

November 3, 2017

Two nights ago, on November 1, the Houston Astros defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 to win the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series 4 games to 3. The Astros jumped out to an early 5-0 lead and cruised the rest of the way behind strong pitching to win the team’s first title since joining MLB in 1962. The score disappointed the more than 54,000 people crammed into Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, where fans had been hoping for the home team’s first championship since 1988. The final game capped a thrilling World Series pitting 100-win teams against each other for the first time since 1970. The Dodgers, champions of the National League, had won 104 games during the regular season—an MLB-best mark that earned the team home field advantage throughout the playoffs. American League champion Houston won 101 regular season games.

The Houston Astros’ Alex Bregman, Marwin González, and José Altuve (left to right) celebrate their game seven victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers to win the World Series on Nov. 1, 2017, at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. Credit: © Ezra Shaw, Getty Images

The first six games of the World Series had been a back-and-forth affair of home runs, strikeouts, and blown leads. On October 24, Los Angeles took game one at home behind ace Clayton Kershaw, 3-1. The next night, Dodgers hitters got to Houston’s Justin Verlander, but the Astros rallied for a 7-6 win in 11 innings. On October 27 at Houston’s Minute Maid Park, the Astros grabbed an early lead and held on for a 5-3 victory. The next night, the Dodgers struck back with a 6-2 win. Game five on October 29 proved to be the epic battle of the series. Team aces Kershaw and Dallas Keuchel were knocked out early, and all other pitchers only added fuel to the fire. After numerous lead changes and shocking turns, the Astros emerged on top with a 13-12, 10-inning win. Game six back in Los Angeles went the Dodgers’ way, 3-1. In all seven games, the teams combined for a World Series-record 25 home runs, including 5 (another record) for Houston’s George Springer. The strikeouts came in bunches, too, led by Dodgers rookie Cody Bellinger, who whiffed a World Series-record 17 times.

The Astros, featuring such young stars as José Altuve, Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, and World Series Most Valuable Player Springer, finally reached the MLB pinnacle at the end of the team’s 56th season. Houston entered MLB in 1962 as the Houston Colt .45′s. The team became the Astros with the opening of the famous Astrodome indoor stadium in 1965. For the Dodgers, the string of postseason disappointments continued. The team’s playoff appearance in 2017 was its 11th since last winning the World Series over the Oakland Athletics in 1988.