Dodgers win first World Series title in 32 years

The Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball (MLB) held the World Series trophy for the first time in 32 years. The Dodgers won 3-1 against the Tampa Bay Rays in World Series Game 6 held at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on Thursday. This was their seventh World Series win.

The Dodgers were held up by Blake Snell, the starting pitcher of the Rays, in the early stage of the game. The score remained 0-1 for a while. However, an early change of pitchers by the Rays became the moment to decide the two teams’ opposing results. As soon as the Rays’ manager Kevin Cash replace Snell who only allowed two hits until the bottom of the sixth, the Dodgers scored two runs and turned around the game. Mookie Betts’ hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to secure the team’s win. The winner of this year’s World Series MVP was shortstop of the Dodgers Corey Seager who recorded two homers and five runs with .400 AVG in the last six games. Seager who won unanimous votes became the eighth player to earn MVP honors in the National League Championship Series and World Series in the same year.

The Dodger, a leading team of the West Division, had lost several opportunities to win the World Series for a long time. The Dodgers based in Los Angeles spent as much money as the “Evil Empire” New York Yankees to recruit good players. From the 2014 season to 2017 season, the Los Angeles-based team paid the largest amount of salaries to players, surpassing the Yankees. The Dodgers, which have maintained the No. 1 position in the National League West Division since the 2014 season, competed at the World Series for two consecutive years in 2017 and 2018 but was defeated by the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox, respectively.


Bae-Jung Kim wanted@donga.com