Dodgers return to World Series, where favored Red Sox await
MILWAUKEE – It has stared at them for a year now, dancing beyond their reach, swaggering around their pain, teasing, taunting, challenging.
On a cold Saturday night at Miller Park, a blue-hot baseball team finally confronted their demon, stuck their chin in its face, and challenged it to another fight.
Welcome back, Dodgers, to the World Series.
Welcome back to your dream. Welcome back to your nightmare.
This time, one more win, OK? After spending six months investing all their energy in returning to the spot that left them so empty, the Dodgers were rewarded with a second consecutive World Series berth after a 5-1 comeback victory over the Milwaukee Brewers in the deciding Game 7 of the National League Championship Series.
They will play the favored American League champion Boston Red Sox beginning Tuesday in Boston, a tough task, but the Dodgers will revel in it. After losing last year’s World Series to the Houston Astros in Game 7, they spent all season in search of redemption, and they finally earned that chance on a night of rich history and dazzling beauty.
And, oh yeah, also a night of poetic symmetry, as the final score exactly matched the score of last year’s lost World Series Game 7.
“It’s a magical thing,” said co-owner Peter Guber, standing amid the spraying champagne of the Dodgers’ fourth such party in three weeks.
It ended with Clayton Kershaw fittingly on the mound, the ace pitching the ninth inning in relief, his giant figure smothered by hugging and leaping Dodgers who clearly can’t wait to begin the final leg of their journey.
“There was a message in last year’s Game 7, we learned from that as a team, and everybody thought about this moment, getting back to the World Series,” said Chris Taylor.
The franchise’s first consecutive World Series appearances in 40 years was a milestone that crossed time zones. Back in Los Angeles, in the middle of LeBron James’s Staples Center debut, the video board broadcast the final out to a roaring crowd and Randy Newman singing, “I Love LA.’”
In the joyous Miller Park visiting clubhouse, any singing would have been drowned out by the spraying and screaming and thinking about the next step.
“We play to win,” said chairman Mark Walter, soaking wet like everyone else.
This was the 30th anniversary of the day the Dodgers clinched their last World Series championship, a reminder of the drought that shadows their every move. Yet was a victory filled with the kind of memories that could allow this bunch to write a new history.
They won with an audacious two-strike bunt single by the constantly booed Manny Machado that led to a two-run homer by Cody Bellinger in the second inning.
“It was unbelievable how he actually got the bunt down, and to think about getting the bunt down,” said Bellinger.
They won with a stunning, lunging, over-the-shoulder catch by Taylor in deep right field to keep the tying run from scoring in the fifth inning.
“It was a big moment,” said Taylor. “I’m just glad I made the play.”
They won with rookie starter Walker Buehler rising up to equal the biggest moment of his young career with one allowed run in 42/3 innings, and kid Julio Urias coming out of nowhere to record the biggest out of his career.
And, of course, this emotionally swinging team couldn’t have done it without Yasiel Puig putting on a nutty show with a game-clinching threerun homer in the sixth inning featuring an accompanying trot filled with a veritable Swiss Army knife of gestures.
He did a crotch chop. He did a throat slash. He did a chest thump. He raised the roof. He danced in the dirt.
It was all in good fun, but there is much more fun to be had, if they can navigate the difficulties awaiting them next week at Fenway Park.
“Great for baseball, two storied franchises going head to head,” said Dodger manager Dave Roberts. “It’s going to be a great series.”
The Red Sox had the best record in baseball this season with 108 wins, 16 more than the Dodgers. The Red Sox breezed through their postseason, winning seven of nine games. The Red Sox will be favored in this series by anybody who has seen them play.
Any of that sound familiar? They sound just like the Dodgers in last season’s World Series against the Houston Astros, no?
So anything can happen, something which the Dodgers proved in this NLCS, a thrill ride featuring memorable highs and striking lows.
“This is definitely a more battle-tested group, last year we kind of cruised through the season and the first two rounds of the playoffs, this year has definitely been more of a grind getting to this point,” said General Manager Farhan Zaidi.