2020 World Series

Los Angeles can’t seem to get enough trophies. Nine days after the Lakers brought home their hardware from the bubble, they passed the baton off to the Dodgers, to see if they could do the same.

The Dodgers brought back huge names like Clayton Kershaw, Corey Seager, Cody Bellinger, and Joc Pederson. But more importantly, they scored the best right fielder in the game, Mookie Betts. Betts signed a 12-year contract with the Dodgers leaving the Red Sox to essentially crumble. (For the Red-Sox fans… Are y’all okay? Do y’all want or need to talk?) The Dodgers had the best regular-season record this year, entering the post-season with a 43-17 record.

During the post-season, the stars aligned, and L.A. would have to take on the team with the second-best record during the regular season, The Tampa Bay Rays. Tampa doesn’t carry high profile players the way that L.A. does, but in every great story there is an underdog, and Tampa proudly wore the name. The series was phenomenal, and I could sit here and throw so many stats at you, but I’m not. Because in all honesty that can be confusing and boring. So, instead of that, I want to talk about things that happened during this 6-game series that left people unequivocally speechless.

First and foremost, we have to discuss the Dodgers pitching line-up, because I’ve never seen anything like it. In the 2020 season, L.A. had the best ERA in the MLB of 3.11. For those who do not know what an ERA is, an “Earned Run Average” represents the number of earned runs a pitcher allows in nine innings. The smaller the ERA is, the better the pitching performance. The best pitchers in the league normally have an ERA of 2.00-3.00. An average ERA is between 4.00 and 5.00. Looking strictly at the World Series, five of the eleven Dodgers pitchers, had average or above-average ERA’s. These 5 pitchers include pouty faced legend Joe Kelly (ERA of 4.5), Julio Urías (ERA of 2.57), Victor González (ERA of 2.45), former MVP and future hall-of-famer Clayton Kershaw (ERA of 2.31), and William Buehler (ERA of 1.5). While both L.A. and Tampa Bay had around sixty strikeouts each, the Dodgers pitchers only walked thirteen times in the series, whereas Tampa Bay walked twenty-five. Urías, Buehler, and Kershaw all had double-digit strikeouts. Even with this insane pitching line-up, Tampa Bay was able to make some insatiable plays.

Tampa Bay’s first baseman Ji-Man Choi, who is originally from South Korea made history in Game 2. At the top of the seventh inning, Choi was a pinch-hit for Mike Brosseau. In a 2-2 pitch, Choi hit a line drive becoming the first Korean-born MLB player to make a hit in the World Series. Choi would become batting leadoff in Game 6. We cannot talk about insatiable plays made by Tampa Bay without talking about Tampa’s Game 4 walk-off.

Going into Game 4, The Dodgers were winning the series 2-1. With just one strike to give out, the Dodgers were ready to go home with a 3-1 series lead. Brett Phillips came up to bat; this would be his first at-bat since September 25th. The pressure was on for both teams. L.A. was up 7-6 and Jansen had thrown one ball and two strikes to Phillips. With the pressure creeping down Phillips back, he hit a pop-fly into center field, where Dodgers center fielder, Chris Taylor, skipped the ball. Rays Kevin Kiermaier ran in and tied up the game on the error. Taylor recovers the ball and sends it downfield towards the catcher. Randy Arozarena, left fielder for Tampa Bay, comes around third to run home, but bows out due to Taylors throw downfield. Jansen received the ball and throws a rocket to Smith in a hurry-up play. Smith was unable to make the catch, losing sight of the ball. In Smith’s time of losing the ball, Arozarena turns back toward home plate and scores making it a tied series at 2-2. This play will go down in history as one of the best and most mind-boggling walk-offs in not only World Series history but in baseball history.

In Game 6, Tampa Bay was up 1-0 and Snell’s arm was on fire. In the first five innings, Snell had 73 pitches, nine strikeouts with only two hits. Because of his two hits, the coaching staff decided to pull Snell out at the bottom of the 6th inning, leaving Snell and Rays fans in disbelief. After Snell left the field, L.A. made two runs by Barnes and Betts. Betts was seen again in the 8th inning, making a 434-foot homer through center. The Dodgers ended the night with a win and ended their World Series drought of 32 years. Clayton Kershaw, who has the second-most postseason strikeouts (201), finally got the win he deserved. Cody Seager was awarded the MVP award for his outstanding performance at both shortstop and bat. During pictures, Justin Turner returned to the field after being excused from the game in the 7th inning. It was confirmed during the game that Turner had tested positive for COVID-19. When he returned to the field, he was in a mask, but quickly took it off for pictures and was not social distancing.

Justin Tuner’s positive COVID test was the most quintessential ending of the 2020 World Series. While nobody was truly surprised the Dodgers won, the series gave us an escape from the crazy state that our nation is in. But as it came to a close, Turner’s positive test threw us right back into reality without missing a beat. All in all, the series reminded us how great sports can be when played with no outside distractions and no apologies.