Los Angeles Dodgers

NEW YORK – Was it the revenge of Mookie Betts, the Curse of the Betts-bino, or is it a deeper, darker Curse of the Morons? That’ll be the question the New York Yankees and their ill-fated fans will have to answer after the Los Angeles Dodgers performed the unthinkable and defeated the Yankees in a comeback for the ages, a day after a fan attempted to grab a baseball right out of Betts’ glove. The fan was ejected and banned from baseball but, the Curse might remain.

Betts, LA’s right fielder, lifted a tie-breaking sacrifice fly in the eighth inning as the Los Angeles Dodgers overcame a five-run deficit and clinched their eighth World Series title with a 7-6 victory over the New York Yankees on Wednesday night in Game 5 in the Bronx.

Six outs away from being forced back to Los Angeles for a sixth game on Friday, the Dodgers won their second title in five seasons and first in a full season since Kirk Gibson and the 1988 team stunned the Oakland Athletics.

Los Angeles also avoided becoming the first team to win the first three games of a best-of-seven Fall Classic and get taken to a sixth game.

The Dodgers trailed 6-5 entering the eighth before Yankees reliever Tommy Kahnle (1-1) allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases with no outs. Gavin Lux cracked a tying sacrifice fly to center field off Luke Weaver.

Shohei Ohtani then reached base on catcher’s interference when his bat grazed Austin Wells’ glove. Following a brief review, the call was confirmed.

On the next pitch, Betts lifted a fly ball to center fielder Aaron Judge, and utility man Tommy Edman trotted home for a 7-6 lead.

It was the largest comeback ever in a World Series clincher, surpassing the 1925 Pittsburgh Pirates overcoming a four-run deficit in Game 7 against the Washington Senators.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a sacrifice fly in the sixth to give the Yankees a 6-5 lead after Los Angeles erased its 5-0 deficit by sending 10 to the plate in fifth. The Dodgers capitalized on physical errors by Judge and Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe along with a mental error by Gerrit Cole, New York’s starting pitcher.

New York held a 5-0 lead and Cole had yet to allow a hit before Enrique Hernandez singled to open the fifth inning.

Edman reached when his fly ball caromed off Judge’s glove, putting runners at first and second. Will Smith followed by hitting a grounder to Volpe, whose throw bounced in front of third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., loading the bases with no outs.

After Cole struck out Lux and Ohtani, Betts hit a soft grounder to first baseman Anthony Rizzo. Cole went about halfway off the mound before stopping, and Betts beat Rizzo to the bag allowing the Dodgers’ first run to score.

Cole was one strike away from ending the inning with a 5-1 lead but allowed a two-run single to Freddie Freeman. Teoscar Hernandez also was one strike away from making the final out before lining a two-run double over Judge’s head, tying the game 5-5.

Los Angeles rallied after getting a short start from Jack Flaherty, who was tagged for four runs on four hits in 1 1/3 innings.

Blake Treinen (2-0) pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings and struck out Anthony Rizzo with two on in the eighth.

NEW YORK – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Jack Flaherty and Gerrit Cole spent Tuesday afternoon preparing for a game they weren’t certain would happen. A few hours later, Anthony Volpe ensured the World Series would continue with Game 5 on Wednesday, when Flaherty pitches for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cole starts for the New York Yankees.

The Dodgers held a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series entering play on Tuesday, but New York cruised to an 11-4 victory in Game 4, sparked by Volpe’s third-inning grand slam.

Another Yankees win on Wednesday would create some history. Of the 24 previous teams that fell behind 3-0 in the World Series, 21 were swept in four games and the other three were eliminated in Game 5.

If New York can extend the series again, Game 6 would be played Friday in Los Angeles.

The Yankees hit .186 in the first three games and scored a total of seven runs. The Dodgers then grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Wednesday before Volpe sparked a comeback.

“They’re just like, ‘Let’s go get it,’” New York manager Aaron Boone said of his players. “Again, these guys love playing with each other, and you kind of got that sense before the game. And obviously as the game unfolded, it kind of got better and better tonight.

“It’s one game. We wanted to get it to tomorrow, and we’ve done that. Excited for the opportunity tomorrow.”

The Yankees are now hitting .206 in the series after posting their highest-scoring World Series game since a 12-2 win over the Dodgers in Game 5 of the 1978 Fall Classic.

Besides Volpe, Austin Wells and Gleyber Torres homered for New York. Aaron Judge hit an RBI single and walked, and every New York player except Anthony Rizzo reached base at least once.

“We’re just going to play our game,” Volpe said. “We feel like if we do that and we play the way we know we’re capable of playing, they can — they’re obviously a good team, and they can do what they do and whatever they want to do. We just have so much confidence in us that we play … that way, we feel like we’ll win.”

The Dodgers had few highlights other than Freddie Freeman setting a pair of major league records by homering in his sixth straight World Series game and becoming the first player to homer in the opening four games of a Fall Classic. Los Angeles mustered just six hits and went 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

“We’re up 3-1 right now,” Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said. “We feel pretty good about it, but you know that they’re going to fight. It doesn’t matter what the score is and it doesn’t matter when it is; they’re going to fight. So, I mean, no lead is safe until you win the fourth game.”

Flaherty (1-2, 6.10 ERA in the postseason) allowed eight runs in three innings during Game 5 of the NLCS against the New York Mets on Oct. 18, but he opened the World Series by allowing two runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Flaherty departed his first World Series start due to hamstring tightness he felt on the pitch before allowing a two-run homer to Giancarlo Stanton on his final delivery, but he said he feels fine now.

“It’s caused a little extra work that I normally wouldn’t have to do, but I’m feeling good today, felt good yesterday during my bullpen (session),” Flaherty said before Game 4. “At this point, it’s not anything I’m worried about.”

Cole (1-0, 2.82) will make his fourth career World Series start and first in an elimination game. Cole is 1-1 with a 3.15 ERA in World Series starts, and he took a no-decision in Game 1 when he allowed one run on four hits in six innings while throwing 88 pitches.

Cole was not a consideration to start Game 4 on three days of rest because his season began with a 2 1/2-month absence caused by an elbow injury.

“I feel now like I’m in good shape,” he said. “I have a reserve while I’m pitching. So if I need to dip into the tank, I can go get it, and then I can go get it again. It’s not like a one-time thing.

“And then familiarity both with myself and my delivery, how I’m moving, how well I’m concentrating the ball in the areas of the strike zone that I want to get. I’m … missing east and west very rarely anymore. Things are more defined.”

–Field Level Media

LOS ANGELES – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – LA’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave up one hit into the seventh inning, Teoscar Hernandez and Freddie Freeman hit back-to-back home runs and the Los Angeles Dodgers delivered a 4-2 victory over the visiting New York Yankees on Saturday to take a 2-0 World Series lead.

Tommy Edman also hit a home run, while Yamamoto (2-0) allowed one run and two walks with four strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings, helping the Dodgers move two wins away from their first World Series title since 2020 and their first after a full regular season since 1988.

Dodgers right-hander Blake Treinen gave up an RBI single in the ninth to Giancarlo Stanton and departed with two outs and the bases loaded. Left-hander Alex Vesia entered and got pinch hitter Jose Trevino to fly out to center field for his first save of the postseason.

The lone area of concern for the Dodgers came when designated hitter Shohei Ohtani left the field with a trainer at the end of the seventh inning with an apparent left arm injury after an unsuccessful stolen-base attempt at second base.

Juan Soto hit a home run for the Yankees, while left-hander Carlos Rodon (1-2) gave up four runs on six hits, including three home runs, over 3 1/3 innings.

The series shifts to New York for the next three contests, starting with Game 3 on Monday. Game 4 is Tuesday and Game 5, if necessary, is Wednesday.

The Dodgers took a 1-0 lead in the second inning when the switch-hitting Edman hit a home run into the left field corner against Rodon while batting from the left side. It was his second home run of the postseason to go along with 13 RBIs for the National League Championship Series MVP.

Soto tied it 1-1 in the third with a blast into the right field corner against Yamamoto, his fourth of the postseason.

The Dodgers moved in front 3-1 in the bottom of the third on a two-run home run from Hernandez, his third of these playoffs, while Freeman followed with a drive to right field in nearly the same spot he hit his grand slam that ended Game 1.