ARLINGTON, Texas — If it’s any consolation to the Braves, they lost to the world champs.
Mookie Betts streaked home with a go-ahead run and later homered as the Los Angeles Dodgers won their first World Series championship since 1988, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in Game 6 Tuesday night.
The Dodgers posted the best record in the majors during the pandemic-shortened season. They eliminated the Braves by winning Game 7 in the National League Championship series on October 18. The Braves held a 3-1 lead in the series before dropping the last three games.
The Braves were 10 outs away from winning the series in five games, but a pair of three-run innings kept the Dodgers alive. Los Angeles scored three runs in the first inning of Game 6, which proved to be enough in a two-run win. The Braves led 2-0 in Game 7 but fell to the Dodgers 4-3.
Tampa Bay starter Blake Snell struck out nine Tuesday and seemed to be in complete control with a 1-0 lead when manager Kevin Cash pulled him with one out and a runner on first in the sixth inning. The Dodgers pounced quickly, and Betts soon dashed home from third base on Corey Seager’s infield grounder for a 2-1 edge.
Betts added a solo home run in the eighth.
Manager Dave Roberts and the Dodgers lost the World Series in 2017 and ’18 before winning this title at a neutral site, Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Rookie sensation Randy Arozarena hit his record 10th homer in the postseason to account for Tampa Bay’s run.
The Dodgers had played 5,014 regular season games and were in their 114th postseason game since Orel Hershiser struck out Oakland’s Tony Phillips for the final out of the World Series in 1988, the same year veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw — the three-time NL Cy Young Award winner who won Games 1 and 5 of this Series — was born in nearby Dallas.
Kershaw was warming in the bullpen when Julio Urias struck out Willy Adames to end it and ran alongside teammates to celebrate in the infield — many players and coaches still wearing face masks at the end of a season played out amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Los Angeles had come up short in the World Series twice in the previous three years. And Betts was on the other side two years ago with the Boston Red Sox, who before this season traded the 2018 AL MVP to the Dodgers. They later gave him a $365 million, 12-year extension that goes until he turns 40 in 2032.
About 2 1/2 weeks after the Lakers won the NBA title while finishing their season in the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida, the Dodgers gave Los Angeles another championship.
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