Welcome back, World Series! Dodgers set up epic duel with Yankees

Columnist

Oct. 20, 2024 Updated 9:52 PM PT

Home, at last.

Home, after three rocky Octobers and two embarrassing collapses and deep blue scads of doubt.

Home, where Jackie Robinson is still stealing home and Sandy Koufax is still throwing shutouts and Kirk Gibson is still pumping that fist.

Home, to the World Series.

On a rollicking Sunday night at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers silenced the critics, embraced their birthright and returned to their personal promised land with a 10-5 victory over the New York Mets that gave them a four-games-to-two triumph in the National League Championship Series.

After three consecutive Octobers filled with classic falls, the Dodgers have returned to the Fall Classic for the fourth time in eight seasons, the 13th time in Los Angeles history and 22nd time overall.

And guess who’s waiting there?

For the love of Larsen, here come the New York Yankees!

Yep, those damn Yankees, their oldest of October rivals, their nastiest of playoff nemeses, the pinstriped pains that have haunted the Dodger franchise for more than a century.

Beginning Friday at Dodger Stadium, baseball’s two most legendary franchises will meet for the 12th time in a World Series, the most prolific Series matchup in baseball history even though they haven’t shared this stage in 43 years.

The Yankees have won eight of their previous 11 meetings in games that have contained some of the greatest moments in World Series history. From Robinson’s steal of home to Larsen’s perfect game to Reggie Jackson’s three homers, the next two weeks will summon the ghosts of greatness past.

For the Yankees, the likes of Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle have been replaced by Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton.

For the Dodgers, the legacy of 3-Dog and Penguin and Big D are being carried on by M-V-P, Moookie and Fred-die.

“You are talking about the absolute biggest stars in the game, and now they are going to be playing on the biggest stage,” Max Muncy said. “As a fan, how special is this, man? This is unbelievable.”

The Yankees have more star power, but the Dodgers are more talented and will surely be favored to win the series, which sounds about right. They should win it. Anything less would be an upset. Anything less would be a failure.

It would be their eighth franchise championship and seventh title in Los Angeles, but more compelling is that it would be their first title with fans in the stands since 1988. Their only World Series victory since then was in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, when the playoffs were mostly conducted in a Texas bubble and there was no planned public celebration.

Thirty-six years is a long time to be waiting for a parade. These Dodgers are good enough to tentatively begin planning one.

They finished off the Mets on Sunday thanks to a home run and four RBIs from NLCS MVP Tommy Edman, a two-run homer from struggling catcher Will Smith, and the usual array of effective relievers. They did it without injured Freddie Freeman and Miguel Rojas, they did it with Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts playing only supporting roles, they did as they have done it all season, everybody all in.

”L.A.! You guys want a parade in Los Angeles?” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shouted to the crowd during the postgame celebration. “Four more wins!”

This team is more complete and possesses more compete than any other in Roberts’ nine seasons. This team is deeper than the Dodgers’ 2020 titleists, more gifted than those 1988 underdog champs, and just plain better than all but the Hall-of-Famer filled champions of 1955 and Koufax’s crew in 1965.

“I’ve never believed in a group of guys more than I believe in these guys!” Roberts shouted to the crowd. “And more importantly, they believe in each other!”

Once inside the clubhouse, as in past celebrations this postseason, emotional leader Rojas spoke first, followed by Roberts.

“We need to celebrate like this one more time,” Rojas said. “We have a lot of personalities in this group, but no ego.”

Roberts added, “Like I’ve said before: I’ve never been around a group of guys who I love or care about more. Four more wins. Work to be done. Let’s go, boys!”

At which point, for the third time this autumn, the champagne sprayed in torrents, much like the Dodger bats that had accounted for a league postseason record 46 runs in the six games against the Mets.

Roberts earlier acknowledged this was his best team, which is saying something, considering he has the best winning percentage in managerial history and has led teams to the Series four times in his nine years.

“I think if you’re talking about collective at-bats, the pitching, all that stuff, yeah, it’s hard to remember a team playing better team baseball than we’re playing right now, yeah,” he said.

Roberts has now tied Tommy Lasorda with those four pennants while trailing only Walter Alston, who went to seven World Series. Roberts has become the new Lasorda, even if, when asked about his place in the Dodger managerial hierarchy, he refused to acknowledge it.

“I don’t want to do that, then I start getting nervous,” he said. “I just want to try to do my job and get our players to win baseball games and win baseball games for the Dodgers, that’s it.”

They’ve won plenty this season, as well they should. They have the best ownership in baseball, the best executive in baseball, the best player in baseball, arguably the best manager in baseball, and the best fans in baseball.

They should be in the World Series. They should be there every year.

But what makes this year so special is how they got here.

Yes, they spent more than $1 billion with offseason acquisitions that included Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Teoscar Hernández and Tyler Glasnow. Yes, they were heavy favorites to advance to the World Series even before the first pitch.

But then gambling scandals happened and position changes happened and injuries happened and the summer nearly went off the rails before baseball boss Andrew Friedman’s smarts and Roberts’ leadership saved them from themselves.

Will Smith celebrates after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Mets.

Mookie Betts hits a RBI double off Mets pitcher Kodai Senga in the eighth inning vs. Mets at Dodger Stadium.

Chris Taylor puts down a sacrifice bunt during the sixth inning of NLCS Game 6 for Dodgers vs. Mets.

1. Will Smith celebrates after hitting a two-run home run in the third inning against the Mets in Game 6 of the NLCS at Dodger Stadium. 2. Mookie Betts hits a RBI double off Mets pitcher Kodai Senga in the eighth inning. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) 3. Chris Taylor puts down a sacrifice bunt during the sixth inning. (Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

“It’s gone the way we had expected in terms of where we are at today,” Roberts said. “How we got there, absolutely not how we envisioned this.”

Ohtani was distracted when his longtime interpreter Ippei Mizuhara admitted to stealing more than $16 million from the slugger to support his gambling habit.

Betts was distracted when the Dodgers began the season by moving him to an unfamiliar shortstop.

The entire team was distracted when they lost eight starting pitchers to injuries.

At times throughout the summer, the team seemed to be in a mess, but they never fell out of first place, and everyone figured it out.

“The talent is obvious but if you watch the way these guys prepare, the way they compete, it’s no surprise that we’re four wins away from the ultimate goal,” shouted Friedman during the on-field celebration.

Indeed, Ohtani steeled himself to clinch the National League MVP award by becoming the first player in history to have at least 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in the same season.

Betts never complained about the position change, a role model for the veteran clubhouse, and he was eventually moved back to right field, where he has thrived.

In adjusting to all those pitching injuries, the Dodgers developed a versatile and embracing bullpen that has been the star of the postseason.

After watching his creation endure several months of difficulties, Friedman gave them a closing kick by acquiring three important pieces in trade deadline moves that have carried them deep into October.

Ever wonder what this team would be like without Jack Flaherty, Edman and Michael Kopech? Don’t. It’s not pretty.

“It’s a credit to the organization and the resiliency that we have. It’s really cool,” Roberts said of the season. “At the end of the day, we’re in the same spot we had hoped.”

And what a spot indeed.

The World Series is here. The New York Yankees are on deck. History awaits.