The World Series brought two of the biggest superpowers into a fierce, five-game duel for baseball’s crown. After the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Mets 4-2 and the New York Yankees beat the Cleveland Guardians 4-1, the two Major League Baseball giants had to face off in the World Series Final. To get to the final of the World Series, a team has to get past two rounds in games best of four. Five intense games would be the deciding factor to determine the best team in baseball.

Prior to this season, the Yankees had not played in the World Series since 2009, which was also the last time they won the tournament. With their recent signings like Juan Soto, they were expected to perform when presented with the opportunity to compete in the series. On the other hand, the Dodgers were heavy favorites to win the World Series,  with the most expensive MLB signing ever, Shohei Ohtani, breaking several records with his new team.

“The Yankees were playing really well throughout the whole season. Aaron Judge was a big part in helping this team play so well. When the playoffs started, I expected the Yankees to win due to their overall performance,” freshman Adrien Rapin-Smith said.

Game 1

The Dodgers were fixed on winning the first game at their home stadium. Throughout the first four innings, the event was mostly a pitching game, with not many hits to get the game going. At the bottom of the fifth inning, the LA Dodgers struck first, scoring their first run off a sacrifice fly coming from Will Smith. Their lead was short lived after Giancarlo Stanton scored a two-run homerun in the sixth inning. Later, in the eighth inning, the Dodgers scored off another sacrifice fly coming from Shohei Ohtani to make the game level at two.

With the score even, the game had to go into extra innings to decide the winner of game one. At the top of the 10th inning, the Yankees scored off a sacrifice fly to give them the lead. Leading into the bottom of the 10th inning, the Dodgers had low hope, but after three players got on base, Freddie Freeman went up to the plate. With two outs, Freeman knew he had to hit at least a single to keep the Dodgers alive. However, on the first pitch, Freeman unexpectedly hit a walk-off grand slam, winning the Dodgers game one with a score of 6-3.

“I think the Dodgers played really well this season. They had their ups and downs but with their impressive team and their new signing Ohtani, I thought they were one of the favorites to win the World Series,” sophomore Nagely Carrasquillo said.

Game 2

Playing the second game in Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers had high expectations after winning the previous game. After a scoreless first inning, the Dodgers struck first with a home run from Tommy Edman, giving the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Right after, in the top of the third inning, Juan Soto of the Yankees scored a 386 foot home run to tie the game 1-1. Following this, the Dodgers went up to the plate and Teoscar Hernandez and Freeman scored home runs, giving the Dodgers a 4-1 lead. The following innings remained scoreless until a run from the Yankees in the ninth inning gave them hope for a comeback. The rest of the game would remain scoreless, with the Dodgers winning the second game 4-2.

Game 3

Now in the third game, the Yankees were playing at their home field, Yankee Stadium, and expecting to win with this advantage. Action commenced early in the first inning, with Freeman scoring a two-run home-run to give the Dodgers the lead. Later in the third inning, the Dodgers scored again with a run batted in by Mookie Betts to make the game 3-0  for the Dodgers. Then, yet again, the Dodgers scored their fourth run of the game with a “runs batted in” from Enrique Hernandez. In the last inning of the game, the Yankees finally struck with a two-run home-run from Alex Verdugo, which ended game three 4-2, making the Dodgers undefeated against the Yankees in the final.

Game 4

Leading into the fourth game, everyone was expecting a sweep for the Dodgers, the only time would decide the fate of the Yankees in their own stadium. In the first inning, the Dodgers took  the lead with another two-run home run coming from Freeman. Then, when the Yankees were up to bat in the first inning, there was a controversial play from the fans. When Betts leapt for the ball, fans interfered with the catch. Fortunately for the Dodgers, the decision was called an out for the Yankees.

However, the Yankees scored five runs in the two following innings to take the lead, all coming from Anthony Volpe’s sacrifice fly and grand slam. Later, in the fifth inning, the Dodgers scored two runs, which gave them hope for a comeback, but the Yankees responded with one run in the sixth inning and five more runs in the eighth inning, securing the win for the Yankees 11-4. This result would give hope to the Yankees, pushing the Dodgers back from a clean sweep and extending the series.

“I was shocked the Yankees won this game by such a large margin. Since the Yankees haven’t played that well in this World Series, this was a very unexpected win. I expected a sweep from the Dodgers, but it was a surprise they didn’t,” sophomore Amelie Delvat said.

Game 5

After winning the fourth game, the Yankees were hoping for a comeback in the series and hopefully be able to play a sixth game, but the Dodgers did not make it easy. The game started off with the Yankees scoring five runs in the first three innings of the game, giving the Dodgers low expectations for the rest of the game. However, in the fifth inning, the Dodgers scored five runs. The Yankees responded to these five runs with another run in the sixth inning to give them the lead. Nearing the end of the game, the Yankees were expecting their second win, but with a sacrifice fly from Hernandez and Edman, the Dodgers took the lead in the eighth inning. This won the Dodgers their eighth World Series title, breaking New Yorkers hearts. 

“I think the Yankees didn’t play their best baseball. They made several errors which should have been simple catches and did not play well on the offense. The Dodgers played incredibly throughout the season and they playoffs, so they deserved the win,” Coach Rodriguez said.