Dodgers earn third World Series berth in four years after completing NLCS comeback

The Los Angeles Dodgers completed a remarkable comeback against the Atlanta Braves as they reached the 2020 MLB World Series with a 4-3 victory on Sunday night.

Dodgers defy the odds to bounce back

National League (NL) top seeds the Dodgers had trailed the Braves 3-1 in the NL Championship Series before rallying on Saturday to force a deciding Game 7. The Dodgers also overturned a 2-0 deficit in the NLCS decider to earn their third World Series berth in four years – Kike Hernandez tying the game in the sixth inning before Cody Bellinger hit the go-ahead homer in the seventh.

American League (AL) top seeds the Tampa Bay Rays await in the World Series, which gets underway at Globe Life Field in Texas on Tuesday night.

"We're resilient. Every day you see the line-up that we have and we've got Joc [Pederson] hitting eight and CT [Chris Taylor] hitting nine, we're like, 'We can do this, why can't we do this?' We're only down two games, we've won three games before all the time so we've been in this situation before," Bellinger told Fox Sports. "We were grinding, it was a team win. Atlanta Braves are an amazing team, it was not an easy series. That was fun right there."

Corey Seager was crowned NLCS MVP after going nine-for-29 with five home runs and 11 RBIs in the series. The Dodgers, who have not won the World Series since 1988, found themselves down early against the Braves at Globe Life Field. Marcell Ozuna singled home a run in the first, and Dansby Swanson's huge homer in the second inning gave the Braves – without a World Series appearance since 1999 – a 2-0 advantage over the Dodgers. A two-run single via Will Smith levelled proceedings in the third as the two teams went head-to-head.

Atlanta regained the lead in the fourth before Hernandez answered again with a pinch-hit homer in the sixth – the Dodgers star becoming the first pinch-hitter in MLB history to hit a game-tying or go-ahead home run in a winner-takes-all playoff game, per Stats Perform. Bellinger then stepped up and connected on a Chris Martin pitch for the game-winner, while Dodgers team-mate Mookie Betts produced a memorable moment of his own with a stunning catch to rob Freddie Freeman of a homer in the fifth.

Dodgers make MLB history

According to Stats Perform, the Dodgers became the first team in MLB history to hit both a game-tying and go-ahead homer in a Game 7 win. Braves starter Ian Anderson lasted just three innings, giving up five hits and two runs, while the Dodgers' Dustin May only pitched one inning following a hit and one run. Julio Urias earned the win after shutting out the Braves through three innings as he did not concede a hit.