Dodgers beat Rays to end 32-year World Series drought
Not since 1988 had the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated a world championship but that changed on Tuesday with a 3-1 victory over the Rays in game 6.
The Los Angeles Dodgers claimed their first World Series title in 32 years after overcoming the Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in Game 6. Not since 1988 had the Dodgers celebrated a world championship, despite back-to-back trips to MLB's showpiece in 2017 and 2018.
But the Dodgers ended their drought after clinching a 4-2 series success against the Rays amid the coronavirus pandemic and a shortened season on Tuesday.
The Dodgers used a two-run sixth inning to rally past the Rays – Mookie Betts proving his worth with a homer in the eighth.
Betts – a high-profile arrival at the start of the season – homered in the Boston Red Sox's World Series-sealing win in 2018, and did the same against the Rays for the Dodgers, becoming the second player in MLB history to homer in a World Series-clinching victory for two different teams.
LA on top
After the Los Angeles Lakers won the NBA title on October 11, Los Angeles is the first city in MLB, NBA, NFL and NHL history to win two championships in the same calendar month, per Stats Perform.
The Rays – back in the World Series for the first time since 2008 and eyeing their maiden championship – made the perfect start in Arlington, where Randy Arozarena extended his MLB postseason record.
Arozarena homered off Tony Gonsolin in the opening inning, his 10th home run in the playoffs – the most in a single postseason.
With his three-plus homers in the American League (AL) Division Series, AL Championship Series and World Series, Arozarena tied the record for most postseason series with three-plus homers in an entire career with three. He matched Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Carlos Beltran and Jose Altuve.
Rays ace Blake Snell had been almost flawless before he was controversially dragged by Tampa Bay after giving up a hit.
Through 5.1 innings, Snell – the only pitcher to have two games in his World Series career with nine-plus strikeouts and two or fewer hits allowed – had conceded two hits and one run, with nine strikeouts to keep the Dodgers at bay.
The Dodgers took control after Snell's exit – a wild pitch from Nick Anderson allowing Austin Barnes and Betts to score in the sixth.
Betts added the insurance run in the eighth before Julio Urias struck out the remaining three batters to join Madison Bumgarner (2014) as the only pitchers to have four wins and a save in a single postseason.