Well, the Los Angeles Dodgers have finally done it: they are 2020 World Series Champions. It has taken 32 long years, but the Dodgers have finally climbed the mountain top. Granted, it was a shortened season of only 60 games, but the Dodgers were the most dominant team throughout that span.
In a season where every team, including the second-place Tampa Bay Rays, lost at least 20 games, the Dodgers stood alone as the only team with less than 20 losses, losing only 17 games. Mookie Betts was a huge addition to this team, and they rewarded him by immediately signing him to a 12-year, $365 million dollar deal. He is a complete, five-tool player, and he affected the World Series with his bat, glove, and speed on the base paths. He scored two incredible runs on grounders to first in the first game of the Series and the clinching run in the last game, which really exemplified Mookie’s speed and his indelible affect on the game. One could argue that he should have earned the MVP, but that honor goes to Corey Seager, who becomes the most recent player to win both the NLCS MVP and World Series MVP. Mad-Bum was the last player to achieve this feat on his incredible 2014 playoff pitching run. Interestingly enough, the last time the Dodgers won it all in 1988, Orel Hershiser was the NLCS and World Series MVP; some great company for Seager to be in as a Dodger.
You can’t overlook the Rays though, as their amazing rookie Randy Arozarena and their awesome pitching staff almost willed them to victory. However, due to some over-managing by Kevin Cash in Game 6, namely, pulling Blake Snell in the 6th inning when he had been absolutely dealing, the Rays suffered their downfall. Sometimes you have to disregard analytics and just follow the eye test and as anyone who was watching that game would tell you, Snell was completely locked-in.
However, the Dodgers deserve all the credit, as they could have folded after that wild Game 4 loss when Brett Phillips poked a ball to center, Chris Taylor booted the ball and still could have gotten Arozarena out because he slipped coming home, but then Will Smith completely whiffed on the tag. That is the kind of loss that the Dodgers could have looked at and said “here we go again” with another playoff choke job and failure.
However, this time they were able to beat their opponent on a neutral field site on a fair playing field, since we know this World Series opponent was not cheating, and they became champions. Congratulations to the 2020 Dodgers on the weirdest, wackiest baseball season filled with Covid cancellations, nonstop doubleheaders, and playoff bubbles. Los Angeles, with their recent NBA Championship and now World Series title, continues to be a city of champions!
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