NEW YORK — The Los Angeles Dodgers staged a thrilling comeback to defeat the New York Yankees 7-6 on Wednesday night, clinching the World Series in Game 5 with a 4-1 series win at Yankee Stadium.
Down 5-0 in the fifth inning, the Dodgers roared back in a game filled with dramatic twists and errors by the Yankees, ultimately securing their second Major League Baseball championship in five seasons and eighth overall.
“It’s unbelievable,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “A lot of people counted us out… these guys believed in each other even when we were down 5-0. They persevered, kept fighting, and now we’re world champions.”
The Yankees, buoyed by home runs from Aaron Judge, Jazz Chisholm, and Giancarlo Stanton, appeared poised to push the series back to Los Angeles for Game 6. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole kept the Dodgers scoreless through four innings with a strong start, but a fifth-inning collapse changed the game.
The Yankees’ defense faltered, allowing the Dodgers to tie the score with five unearned runs. After the Yankees briefly regained the lead at 6-5 on Stanton’s sacrifice fly in the sixth, the Dodgers struck back in the eighth with sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts, putting them ahead 7-6.
Walker Buehler, who started Game 3, returned in the ninth to secure the final three outs, sealing the Dodgers’ victory.
“Obviously [we’re] resilient, but there’s so much love in this clubhouse,” Betts said. “It was love, it was grit… I’m just proud of us and I’m happy for us.”
Yankees manager Aaron Boone expressed dismay at his team’s mistakes, which opened the door for the Dodgers’ comeback.
“As I said to the guys, obviously it stings now — but this is going to sting forever,” Boone said. “We just didn’t take care of the ball well enough… against a great team like that, they took advantage.”
Dodgers star Freddie Freeman, who had homered in the first four games of the series, was named Series MVP after sparking the comeback with a two-run single in the fifth inning.
“I think we were all saying the first three innings — ‘let’s just get one, just chip away, we can do this,'” Freeman said. “There’s a couple of mistakes that happened, you’ve got to capitalize.”
The game began in favor of the Yankees, as Judge crushed a two-run homer in the first inning and Chisholm followed with a solo shot, putting them up 3-0. Stanton’s solo home run in the third extended the lead to 5-0.
But the fifth inning turned into a nightmare for the Yankees. An error by Judge and a misthrow from shortstop Anthony Volpe loaded the bases for the Dodgers. A botched connection between Cole and first baseman Anthony Rizzo allowed Mookie Betts to score Enrique Hernandez, sparking the rally.
Freeman then hit a two-run double, and Teoscar Hernandez followed with another double, tying the game at 5-5.
In the eighth, Lux and Betts’ sacrifice flies put the Dodgers ahead, and Buehler’s strong closing secured the title, bringing heartbreak to Yankees fans and jubilation to Dodgers Nation.
