Dodgers Headed to World Series 

The Los Angeles Dodgers, club house was a rocking place earlier this week. They had just beat up on the New York Mets and claimed the National League pennant at Dodger Stadium, but this title was nothing more than the warmup act.

Earl Heath | Contributing Sports Writer 

The Los Angeles Dodgers, club house was a rocking place earlier this week. They had just beat up on the New York Mets and claimed the National League pennant at Dodger Stadium, but this title was nothing more than the warmup act. 

Now comes the moment that Major League Baseball, its TV partners, its corporate advertisers, and millions of baseball fans have been anxious for the past 43 years. 

The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees will square off in the fall classic for the first time since 1981. It will be a record 12th time they meet in the Fall Classic.  New York holds an 8-3 lead 

There are a million narratives you can use for this one: Lexus vs Tesler and if you go back to the 70s and 80s let’s how about Cowboys vs Steelers, Bird vs Magic, Hearns vs Haglar and Martina vs Cris (Evert). 

“It’s what the people wanted,” said Mookie Betts one of three MVP’s in the Dodger lineup. “What we all wanted.” 

“I can’t even imagine how excited the whole nation of Japan is now,” said Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman, the MVP of the National League Championship Series with 11 RBI, tying a postseason franchise record. “If they weren’t already fans of baseball before, even more so now. Everybody wants to see these two teams play on the biggest stages. It’s a World Series full of superstars.” 

Edman was acquired by Los Angeles at the trade deadline an was a one. In the Close-out game, he had a two-run double in the first and added a two-run homer in the third.

“It’s pretty crazy, especially with the history of the organization to have tied that record,” Edman said. “I had no idea about it until I guess after the game. But a huge part of that is a testament to the guys on the team. We had really good at-bats throughout the series. Our whole lineup was really good lineup. Any number of guys could have won MVP.”

Its super sluggers on either team that can change the course of a game with one swing of the bat Judge and Ohtani being on the same stage for a seven-game series the two MVP favorites who are fighting for the same ultimate title -World Champion.  

  Judge led the American League with 58 homers, and Ohtani, who led the National League with 54 homers, will mark the World Series’ first matchup between home-run leaders since the Yankees’ Mickey Mantle and the Dodgers’ Duke Snider met in 1956. 

It was Ohtani that brings the speed element having set a record 59 stolen bases to go with the homers a newly accomplished feat for MLB.  

The Dodgers faced adversity early in the season when Ohtani’s interpreter was charged with gambling away more than 9 million of the star’s money.   

This was a distraction as the slugger was cleared from all doing but the incident created a media frenzy around the team.

Due to injuries, they used 43 pitchers throughout the season, they lost steady Freddie Freeman just before the ALDS vs the Padres  

The Dodgers drew an early-round bye and were sent home from the playoffs in the first round the past two years -another first-round exit could have serious repercussions. There were people whose jobs were on the line. This had to be in the back of several people’s minds. 

Max Muncy had a theory and they would do things differently this year, “We changed things about how we went about it this year,’’ said the veteran. “This year, it was very player-driven. The past couple of years, we kind of sat around waiting for the organization to tell us what we were going to do.” The year we tried to do certain things.” 

With a five-day break after 162 games sometimes you have to get away  from the game  

“This year, all of us players that have been here, we said “Hey, no. This is what we’re doing. We’re changing things up. This is what we want to do.'” 

Instead of letting their first-round bye become a hindrance because of the five off-days, they took advantage of the opportunity. They chilled and did some bonding. and bonding with each other. 

“There’s a lot of pressure, a lot of expectations,” said Max Muncy, who set a postseason record by reaching base 12 consecutive times. “Especially this year when you’re talking about some of the names we have. It definitely played heavy.” 

In the final series vs the Mets Roberts, watched his team score an NLCS record 46 runs, shouted to the sellout crowd of 52,674 while accepting the National League trophy: “I’ve never believed in a group of guys more than I believe in these guys. Most importantly, they believe in each other.” 

Now, here they are, about to play the biggest Series of their lives, resurrecting memories of the ’81 World Series with Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Goose Gossage, Fernando Valenzuela, Ron Cey, Steve Garvey, and Tommy Lasorda. 

“The whole world was hoping for this potential matchup, this showdown,” Roberts said. “I think it’s going to be great.”