It has been 29 years since Los Angeles Dodgers have participated in the World Series, but that drought ended on Thursday night. The Dodgers faced defending champion Chicago Cubs in the National League Championship Series and won the game 5 with the result being 11-1. In the last season, Dodgers also faced the Cubs in the NLCS but lost the game. The Dodgers didn’t participate in the World Series since 1988. Since then, the team has made 10 post-season appearances without a title, which represents an MLB record.
Enrique Hernandez lead the Dodgers to win, adding one home run in the second inning and two in the ninth. He became the first Dodgers’ player with three home runs in a postseason game. He was backed by Clayton Kershaw who threw six innings. Entering the World Series, the Dodgers are now 7-1 in their eight postseason games. This came as a bit of a surprise, considering the ups and downs the team had in the regular season. After an incredible 56-11 run, which suggested they might challenge the league’s record for most wins in the season, the Dodgers went on to lose 16 out of 17 games played in August and September. The team ended the regular season with 104 wins, most in a season since the franchise moved to Los Angeles.
“Up there with getting married and having kids, it’s right up there with one of the best days of my life,” Kershaw said after the game against he Cubs. “Winning the World Series is really all that we play this game for. All the individual stuff is great, but at the end of the day, I just want to win a World Series. If we win, I might retire, so I might just call it a career. It’s a special thing, and I know that I’m not taking that for granted.”