Super-utilityman Enrique Hernandez will return to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deal that will see two relievers, Nick Robertson and Justin Hagenman, depart for the Boston Red Sox.

As part of the deal reached on Tuesday, the Red Sox have agreed to pay $2.5 million of the roughly $3.5 million remaining on Hernandez’s current contract.

“Obviously he helped us win a championship and had his best years here in a Dodger uniform,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Hernandez. “I know the fans are excited. He’s got a great relationship with the fans, does a lot of stuff in the community, and I think for us it’s more of — he hasn’t had the best of seasons, but the bet is being back home, the familiarity, kinda can tap back into being the player that we know he can be and that we’ve seen.”

Hernandez first played for the Dodgers from 2015 until 2020. He is fondly remembered by fans for his tying home run in Game 7 of the 2020 National League Championship Series, helping the Dodgers to win their first World Series title in over 30 years.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers were slammed 15-0 by the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night, thereby earning the Giants their sixth straight victory. While the Giants’ largest win over the Dodgers since a 19-3 win on September 14, 2013, this is the Dodgers’ largest shutout defeat since 1898 against Pittsburgh, when the team was still based in Brooklyn.

In what has been a disastrous season so far for the Dodgers, this is the team’s second double-digit shutout defeat this year. The first came in a 13-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on April 21.

LaMonte Wade Jr. proved to be the Giants’ stand-out player on the night, smashing a three-run homer, while J.D. Davis impressed with a pinch-hit grand slam of his own.

“The offense was rolling, just putting balls in play against a really good pitcher,” Davis said of the Giants’ performance. “A lot of guys coming back in the dugout were complimenting him on how great of stuff he was and how we needed to make the adjustments.”

Following their emphatic win, the Giants are now just one game behind their West Coast rivals in the NL West. The Arizona Diamondbacks remain on top with 43-28, while the Dodgers and the Giants trail at 39-32 and 38-32 respectively.

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Left-hander Noah Syndergaard has agreed to a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, sources confirmed on Thursday. This deal sees him join a rotation including All-Stars Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw, and Tony Gonsolin.

Now aged 30, Syndergaard is looking to hit top form as he enters the latter stages of his career. With a history of getting the most out of talented pitchers, the Dodgers are expected to be a good fit for Syndergaard.

Syndergaard comes to the Dodgers after spending last season with the Angels on a one-year, $21 million deal before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies on deadline day. During his time with both teams, Syndergaard threw 134⅔ innings, posting a 3.94 ERA in the process.

While Syndergaard is yet to regain his peak form, last season served as a respectable comeback for a player who was ruled out for the entirety of 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

The Dodgers will hope that Syndergaard can serve as a suitable replacement for fellow left-hander Tyler Anderson, who departed for the Angels on a $39 million one-year deal. Anderson thrived at the Dodgers last season, posting a 2.57 ERA in 178⅔ innings.

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It appears that the Los Angeles Dodgers don’t think their star outfielder Cody Bellinger could turn things around after disappointing performances in the past several seasons. The franchise announced late last week that they had non-tendered Bellinger, making him a free agent.

The 2019’s NL MVP and the Dodgers previously avoided arbitration ahead of the 2022 season and settled on a one-year deal worth $17 million. Bellinger was set to earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 million next year.

Despite declining to give Bellinger a new contract, the Dodgers might be interested in keeping the 27-year-old player around if they miss out on their targets in free agency. However, any potential deal would likely be at a much lower number compared to this past season.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is a closing of the chapter of Cody and the Dodgers,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said about the decision.

If the Dodgers don’t return for Bellinger, he might settle for a one-year, prove-it deal with a different franchise. There should be an interest in him, especially if teams believe he can recapture some of his old magic with a change of scenery.

 When he entered the majors, Cody Bellinger looked like he will be the next legendary Dodger. He earned an All-Star nod in his rookie career before winning the NL MVP honors in 2019. After that, however, things went sideways for Scottsdale, Arizona.

Bellinger has been struggling with injuries and productivity since his MVP campaign wrapped up. This was especially the case in 2021 when he only played 95 games, batting .165 and hitting 10 homers. He launched 19 home runs in 2022, but his batting average of .210 was still far below expected.

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It will be the Los Angeles Dodgers who live to tell the story of the clash between the two winningest teams in the 2021 MLB season. The Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants in a thriller on Thursday night and punched the ticket for their fifth NL Championship Series appearance in six years.

After five scoreless innings, the Dodgers finally broke the tie at the top of the sixth when shortstop Corey Seager doubled to the left and All-Star Mookie Betts scored.  But the Giants didn’t take long to respond, with first baseman Darin Ruf hitting a 452 home run. This was the longest homer of the postseason so far.

The deadlock was broken again thanks to Cody Bellinger’s RBI single at the top of the ninth.

Then it was up to Max Scherzer, a starter in the Game 3 loss, to take it home. Scherzer delivered by pitching a hitless inning, earning a save, and propelling the Dodgers to NLCS.

“To be in that moment, with everything on the line, with the way we’ve been playing this whole series, to get the ball in that situation, man, that was a rush,” said Scherzer after the game.

“We poured everything we could into this series, and it took everything we had to beat these guys,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts added.

The Dodgers now only have the Atlanta Braves standing in the way of their return to the World Series. The Giants, on the other hand, have ended their 107-win season earlier than expected and will have to wait until 2022 to end their NLCS drought.

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After two thrilling series which required 7 games to decide the champion of each respective league, the 2020 World Series matchup is finally set and will kick off on Tuesday night.

The two top seeds in the 2020 Postseason will face off, with the AL’s Tampa Bay Rays taking on the NL’s Los Angeles Dodgers. This matchup of 40+ win teams is the first time that the two top seeds have faced off in the Fall Classic since 2013 when the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals.

Let’s break down the World Series matchup and pick a winner, shall we?

Offense

The Los Angeles Dodgers led the Major Leagues in wRC+ during the regular season (122), hitting the most home runs in the league (118) and posting an enviable .338 on-base percentage. LA’s lineup did all of this despite an off season from 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger, who might have woken up after hitting a game-winning home run in Game 7 of the NLCS.

The Rays have many strengths, and Kevin Cash knows how to get the best of platoon advantages and a roster without any offensive superstars. They were an above-average regular season offense but lack the punch that the Dodgers have. They are clearly the weaker side on offense.

Advantage: Dodgers

Pitching

The Rays and Dodgers both excel at pitching, as they finished the regular season 3rd and 1st in the Majors in ERA. The Dodgers have a deep rotation and bullpen anchored by future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw and a whole stable of young, talented arms like Walker Buehler, Brusdar Graterol, and Dustin May.

Tampa might not have the big names that LA does, but they are good enough to go toe-to-toe in this facet of the game. Tyler Glasnow and Charlie Morton are a heck of a one-two punch at the top of the rotation, and a bullpen led by Nick Anderson, arguably the Majors’ best reliever in 2020, is nothing to sneeze at either.

Advantage: Push

Defense

This is the one facet of the game where Tampa has a clear advantage. The Rays, buoyed by a stable of excellent defensive players and a strategy which emphasizes shifting and positioning to get the best out of those players, had the best defensive record in MLB based on UZR/150 (10.6) and the fifth-best total of defensive runs saved (24).

The Dodgers are a super team, but their Achilles’ heel can be their defense at times. Located near the bottom of MLB’s defensive rankings, Mookie Betts’s excellence in right field isn’t enough to make up for holes that other players like Corey Seager (SS) and Max Muncy (1B) have.

Advantage: Rays

Prediction

The Rays have made history by qualifying for the World Series with the 3rd-lowest payroll in baseball, and they are a genuinely excellent team. They can pitch and play defense with anyone, but they haven’t come up against a hot Dodgers team which is firing on all cylinders like this one yet.

The Dodgers are a super team, filled with MVP-level talent, playoff experience, and generational talent. Tampa Bay will put up a fight, no doubt, but I just cannot see a situation in which Los Angeles’s talent doesn’t rise to the top and lead them to their first World Series crown since 1988.

Dodgers in 6 Games

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LA Dodgers will return to World Series for their third appearance in four years. Dodgers secured their spot by beating Atlanta Braves 4-3 in the deciding NLCS Game 7 on Sunday night and capping off an unlikely comeback after being down 1-3 in the series.

It didn’t start well for the Dodgers, as they found themselves trailing 0-2 after Marcell Ozuna and Dansby Swanson hit home runs for Braves in the first two innings. Will Smith’s two-run single equaled the game in the third, but Atlanta immediately took the lead back with Austin Riley’s single.

Still, Brave couldn’t hold on to the lead that would bring the franchise its first World Series appearance since 1999.

Enrique Hernandez hit a pinch-hit homer in the sixth to tie it once again, while 2019’s NL MVP Cody Bellinger completed the comeback in the seventh inning with another lights-out home run.

“We never gave up,” said MVP of the series Corey Seager. “This team never quit. We came out every night and expected to win. Tip your cap to that clubhouse and how we responded, how we came back. We always found the energy, found the big play, found the big spark. Whether it was defensively, offensively, pitching, we grinded through that series. It was a lot of fun to be on top of that one.”

The LA Dodgers will now face the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series in an attempt to win their first title in 33 years. Dodgers got close in 2018 and 2019 but got beaten by Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, respectively.

“The World Series is the World Series, no matter what year you get there—’17 happened, ’18 happened. We fell short; now we are back,” added Enrique Hernandez. “The past is in the past—this one feels super special because it is in front of us, and it is happening.”

Dodgers were the best team in baseball in the regular season, finishing with a 43-17 record. And they managed to translate their claim in the postseason so far, but it won’t count for anything if they can’t deliver in the World Series.

The World Series, which will see Dodgers face Tampa Bay Rays, kicks off on October 20 at Arlington’s Globe Life Field.

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After more than two decades in the MLB, former Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre announced his retirement on Tuesday, saying he came to the decision after “careful consideration and many sleepless nights.”

“After careful consideration and many sleepless nights, I have made the decision to retire from what I’ve been doing for my whole life, which is playing baseball, the game I love,” Beltre said in a statement. “I have thought about it a lot and although I appreciate all the opportunities and everything that baseball has given me, it’s time to call it a career.”

A native of the Dominican Republic, Beltre’s record in the league places him in a good position to get into the Hall of Fame. In addition to being a four-time all-star player, Beltre made 3,166 hits, 16^th best of all time. Had he played a bit longer, the 39-year-old was poised to join the top ten in all-time hits, passing Cal Ripkin Jr.’s 3,184 hits.

Although a series of injuries have often derailed the third baseman, his 2,933 games rank him 14^th in the most games played by an active player. Beltre spent all his career with four teams. He made his debuted for the LA Dodgers in 1998 and lasted for seven years. He had a spell in Seattle that lasted five years, one year with the Red Sox and then the Rangers.

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The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in Sunday’s Game 5 to become the 2018 World Series champions for the ninth time. The best of sevens tournament ended with four wins for Boston and one win for the Dodgers.

Needing a single victory to become the 2018 World Series champions, the Red Sox hit two runs in the first inning to start the game in a dramatic fashion.

Steve Pearce was heroic on Sunday as his eighth-inning home run was decisive in the win over Los Angeles. “You grow up wishing you could be part of something like this,” Pearce said of the win. “This has been a lifelong journey. To be here right now is a dream come true.”

The Red Sox have been phenomenal this year, winning 108 games in the regular season and 12 in the playoffs. Their 119 wins are a new record for the franchise and only the third highest winning team in baseball’s history. The other two teams are the 2001 Mariners’ team that won 120 games and the 1998 Yankees squad that won a total of 125 games.

For the Dodgers, Sunday’s loss was their second consecutive defeat in the World Series after losing last year’s tournament to Houston. They haven’t won the World Series since 1988 and things could get worse if star pitcher Clayton Kershaw opts out of the final two years of his $65 million contract. He has until Wednesday to make that decision.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers played deep into Tuesday night to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 and level their scores in Game 4 of the NCLS 2-2.

In a tight, low-scoring game, LA’s Cody Bellinger recorded two-out singles at the expense of Junior Guerra and Manny Machado to help his team snatch a 2-1 victory in the 13^th winning. Despite the win, the Dodgers came into the game with only two runs in 23 innings.

While anticipating Clayton Kershaw’s presence in Game 6, Bellinger believes better things are bound to come for his team.

“We’ve got Kershaw on the mound tomorrow,” Bellinger said, “We like our chances.”

The Dodgers opened the match in style with a first-inning home run. Gio Gonzalez walked a batter and then made a hit with runner Brian Dozier in scoring position. Gonzalez did not last in the game though. He twisted his ankle in the second inning before rookie Freddy Peralta substituted him.

The Brewer’s got their first hit in the fourth inning when Jesus Aguilar singled Rich Hill’s pitch. But the Dodger had the better of players. Almost every player from LA had turned up for the match but scores hardly came by. The Dodgers and the Brewers will face off again three times to complete the NCLS series.

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Super-utilityman Enrique Hernandez will return to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a deal that will see two relievers, Nick Robertson and Justin Hagenman, depart for the Boston Red Sox.

As part of the deal reached on Tuesday, the Red Sox have agreed to pay $2.5 million of the roughly $3.5 million remaining on Hernandez’s current contract.

“Obviously he helped us win a championship and had his best years here in a Dodger uniform,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Hernandez. “I know the fans are excited. He’s got a great relationship with the fans, does a lot of stuff in the community, and I think for us it’s more of — he hasn’t had the best of seasons, but the bet is being back home, the familiarity, kinda can tap back into being the player that we know he can be and that we’ve seen.”

Hernandez first played for the Dodgers from 2015 until 2020. He is fondly remembered by fans for his tying home run in Game 7 of the 2020 National League Championship Series, helping the Dodgers to win their first World Series title in over 30 years.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers were slammed 15-0 by the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night, thereby earning the Giants their sixth straight victory. While the Giants’ largest win over the Dodgers since a 19-3 win on September 14, 2013, this is the Dodgers’ largest shutout defeat since 1898 against Pittsburgh, when the team was still based in Brooklyn.

In what has been a disastrous season so far for the Dodgers, this is the team’s second double-digit shutout defeat this year. The first came in a 13-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on April 21.

LaMonte Wade Jr. proved to be the Giants’ stand-out player on the night, smashing a three-run homer, while J.D. Davis impressed with a pinch-hit grand slam of his own.

“The offense was rolling, just putting balls in play against a really good pitcher,” Davis said of the Giants’ performance. “A lot of guys coming back in the dugout were complimenting him on how great of stuff he was and how we needed to make the adjustments.”

Following their emphatic win, the Giants are now just one game behind their West Coast rivals in the NL West. The Arizona Diamondbacks remain on top with 43-28, while the Dodgers and the Giants trail at 39-32 and 38-32 respectively.

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Left-hander Noah Syndergaard has agreed to a one-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, sources confirmed on Thursday. This deal sees him join a rotation including All-Stars Julio Urías, Clayton Kershaw, and Tony Gonsolin.

Now aged 30, Syndergaard is looking to hit top form as he enters the latter stages of his career. With a history of getting the most out of talented pitchers, the Dodgers are expected to be a good fit for Syndergaard.

Syndergaard comes to the Dodgers after spending last season with the Angels on a one-year, $21 million deal before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies on deadline day. During his time with both teams, Syndergaard threw 134⅔ innings, posting a 3.94 ERA in the process.

While Syndergaard is yet to regain his peak form, last season served as a respectable comeback for a player who was ruled out for the entirety of 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery.

The Dodgers will hope that Syndergaard can serve as a suitable replacement for fellow left-hander Tyler Anderson, who departed for the Angels on a $39 million one-year deal. Anderson thrived at the Dodgers last season, posting a 2.57 ERA in 178⅔ innings.

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It appears that the Los Angeles Dodgers don’t think their star outfielder Cody Bellinger could turn things around after disappointing performances in the past several seasons. The franchise announced late last week that they had non-tendered Bellinger, making him a free agent.

The 2019’s NL MVP and the Dodgers previously avoided arbitration ahead of the 2022 season and settled on a one-year deal worth $17 million. Bellinger was set to earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 million next year.

Despite declining to give Bellinger a new contract, the Dodgers might be interested in keeping the 27-year-old player around if they miss out on their targets in free agency. However, any potential deal would likely be at a much lower number compared to this past season.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say that this is a closing of the chapter of Cody and the Dodgers,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said about the decision.

If the Dodgers don’t return for Bellinger, he might settle for a one-year, prove-it deal with a different franchise. There should be an interest in him, especially if teams believe he can recapture some of his old magic with a change of scenery.

 When he entered the majors, Cody Bellinger looked like he will be the next legendary Dodger. He earned an All-Star nod in his rookie career before winning the NL MVP honors in 2019. After that, however, things went sideways for Scottsdale, Arizona.

Bellinger has been struggling with injuries and productivity since his MVP campaign wrapped up. This was especially the case in 2021 when he only played 95 games, batting .165 and hitting 10 homers. He launched 19 home runs in 2022, but his batting average of .210 was still far below expected.

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It will be the Los Angeles Dodgers who live to tell the story of the clash between the two winningest teams in the 2021 MLB season. The Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants in a thriller on Thursday night and punched the ticket for their fifth NL Championship Series appearance in six years.

After five scoreless innings, the Dodgers finally broke the tie at the top of the sixth when shortstop Corey Seager doubled to the left and All-Star Mookie Betts scored.  But the Giants didn’t take long to respond, with first baseman Darin Ruf hitting a 452 home run. This was the longest homer of the postseason so far.

The deadlock was broken again thanks to Cody Bellinger’s RBI single at the top of the ninth.

Then it was up to Max Scherzer, a starter in the Game 3 loss, to take it home. Scherzer delivered by pitching a hitless inning, earning a save, and propelling the Dodgers to NLCS.

“To be in that moment, with everything on the line, with the way we’ve been playing this whole series, to get the ball in that situation, man, that was a rush,” said Scherzer after the game.

“We poured everything we could into this series, and it took everything we had to beat these guys,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts added.

The Dodgers now only have the Atlanta Braves standing in the way of their return to the World Series. The Giants, on the other hand, have ended their 107-win season earlier than expected and will have to wait until 2022 to end their NLCS drought.

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After two thrilling series which required 7 games to decide the champion of each respective league, the 2020 World Series matchup is finally set and will kick off on Tuesday night.

The two top seeds in the 2020 Postseason will face off, with the AL’s Tampa Bay Rays taking on the NL’s Los Angeles Dodgers. This matchup of 40+ win teams is the first time that the two top seeds have faced off in the Fall Classic since 2013 when the Boston Red Sox defeated the St. Louis Cardinals.

Let’s break down the World Series matchup and pick a winner, shall we?

Offense

The Los Angeles Dodgers led the Major Leagues in wRC+ during the regular season (122), hitting the most home runs in the league (118) and posting an enviable .338 on-base percentage. LA’s lineup did all of this despite an off season from 2019 NL MVP Cody Bellinger, who might have woken up after hitting a game-winning home run in Game 7 of the NLCS.

The Rays have many strengths, and Kevin Cash knows how to get the best of platoon advantages and a roster without any offensive superstars. They were an above-average regular season offense but lack the punch that the Dodgers have. They are clearly the weaker side on offense.

Advantage: Dodgers

Pitching

The Rays and Dodgers both excel at pitching, as they finished the regular season 3rd and 1st in the Majors in ERA. The Dodgers have a deep rotation and bullpen anchored by future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw and a whole stable of young, talented arms like Walker Buehler, Brusdar Graterol, and Dustin May.

Tampa might not have the big names that LA does, but they are good enough to go toe-to-toe in this facet of the game. Tyler Glasnow and Charlie Morton are a heck of a one-two punch at the top of the rotation, and a bullpen led by Nick Anderson, arguably the Majors’ best reliever in 2020, is nothing to sneeze at either.

Advantage: Push

Defense

This is the one facet of the game where Tampa has a clear advantage. The Rays, buoyed by a stable of excellent defensive players and a strategy which emphasizes shifting and positioning to get the best out of those players, had the best defensive record in MLB based on UZR/150 (10.6) and the fifth-best total of defensive runs saved (24).

The Dodgers are a super team, but their Achilles’ heel can be their defense at times. Located near the bottom of MLB’s defensive rankings, Mookie Betts’s excellence in right field isn’t enough to make up for holes that other players like Corey Seager (SS) and Max Muncy (1B) have.

Advantage: Rays

Prediction

The Rays have made history by qualifying for the World Series with the 3rd-lowest payroll in baseball, and they are a genuinely excellent team. They can pitch and play defense with anyone, but they haven’t come up against a hot Dodgers team which is firing on all cylinders like this one yet.

The Dodgers are a super team, filled with MVP-level talent, playoff experience, and generational talent. Tampa Bay will put up a fight, no doubt, but I just cannot see a situation in which Los Angeles’s talent doesn’t rise to the top and lead them to their first World Series crown since 1988.

Dodgers in 6 Games

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LA Dodgers will return to World Series for their third appearance in four years. Dodgers secured their spot by beating Atlanta Braves 4-3 in the deciding NLCS Game 7 on Sunday night and capping off an unlikely comeback after being down 1-3 in the series.

It didn’t start well for the Dodgers, as they found themselves trailing 0-2 after Marcell Ozuna and Dansby Swanson hit home runs for Braves in the first two innings. Will Smith’s two-run single equaled the game in the third, but Atlanta immediately took the lead back with Austin Riley’s single.

Still, Brave couldn’t hold on to the lead that would bring the franchise its first World Series appearance since 1999.

Enrique Hernandez hit a pinch-hit homer in the sixth to tie it once again, while 2019’s NL MVP Cody Bellinger completed the comeback in the seventh inning with another lights-out home run.

“We never gave up,” said MVP of the series Corey Seager. “This team never quit. We came out every night and expected to win. Tip your cap to that clubhouse and how we responded, how we came back. We always found the energy, found the big play, found the big spark. Whether it was defensively, offensively, pitching, we grinded through that series. It was a lot of fun to be on top of that one.”

The LA Dodgers will now face the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series in an attempt to win their first title in 33 years. Dodgers got close in 2018 and 2019 but got beaten by Houston Astros and Boston Red Sox, respectively.

“The World Series is the World Series, no matter what year you get there—’17 happened, ’18 happened. We fell short; now we are back,” added Enrique Hernandez. “The past is in the past—this one feels super special because it is in front of us, and it is happening.”

Dodgers were the best team in baseball in the regular season, finishing with a 43-17 record. And they managed to translate their claim in the postseason so far, but it won’t count for anything if they can’t deliver in the World Series.

The World Series, which will see Dodgers face Tampa Bay Rays, kicks off on October 20 at Arlington’s Globe Life Field.

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After more than two decades in the MLB, former Texas Rangers third baseman Adrian Beltre announced his retirement on Tuesday, saying he came to the decision after “careful consideration and many sleepless nights.”

“After careful consideration and many sleepless nights, I have made the decision to retire from what I’ve been doing for my whole life, which is playing baseball, the game I love,” Beltre said in a statement. “I have thought about it a lot and although I appreciate all the opportunities and everything that baseball has given me, it’s time to call it a career.”

A native of the Dominican Republic, Beltre’s record in the league places him in a good position to get into the Hall of Fame. In addition to being a four-time all-star player, Beltre made 3,166 hits, 16^th best of all time. Had he played a bit longer, the 39-year-old was poised to join the top ten in all-time hits, passing Cal Ripkin Jr.’s 3,184 hits.

Although a series of injuries have often derailed the third baseman, his 2,933 games rank him 14^th in the most games played by an active player. Beltre spent all his career with four teams. He made his debuted for the LA Dodgers in 1998 and lasted for seven years. He had a spell in Seattle that lasted five years, one year with the Red Sox and then the Rangers.

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The Boston Red Sox beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 in Sunday’s Game 5 to become the 2018 World Series champions for the ninth time. The best of sevens tournament ended with four wins for Boston and one win for the Dodgers.

Needing a single victory to become the 2018 World Series champions, the Red Sox hit two runs in the first inning to start the game in a dramatic fashion.

Steve Pearce was heroic on Sunday as his eighth-inning home run was decisive in the win over Los Angeles. “You grow up wishing you could be part of something like this,” Pearce said of the win. “This has been a lifelong journey. To be here right now is a dream come true.”

The Red Sox have been phenomenal this year, winning 108 games in the regular season and 12 in the playoffs. Their 119 wins are a new record for the franchise and only the third highest winning team in baseball’s history. The other two teams are the 2001 Mariners’ team that won 120 games and the 1998 Yankees squad that won a total of 125 games.

For the Dodgers, Sunday’s loss was their second consecutive defeat in the World Series after losing last year’s tournament to Houston. They haven’t won the World Series since 1988 and things could get worse if star pitcher Clayton Kershaw opts out of the final two years of his $65 million contract. He has until Wednesday to make that decision.

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The Los Angeles Dodgers played deep into Tuesday night to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 and level their scores in Game 4 of the NCLS 2-2.

In a tight, low-scoring game, LA’s Cody Bellinger recorded two-out singles at the expense of Junior Guerra and Manny Machado to help his team snatch a 2-1 victory in the 13^th winning. Despite the win, the Dodgers came into the game with only two runs in 23 innings.

While anticipating Clayton Kershaw’s presence in Game 6, Bellinger believes better things are bound to come for his team.

“We’ve got Kershaw on the mound tomorrow,” Bellinger said, “We like our chances.”

The Dodgers opened the match in style with a first-inning home run. Gio Gonzalez walked a batter and then made a hit with runner Brian Dozier in scoring position. Gonzalez did not last in the game though. He twisted his ankle in the second inning before rookie Freddy Peralta substituted him.

The Brewer’s got their first hit in the fourth inning when Jesus Aguilar singled Rich Hill’s pitch. But the Dodger had the better of players. Almost every player from LA had turned up for the match but scores hardly came by. The Dodgers and the Brewers will face off again three times to complete the NCLS series.

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