Dodgers left: Mookie Betts, Shohei Ohtani, Tommy Edman

The Dodgers overcame a 2-1 series deficit against the San Diego Padres to defeat the New York Mets in six games to set up a World Series duel with the New York Yankees, the 12th time the two teams have met competed against each other in the Classic case.

After a 12-6 Dodgers win in Game 5 on Friday at Citi Field, the momentum was on the Mets' side, but when the series returned to Los Angeles, the Dodgers got to Sean Manaea early and ended up scoring 10 runs in the win their first National League pennant since 2020.

Mookie Betts, who hit .346/.452/.731 with two home runs and nine RBIs in the NLCS, spoke about how much he enjoys playing for the Dodgers as he embarks on the second championship run of his Dodgers career, according to Juan Toribio from MLB.com.

“Every (World Series appearance) is special, but this group of guys, I love these guys,” Mookie Betts said in an interview on FS1. “It's fun to come to work every day. It's fun to fight. It’s just fun being a Dodger.”

Left

Shohei Ohtani experienced the thrill of winning the World Baseball Classic as Team Japan took home the title in 2024. Now he will play in the World Series in his first season as a Dodger and in his first ever postseason run.

When asked what it will be like to face this season's presumptive AL MVP Aaron Judge from 2009 World Series champion Alex Rodriguez, Ohtani expressed through interpreter Will Ireton that the team needs to come together to compete to match the star power that the Yankees have.

“Two really good teams competing against each other. Obviously Judge is a really good player, but so is Soto and a lot of other Yankees players, and so it's going to take all of us to really win the series.”

At the start of the regular season, Tommy Edman was on the 60-day injured list for the St. Louis Cardinals, a team that finished just four games above .500. Now, following the Dodgers' Game 6 victory over the Mets, Edman has been named the 2024 NLCS MVP, his first win since Corey Seager in 2020.

Edman spoke about what it meant to break franchise postseason records, but expressed humility by clarifying that a varying number of players could have won the series MVP award, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register.

“It’s pretty crazy, especially given the history of the organization, to have set this record,” Edman said. “I had no idea about it until I guess after the game. But a big part of that is thanks to the guys on the team. We had really good attacks throughout the series. Our entire lineup was really good. Any number of guys could have won MVP.”