NLCS Game 6: Dodgers show determination, star power and depth by defeating Mets and reaching World Series

LOS ANGELES – It's often lip service when teams say their goal is to win the World Series every year. Actually, most teams are happy with a postseason appearance. But for the Dodgers, winning the World Series every year is not just their goal and their mantra. It is also their sole focus.

The Dodgers spend more than other teams. They develop players better than other teams. And over the last decade, they have become the best organization in the sport. When it comes to improving their roster, it's never enough for the Dodgers.

Given their payroll and star-studded roster, it's no big secret that the Dodgers either win or fail in the World Series. But to win the World Series, you first have to get there.

For the fourth time in eight seasons, the Dodgers have accomplished at least that much. On Sunday, they secured a spot in the Fall Classic against the Yankees by defeating the Mets 10-5 at home in Game 6 of the NLCS to reach the World Series for the first time since 2020.

“It feels like we've finally arrived, I've finally arrived,” Shohei Ohtani said after securing his first World Series berth in his first season as a Dodger. “A lot of the games we played were really tough and hard to win. It was truly a team effort to get here.”

After losing two games to one to the Padres in the NLDS, the Dodgers made a significant change and their season was on the line. They seemed to realize that one name wouldn't save their season, but 26 names would.

From then on, the Dodgers were a team on a mission. They defeated their rival Padres in five games and faced their next test: the New York Mets and their magical season.

Beating the red-hot Mets would require a similar level of determination as the Dodgers did when they defeated San Diego. The mindset that all 26 players were important came into play immediately, as star first baseman Freddie Freeman continued to be bothered by an ankle injury and the rotation appeared to be in flux.

While it would have been easy for a team with so many injuries to make excuses, LA didn't let up on the punches and kept finding ways to win. And with a 3-2 NLCS lead Sunday at Dodger Stadium, Game 6 was pretty fitting for this team's journey – both in the regular season and the postseason.

“They showed how tough they are,” manager Dave Roberts said of his team’s determination. “When you get into the situation we were in against a division rival, it becomes a street fight. Lose and go home, or you fight like hell. I think that’s what got us this far in the DS and also allowed us to beat (the Mets) in six games.”

In what is becoming a typical move for the Dodgers this postseason, they used a bullpen game to reach the World Series. One by one, seven relievers went to the mat to limit the damage and trust that the Dodgers' lineup would produce, which it did. Eight of the Dodgers' nine starters recorded a hit and/or a run scored in the Game 6 win.

“They are deep. They’re good,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said after the game. “They have experienced a lot of adversity. Many important parts are missing. And they're still a really good team – that's why they're moving forward. You have to be able to weather the storm and they did. If you look at the team and the entire organization, they have been doing this for a long time, year after year. And that should be our goal.”

Investing in the game's biggest superstars like the Dodgers and acquiring players like Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freeman not only exponentially improves a team, but also increases the margin for error. But what makes these Dodgers unique in baseball is their ability to consistently win on the sidelines and spend money where other teams can't and won't.

Look no further than the man who won NLCS MVP, Tommy Edman.

When the Dodgers traded Edman in a three-way deal with the Cardinals and White Sox that also brought them Michael Kopech, the former Cardinal had yet to play a game this year and was still rehabbing from offseason ankle surgery .

Fast forward to the postseason, and Edman showed exactly why LA acquired him. When he replaced the injured Miguel Rojas in Game 3 of the NLDS, no one knew how big a role he would play over the next ten days. But the versatile Edman not only started every game at shortstop, but also crushed the Mets' pitching in the NLCS, slashing .407/.393/.630 with a home run and 11 RBI, tying him with Corey Seager for the franchise. tied the record in a postseason series. While serving as the team's cleanup hitter, Edman hit a two-run double and a two-run homer in the pennant game.

“We had really good attacks throughout the series. “Our entire lineup was good,” Edman said of LA’s NLCS performance. “We had a lot of guys who could have won MVP. I kept getting together with the guys on base and had a lot of opportunities to bring the guys in.”

Ohtani disagreed. “Tommy is clearly the MVP in my opinion,” he said. “He’s doing things — not just this postseason but during the regular season — and contributing in places where it doesn’t really impact the stats.

“But I think the common theme of this season was that a lot of people brought out different people over the course of the season.”

Now the Dodgers face the New York Yankees in the World Series, with Game 1 taking place on Friday at Chavez Ravine. It will be the first time the two historic franchises have met in the Fall Classic since 1981 and their 12th meeting ever. It is also a rare meeting of the No. 1 seeds from both leagues, as the two teams with the best records in their respective leagues face off.

The Yankees appear to be a real “final contender” for LA, as they can match the star power of the Dodgers as well as any other team in baseball. But as LA learned in its first two postseason series, winning the World Series won't come with one player's Herculean effort.

Rather, their depth is needed now more than ever, especially with Freeman's ankle still an unknown and a patchwork rotation facing its toughest challenge yet against a Yankees rotation that can go four deep.

“This year it seemed like we kept adding the right piece, whether it was free trade, trade, waiver, whatever it was,” Kiké Hernández said. “One right piece at a time, one right piece after the other, to get a ball bat that is not only a complete ball bat, but has the character and the – sorry mom, sorry again – but also the dedication necessary which it takes to endure a 162-game season.”

In everything they've experienced so far, the Dodgers have taken every hit and still ended up exactly where they wanted to be. We'll soon find out if they can do it again in the next round.