The greatest! Dodgers overwhelm Yankees to win 8th World Series title

NEW YORK – The quiet, gloomy Bronx was suddenly bathed in happy, dancing blue, a screaming crowd jumping and jumping, throwing themselves into history.

The Dodgers did it. They really did it.

The hallowed New York Yankees stood frozen in their dugout, stripped of their aura and beaten to their very being, pinstripe by pinstripe painfully destroyed.

The Dodgers did it. They really did it.

The team that is suffocating has swallowed swords. The team that collapses breathes fire. Baseball's most gnashing big team chewed through a legacy of frustration on an October night that was once unforgettable but will now live on forever.

The Dodgers won the World Series. They really won the World Series.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman heads home in the fifth inning of Game 5 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.

(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)

They didn't just win it, they dominated it, they weakened it, they fucking owned it, pulling off a five-game victory over the disintegrating Yankees with a five-run comeback and With a 7:6 win, the title ended four games to one.

While it ended here with a joyful group hug from the Dodgers that turned this weathered urban field into a blue heaven on earth, on the other side of the country all hell certainly broke loose, the celebration of a connection that 2,792 miles couldn't destroy.

Los Angeles, dance with your Dodgers. Hug your neighbor in the Koufax jersey, yell at Fernando, Scully and Lasorda, maybe even cry a little. It's okay, you deserve it, you deserve it. You weren't here for the destination, but you were here for the journey, the best fans in baseball, filling Chavez Canyon all summer long and shaking the old stadium with your unconditional support, your sustained roar and your love .

Yes, the Dodgers really did it, in a way that no Dodgers team from Jackie to Bulldog to Kershaw had ever done before.

This was the greatest team in Los Angeles Dodgers history, enjoyed the greatest postseason in Dodgers history and cemented the greatest Dodgers dynasty.

World Series Most Valuable Player Freddie Freeman struck out, Mookie Betts fumbled, Teoscar Hernández sprayed, Tommy Edman slid and Shohei Ohtani, with sore shoulders, made a difference by simply standing.

This was a shaky rotation that turned into gold and a bullpen that turned into steel, with Blake Treinen striking out late and Walker Buehler providing the finishing touches with a strikeout from Alex Verdugo.

This was traditional Dodgers talent mixed with newfound Dodgers talent. This explosive combination exploded across the baseball world, leaving teams from the Pacific Ocean to the Hudson River in shambles.

This was Los Angeles' seventh championship and eighth in franchise history, its first since the shortened season in 2020 and its first full-season title since 1988.

Most encouragingly, due to COVID-19 emptying stadiums in 2020, the Dodgers are playing their title in front of home fans for the first time since the Orel Hershiser-led group 36 years ago, which means they are also their first parade since then.

How cool is it that they will be hosting the celebration on Friday? This is the birthday of the late Fernando Valenzuela, who died three days before the start of the World Series and whose inspiration was visible on the patch of his uniform and in his fight.

Dodgers players cheer as outfielder Teoscar Hernández (37) hits a single in the ninth inning of Game 5 of the World Series against the Yankees on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium.

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times)

All in all, the 2024 Dodgers season was a vision fulfilled and a promise kept, finally fully living up to the expectations that came with 12 consecutive playoff berths, including 11 National League West titles.

All that hardware and just one damn crown so far, as Wednesday's emotional ending capped a crazy, captivating journey through their best fall ever.

Against the San Diego Padres, they trailed until their last out and then won two straight games to clinch the National League Division Series.

They topped the New York Mets 46-22 and won the National League Championship Series in six games, in which the Dodgers pitching staff went on a scoreless streak of 33 innings.

They defeated the Yankees in Game 1 of the World Series with a walkoff grand slam by Freeman and never looked back, giving up Game 4 to ruin a sweep but recovering to finish it off in Game 5.

Phew. Gasp. Screams. Tears. The Dodgers have never had four weeks like this.

Yes, the 1963 Dodgers defeated the Mickey Mantle-Whitey Ford Yankees in the World Series, but that postseason lasted a week.

In fact, the Dodgers stunned both the heavily favored Mets and Oakland Athletics in 1988 to win the title, but that postseason only lasted two rounds.

This fall was the ultimate obstacle course for a group that began the season as the ultimate team, stumbled with countless injuries throughout the journey, and finally overcame the ultimate hurdle on its head with the toughness commensurate with the talent.

The titles of the greatest Los Angeles Dodgers team and the best postseason Dodgers are solidified, and their two championships and four pennants in the last eight years also make them the greatest Dodgers dynasty.

“My ultimate, big goal, so to speak, is that when we're done, we can look back and say this was the golden era of Dodger baseball,” baseball president Andrew Friedman said.

No reason to look back. It's true now. This is the golden era of Dodgers baseball.

Fittingly, it reached that peak this fall with major contributions from the three leaders who have spent the last decade trying to win this thing.

It begins with Mark Walter, the low-profile chairman and majority owner of the Dodgers, as managing director of Guggenheim Partners.

Walter isn't around often, but his wallet never goes away, and with his approval, the Dodgers have one of the highest payrolls in baseball every year. That winter, he signed more than $1 billion in contracts for artists like Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and you know what happened next.

Ohtani was the best player in the National League and the biggest difference between this successful playoff team and the failures of the past; Witness his home run in NLDS Game 1 that got this party started. Yamamoto was injured most of the summer, but he beat the Padres in the NLDS elimination game and was a revelation in October.

Walter's generosity was matched by the renowned acumen of Friedman, baseball's finest manager, who had an outstanding season that far surpassed even the signings of Ohtani and Yamamoto.

Don't forget that Friedman also signed Teoscar Hernández, the team's second MVP, last winter. Then, at the summer trade deadline, he tripled down by trading for Edman, Michael Kopech and Jack Flaherty, all three big October contributors.

The Dodgers' final win in Game 5 over the New York Yankees secures the 2024 World Series title.

Eventually, manager Dave Roberts brought the talents of Walter and Friedman together and rose from the top to a possible spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame, deftly leading this diverse group to his second title in nine seasons.

During a summer filled with pitching injuries and intrigue surrounding Betts' position, Roberts was a constant force, consistently positive, unwaveringly consistent, and ultimately steering the team through waters that occasionally gave him problems.

Translated: He managed his October bullpen superbly, pushing all the right buttons and deftly leading them through four bullpen-only games necessitated by starting pitching injuries.

“I think it’s individual,” Roberts said Tuesday as he described his leadership style. “I think that – you know, I just try to have a sense of where they're at and try to get the best out of them.”

He actually got the best out of them. After a month that was once hell and suddenly became heaven, their best was more than enough to finally earn them the title of baseball's best.

The Dodgers won the World Series. They really won the World Series.