Image Credit [AP Photo]
The Major League Baseball season came to an end this week, as the Los Angeles Dodgers lost their second successive World Series, this time to Boston.
It was a comfortable victory in the end for the Red Sox, who won the best-of-seven series 4-1 overall after a 5-1 win in Los Angeles on Sunday night. It is the second straight loss for the Dodgers in the World Series, who were forced to watch the opposition celebrate on their home field once again – after the Houston Astros won in LA last year.
For the Red Sox, it is their fourth World Series in 15 years, with owner John Henry declaring this year’s team, “the best Red Sox team in history” as they bring the Commissioner’s Trophy back to Fenway Park once again.
The game itself was always in Red Sox hands, who proved too strong for the Dodgers, particularly pitcher David Price, who was in stellar form after initially surrendering a home run on his first pitch. From that moment on, he retired 14 consecutive batters and limited the Dodgers to just one run in seven innings, effectively winning Boston the World Series.
It had been a grueling series for the Dodgers, whose only win in the series came after the longest ever World Series game in history in game 3 at Dodger Stadium, where LA emerged victorious after an 18 inning marathon, which stretched across two days, totaling seven hours of baseball.
The collapse that followed in game 4, where LA blew a 4-0 lead to go down 9-6, would no doubt have added to the physical fatigue felt heading into game 5 on Sunday night.
For Boston, the World Series capped off a fantastic season for one of baseball’s biggest franchises, who recorded 108 wins in the regular season, dispatching their biggest rival, the New York Yankees in the American League division series, with some calling it the biggest rivalry in sports. As a result, it will be a season that is etched in an already storied franchise’s history.
It is now 31 years since the Dodgers won the World Series, and Los Angeles sports fans will now have to turn their attention away from baseball and towards LeBron James and the Lakers and the undefeated Rams in the NFL.
Cian Fox