As the 2024 World Series draws near, the question of home field advantage becomes an important topic of discussion. With two strong teams ready to compete for the championship, it’s worth exploring how playing at home can influence the series. Keep reading to find out who has home field advantage, why, and more:
After the Yankees clinched the ALCS, the World Series home-field advantage hinged on the outcome of the NLCS. While the Yankees would have had home field against the Mets, the Dodgers ended up earning the top overall seed among the 12 playoff teams.
As a result, Games 1-2 of the World Series will be held at Dodger Stadium before the series moves to New York.
2024 World Series: Yankees vs. Dodgers Preview | MLB on FOX
How is home field advantage determined?
The team with the better regular-season win percentage will secure home field advantage, regardless of whether they won their division or earned a Wild Card spot. This means they will host Games 1-2 and, if necessary, Games 6-7.
In the event that two teams have identical win percentages, the tiebreaker is their head-to-head record, which can be determined since every team now faces each other at least once during the season.
2024 World Series Schedule
Here’s the schedule for the 120th Fall Classic, with start times yet to be announced. Each game will be broadcast on FOX.
Home field is not as much of an advantage as it has been made out to be.
Teams holding home-field advantage in the World Series during the Wild Card Era (since 1995) have won the championship 19 out of 28 times (67.9% success rate), not counting the 2020 World Series (played at a neutral site). However, when it comes to winner-take-all Game 7s, the impact of home field is less pronounced. Historically, home teams are 19-21 in these critical World Series matchups and 64-66 in all winner-take-all postseason games, which includes wins by the Dodgers and Guardians in their Division Series Game 5s this year.
In the 2023 World Series, the road team performed impressively, going 4-1, with the Rangers securing their first title by winning three consecutive games in Arizona. In 2022, the Astros had home-field advantage against the Phillies but ultimately lost Game 1 at home before clinching the title. The previous year, the Braves triumphed over the Astros despite not having home field, winning both Game 1 and the crucial Game 6 in enemy territory. Adding to the mix, the 2019 World Series saw the Nationals defeat the Astros in a seven-game series where the home team failed to win a single game.
How has home field advantage historically been decided?
The current system for determining World Series home-field advantage, based on overall win percentage, was implemented in 2017. Notably, there have been four different sets of rules for home-field advantage in the 21st century alone.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted significant changes to the 2020 MLB season, including adjustments for the World Series. For the first time ever, the 116th World Series between the Dodgers and Rays took place at a neutral site—Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas—as part of MLB’s efforts to reduce exposure to the virus. This marked the first Fall Classic played at a single stadium since 1944, when the Browns and Cardinals competed at their shared venue, Sportsman’s Park in St. Louis.
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The magic ran out, but the movement has just begun.
It’s different for the New York Mets to say the season didn’t end in a total collapse with players and staff alike proud of what they delivered across 175 games — and for the fan base to be right there with them, believing it.
After all, the 2024 Mets advanced to the playoffs for the first time in eight years and vanquished the Braves, the Brewers, and the Phillies on the way. They took the superteam Dodgers to Game 6 of the National League Championship Series, despite projection systems giving them a 5% chance to win the NLDS, let alone come within two wins of the World Series.
Once their unexpected and iconic season finally ended in Los Angeles on Sunday night, there remained a handful of legitimate reasons for the Mets to look ahead with optimism and hope. Let’s take a moment to examine how this season’s heroics have set the Mets up to be consistent contenders, with a new standard for success to achieve annually.
That’s how first baseman Pete Alonso described the 24-year-old Vientos, who was left off the Opening Day roster and fought his way to the starting third base job by the middle of May. Once Vientos was in the majors for good this year, he never let his OPS drop under .837 across 111 regular-season games. He was solid on defense at a tough position in which he had only 21 games of MLB experience before this year. Then he raised his own level this October, crushing five home runs, collecting 24 RBIs, batting .327 and posting a .998 OPS across 13 playoff games.
“When I’m talking about some of our younger players and the way they develop, he’s right there at the top,” manager Carlos Mendoz told reporters of Vientos in Los Angeles on Sunday. “It wasn’t easy for him. Had to fight for an opportunity. He finally got it and ran with it. And when you look at the numbers in the regular season, he’s a big part, a big reason why we got to this point and then the playoffs.”
Vientos, a couple of years removed from his September 2022 MLB debut, exceeded expectations with his consistency this year. The Plantation, Fla. product showed the kind of makeup and put on the type of performance that a front office can start building around. Whether the powers that be will decide Vientos’ future is at third base largely depends on if the Mets can strike a deal with Alonso, who is imminently approaching free agency.
But regardless of Vientos’ infield position, the Mets should not hesitate to take a page from their Atlanta division rivals and lock him up to a long-term deal. In the span of a season, Vientos’ outlook went from let’s see what he can provide, to genuine excitement for the foreseeable future.
2. Money — lots of money — is coming off the books, and the farm is sprouting
Last winter, the Mets gambled on one-year deals for Sean Manaea and Luis Serverino, both of whom became essential pieces in their deep playoff run. Now, New York is in a good position where both starters would love to come back, and there is an intriguing top free-agent arm in Corbin Burnes to consider adding to the rotation. Pitchers who are on the books for 2025 include: Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Tylor Megill, Paul Blackburn, and Jose Butto.
Plus, the Mets will have more financial wiggle room with a ton of money coming off the books. Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer were owed over $57 million combined in 2024 and that will no longer be the case next year. The Mets finished this season with an estimated $336 million payroll, and that number is expected to be slashed to around $170 million heading into next month’s free agency, per FanGraphs.
But the organization’s long-term goal has always been to build a sustainable contender through critical free-agent pickups as well as farm-system development. We saw some of that vision come to fruition this year, thanks to Luisangel Acuña’s encouraging MLB debut and Vientos’ noted ascension. Next year, New York’s top pitching prospect Brandon Sproat should be in the mix as a possible rotation addition, as well as potential roster upgrades from top infielders Ronny Mauricio and Jett Williams and top outfield prospect Drew Gilbert.
As Francisco Lindor said Sunday, “There’s something special going on here.”
This year’s roster provided a taste of how far the organization can go when blending core veterans (Lindor, Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz and Starling Marte) with up-and-coming youngsters (Francisco Alvarez, Vientos and Acuńa). That concept should be back in play for years to come for these Mets.
3. The new regime is in sync
The trifecta of owner Steve Cohen, new president of baseball operations David Stearns and first-year manager Mendoza formed an excellent, stable foundation for the organization to continue building off of. Cohen got more involved in the day-to-day, becoming more visible and approachable to his staff members and players. Stearns did what he does best, stuffing the Mets roster on the margins with savvy moves and setting up the runway that allowed the team to finish two wins away from the World Series. Mendoza’s calm and well-balanced attitude, particularly in times of deep distress and ultimate highs, formed a sense of fearlessness within the clubhouse.
In the end, it all led to respect. The Mets this season became a normal organization — a place that free-agent players would love to come play for — maybe Juan Soto? — especially those who have something to prove; a family that doesn’t just mind a little fun, but will lean into the eccentricities that allow people to be themselves and push their efforts to the ultimate limit; and a team that won’t dwell in the basement, but will fight its way out because the benchmark is a championship.
There is legitimate trust and a complete buy-in from players and staff members who operate under Cohen, Stearns and Mendoza. Those three leaders made it not only believable that the Mets’ success can be sustainable, but they will make sure of it. The Mets have made the postseason in back-to-back years just twice (1999-2000, 2015-2016) in the franchise’s history. The new regime has made it possible to consider, for perhaps the first time ever, that the Mets can commit to doing what they did this year on an annual basis.
“I just told the guys how proud I was because, not only we became a really good team, we became a family,” Mendoza said. “And now we raised the bar. Expectations now, this is what we should strive for every year, to be playing deep into October. And we showed that this year.”
Deesha Thosar is an MLB reporter for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.
The World Series is the pinnacle of Major League Baseball, showcasing the best teams in their quest for the championship title. With a history spanning over a century, certain franchises have consistently excelled, securing their places in baseball lore. Keep reading for a complete list of teams with the most World Series titles and more.
2024 World Series: Yankees vs. Dodgers Preview | MLB on FOX
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Which team has won the most World Series titles?
The New York Yankees have won the most World Series titles, with an impressive count of 27. The Yankees completed this impressive feat in 1923, ’27, ’28, ’32, ’36, ’37, ’38, ’39, ’41, ’43, ’47, ’49, ’50, ’51, ’52, ’53, ’56, ’58, ’61, ’62, ’77, ’78, ’96, ’98, ’99, 2000, and 2009. The Yankees will look to make their number 28 as they compete against the Dodgers in the 2024 World Series.
Teams with no World Series titles:
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LOS ANGELES — When Shohei Ohtani met with the Dodgers‘ brass in the offseason, baseball’s most coveted free agent was allured not only by a superstar roster and an auspicious farm system but also by the way the club thought about the past, a decade of sustained success that included 10 straight trips to the postseason. Despite all the winning, they had only one World Series ring from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to show for it. They told him they considered it a failure.
Those words stuck with Ohtani when the two-way sensation chose where to spend the next decade of his life. He believed so much in the group constructing the Dodgers’ operation that he tied his future to their decision-makers. A clause in his record 10-year, $700 million contract stipulated that the only way he could opt out is if owner Mark Walter or president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman left the team. He trusted the leaders of the Dodgers to build a winner, and when he deferred $680 million from the most lucrative contract in the sport’s history, pressure mounted on them to do so immediately.
“It was important to Shohei that this wasn’t the one move we were going to make,” Friedman said.
Ten months later, the Dodgers bested the Mets on Sunday to return to the World Series for the first time in four years — not only because of Ohtani, who has thrived in his first postseason and is likely to add a third MVP trophy to his mantle this year, or the other superstars they added in the winter, but also because of the medley of moves Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office made to complete a roster in flux.
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“This is as challenging of a season, in terms of the injuries and adversity and things that popped up, as I can remember,” Friedman, soaked in a concoction of Korbel champagne and Budweiser, said from the home clubhouse Sunday night.
After signing Ohtani in December, the Dodgers upped their free-agent spending over $1 billion by adding pitchers Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto late that month. In January, they brought in Teoscar Hernández on a one-year, $23.5 million deal and watched him develop into an All-Star and Home Run Derby champion. They already had three other former MVPs on the roster in Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw, who was expected to return from offseason shoulder surgery in the second half.
And yet on Sunday night at Dodger Stadium, it was a bullpen game and an unheralded midseason addition that would send them to the World Series with a 10-5 win in Game 6 of the NLCS.
“We have so many different guys who can come through on any given day,” NLCS MVP Tommy Edman said. “I think that’s why we’re so successful.”
For all the money the Dodgers spent, they could never have imagined their playoff roster would look the way it does, with only one starting pitcher from the Opening Day roster available, with only three starting pitchers they can trust to start games in Yamamoto, midseason acquisition Jack Flaherty and a rebounding Walker Buehler, and with Freeman and shortstop Miguel Rojas too hobbled to play.
The Dodgers lost Betts for nearly two months and Yamamoto for nearly three. Kershaw returned from his shoulder issue in July only for his toe to sideline him down the stretch after making just seven starts. Young standout starting pitchers Gavin Stone, Dustin May, River Ryan and Emmet Sheehan were all lost for the year, too.
“This is as determined of a group as I’ve been around,” Friedman said, “and they needed every ounce of it.”
The moves Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes made at the trade deadline ended up turning depth pieces into starring contributors.
A day before trading for the most coveted starting pitcher on the market in Flaherty, the Dodgers swung a three-team deal to acquire a struggling reliever and a versatile position player who hadn’t played all season. Three months later, Michael Kopech would start the bullpen game that would send the Dodgers to the World Series, while Edman would knock in four runs from manager Dave Roberts’ cleanup spot in the Game 6 clincher.
“It’s something that you always think about, always dream about,” Edman said. “It’s not necessarily something I was expecting.”
Flaherty went from an important depth piece in the rotation to the club’s most-trusted headliner on the mound. Edman helped lengthen a lineup that needed help both in the outfield and at shortstop. The addition of Kopech, who emerged as one of Roberts’ most trusted high-leverage arms, assisted a scuffling bullpen.
But the injuries seemed endless, threatening to derail the Dodgers’ hopes.
“I think there were times during the year with some of the injuries that we had where it was a little bit deflating,” Friedman said. “I think Doc did a great job getting in front of that and pumping some enthusiasm and optimism into the group.”
In September, the Dodgers found out an elbow issue would officially end Glasnow’s All-Star season. At the time, the Dodgers had just dropped two straight games in Atlanta. The Padres and Diamondbacks were closing in on their division lead. Roberts could sense his players were starting to get demoralized.
So he gathered them together for a meeting that Hernández said “changed everything.”
“We realized that we have the potential, that we have the players, that we’re still the Dodgers,” Hernández said.
“I just got a feeling that there was some kind of a little, ‘Woe is me,'” Roberts explained, “and that’s just not who we are.”
The skipper shared a message that he couldn’t believe in his players more than they believed in themselves.
“We had a meeting and said, ‘Guys, look around, we still have Hall of Famers in this room, we still have All-Stars in this room, we have guys that were paid a lot of money in this room, we can still do this,'” Max Muncy explained.
The Dodgers went 11-3 the rest of the season, holding off the Padres, who would later push them to the brink in the NLDS.
Facing elimination in San Diego, the players got together again in the visiting clubhouse of Petco Park to spread a similar message, laced with a few more four-letter words.
That day, Edman filled in for the injured Rojas at shortstop while a group of relievers linked together to hold the Padres off the board in a bullpen game. The Dodgers returned home and spun another shutout started by Yamamoto in the deciding Game 5, ensuring this team was different, more together, more resilient, than the two before it that had bowed out in stunning first-round exits.
“When you’re in that dugout this time of year, if you’re not together as a team, you can tell night and day,” Muncy said. “When you’re talking about 13, 14, 15 guys in that dugout, and they’re all hanging on every pitch, hanging on every single swing with you in the batter’s box, and you can hear them and you can feel them, it makes a big difference.”
The Dodgers outscored the Padres 10-0 in the final two games of the series, then outscored the Mets by 20 runs in the NLCS while plating a series-record 46 runs. And in a series full of former and hopeful MVPs, it was Edman, a deadline addition who didn’t play his first game this year until Aug. 19, who led everyone with 11 hits and 11 RBI.
“You’re talking about a guy that’s Gold Glove level at numerous positions, bats from both sides, steals bases, lays down bunts, gets hits, hits for power,” Muncy said. “You’re talking about an absolute gamer.”
Edman was a league-average hitter with a plus glove at multiple defensive positions in his five years with the Cardinals. This year, offseason wrist surgery and an ankle sprain during his rehab sidelined him for the entire first half. Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office were undeterred. They still wanted him, as they had for years.
“To know that I was valued and coveted by them, it’s a good feeling,” Edman said. “It gives me confidence.”
Down the stretch, he played primarily center field and offered Rojas the ability to get off his feet at shortstop. On six different occasions, he played both positions in the same game. That ability is especially crucial now. After starting in center the first three games of the NLDS, Edman has played shortstop every game since. He has also hit in five different spots in the Dodgers’ order this postseason.
“I never imagined once we acquired him, he’d be hitting fourth in a postseason game,” Roberts said. “But I trust him. The guys trust him.”
With the Mets turning to lefty Sean Manaea, it allowed the switch-hitting Edman to hit from the right side, where he has excelled this year. On Sunday, he delivered a two-run double his first time up and a two-run homer his next time up. The Dodgers tagged the Mets for 10 runs for the second time in three games, while their fourth game with at least eight runs tied another postseason record.
Edman’s 11 RBIs in the NLCS tied him with Corey Seager (2020 NLCS) for the most in a postseason series by a Dodgers player. Kopech, meanwhile, became a key piece of a makeshift pitching staff that at one point tied a playoff record with 33 consecutive scoreless innings pitched, dating back to the end of the NLDS.
The Dodgers’ scoreless innings streak ended in Game 2 of the NLCS, when a bullpen game went awry. On Sunday, Roberts utilized the strategy again to better effect, having saved most of his most trusted arms for the occasion.
“To go from a season that I was struggling on a team that was struggling, to be able to have success on a team that’s having a lot of success means the world to me,” Kopech said. “To be a part of this, where guys are doing what they’re doing, guys like Shohei, Mookie and Freddie putting his whole body on the line to go out there and play for as much as he can this postseason, for guys like Tommy to show up and be more than a role player and be the star that I think he is, it’s really special.”
Entering Game 6, Kopech, Evan Phillips and Daniel Hudson had each pitched only once this series, not only keeping them fresh but also limiting their exposure to Mets hitters. Blake Treinen and Anthony Banda were plenty rested, too. With the offense exploding for 10 runs, the bullpen game’s five runs would suffice.
Ohtani reached base three times and scored twice. Hernández, who was hitless in the first five games, and Will Smith snapped out of their slumps. Betts had an RBI double in the eighth that put the game away. And there was Edman, who had multiple hits for a third straight game.
“You look at what happened in the offseason, you sign Shohei, and you’ve got so many superstars on the team, it’s kind of the expectation to have success,” Edman said. “I think to have those expectations and come through on all those is impressive and says a lot about the group we have here.”
In an MLB season without a 100-game winner, a ravaged Dodgers club still emerged as the top seed in the National League with the best record in baseball. Beyond their superstars, some shrewd deadline additions and a bevy of relief arms helped mask their deficiencies to start the postseason.
Now, a marquee matchup against the American League’s top seed awaits, with the Dodgers and Yankees meeting Friday in the first World Series clash between the storied franchises since 1981.
“You’re talking about the absolute biggest stars in the game, and now they’re going to be playing on the biggest stage,” Muncy said. “As a fan, how special is this, man?
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
LOS ANGELES — When Shohei Ohtani met with the Dodgers‘ brass in the offseason, baseball’s most coveted free agent was allured not only by a superstar roster and an auspicious farm system but also by the way the club thought about the past, a decade of sustained success that included 10 straight trips to the postseason. Despite all the winning, they had only one World Series ring from the pandemic-shortened 2020 season to show for it. They told him they considered it a failure.
Those words stuck with Ohtani when the two-way sensation chose where to spend the next decade of his life. He believed so much in the group constructing the Dodgers’ operation that he tied his future to their decision-makers. A clause in his record 10-year, $700 million contract stipulated that the only way he could opt out is if owner Mark Walter or president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman left the team. He trusted the leaders of the Dodgers to build a winner, and when he deferred $680 million from the most lucrative contract in the sport’s history, pressure mounted on them to do so immediately.
“It was important to Shohei that this wasn’t the one move we were going to make,” Friedman said.
Ten months later, the Dodgers bested the Mets on Sunday to return to the World Series for the first time in four years — not only because of Ohtani, who has thrived in his first postseason and is likely to add a third MVP trophy to his mantle this year, or the other superstars they added in the winter, but also because of the medley of moves Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office made to complete a roster in flux.
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“This is as challenging of a season, in terms of the injuries and adversity and things that popped up, as I can remember,” Friedman, soaked in a concoction of Korbel champagne and Budweiser, said from the home clubhouse Sunday night.
After signing Ohtani in December, the Dodgers upped their free-agent spending over $1 billion by adding pitchers Tyler Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto late that month. In January, they brought in Teoscar Hernández on a one-year, $23.5 million deal and watched him develop into an All-Star and Home Run Derby champion. They already had three other former MVPs on the roster in Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Clayton Kershaw, who was expected to return from offseason shoulder surgery in the second half.
And yet on Sunday night at Dodger Stadium, it was a bullpen game and an unheralded midseason addition that would send them to the World Series with a 10-5 win in Game 6 of the NLCS.
“We have so many different guys who can come through on any given day,” NLCS MVP Tommy Edman said. “I think that’s why we’re so successful.”
For all the money the Dodgers spent, they could never have imagined their playoff roster would look the way it does, with only one starting pitcher from the Opening Day roster available, with only three starting pitchers they can trust to start games in Yamamoto, midseason acquisition Jack Flaherty and a rebounding Walker Buehler, and with Freeman and shortstop Miguel Rojas too hobbled to play.
The Dodgers lost Betts for nearly two months and Yamamoto for nearly three. Kershaw returned from his shoulder issue in July only for his toe to sideline him down the stretch after making just seven starts. Young standout starting pitchers Gavin Stone, Dustin May, River Ryan and Emmet Sheehan were all lost for the year, too.
“This is as determined of a group as I’ve been around,” Friedman said, “and they needed every ounce of it.”
The moves Friedman and general manager Brandon Gomes made at the trade deadline ended up turning depth pieces into starring contributors.
A day before trading for the most coveted starting pitcher on the market in Flaherty, the Dodgers swung a three-team deal to acquire a struggling reliever and a versatile position player who hadn’t played all season. Three months later, Michael Kopech would start the bullpen game that would send the Dodgers to the World Series, while Edman would knock in four runs from manager Dave Roberts’ cleanup spot in the Game 6 clincher.
“It’s something that you always think about, always dream about,” Edman said. “It’s not necessarily something I was expecting.”
Flaherty went from an important depth piece in the rotation to the club’s most-trusted headliner on the mound. Edman helped lengthen a lineup that needed help both in the outfield and at shortstop. The addition of Kopech, who emerged as one of Roberts’ most trusted high-leverage arms, assisted a scuffling bullpen.
But the injuries seemed endless, threatening to derail the Dodgers’ hopes.
“I think there were times during the year with some of the injuries that we had where it was a little bit deflating,” Friedman said. “I think Doc did a great job getting in front of that and pumping some enthusiasm and optimism into the group.”
In September, the Dodgers found out an elbow issue would officially end Glasnow’s All-Star season. At the time, the Dodgers had just dropped two straight games in Atlanta. The Padres and Diamondbacks were closing in on their division lead. Roberts could sense his players were starting to get demoralized.
So he gathered them together for a meeting that Hernández said “changed everything.”
“We realized that we have the potential, that we have the players, that we’re still the Dodgers,” Hernández said.
“I just got a feeling that there was some kind of a little, ‘Woe is me,'” Roberts explained, “and that’s just not who we are.”
The skipper shared a message that he couldn’t believe in his players more than they believed in themselves.
“We had a meeting and said, ‘Guys, look around, we still have Hall of Famers in this room, we still have All-Stars in this room, we have guys that were paid a lot of money in this room, we can still do this,'” Max Muncy explained.
The Dodgers went 11-3 the rest of the season, holding off the Padres, who would later push them to the brink in the NLDS.
Facing elimination in San Diego, the players got together again in the visiting clubhouse of Petco Park to spread a similar message, laced with a few more four-letter words.
That day, Edman filled in for the injured Rojas at shortstop while a group of relievers linked together to hold the Padres off the board in a bullpen game. The Dodgers returned home and spun another shutout started by Yamamoto in the deciding Game 5, ensuring this team was different, more together, more resilient, than the two before it that had bowed out in stunning first-round exits.
“When you’re in that dugout this time of year, if you’re not together as a team, you can tell night and day,” Muncy said. “When you’re talking about 13, 14, 15 guys in that dugout, and they’re all hanging on every pitch, hanging on every single swing with you in the batter’s box, and you can hear them and you can feel them, it makes a big difference.”
The Dodgers outscored the Padres 10-0 in the final two games of the series, then outscored the Mets by 20 runs in the NLCS while plating a series-record 46 runs. And in a series full of former and hopeful MVPs, it was Edman, a deadline addition who didn’t play his first game this year until Aug. 19, who led everyone with 11 hits and 11 RBI.
“You’re talking about a guy that’s Gold Glove level at numerous positions, bats from both sides, steals bases, lays down bunts, gets hits, hits for power,” Muncy said. “You’re talking about an absolute gamer.”
Edman was a league-average hitter with a plus glove at multiple defensive positions in his five years with the Cardinals. This year, offseason wrist surgery and an ankle sprain during his rehab sidelined him for the entire first half. Friedman and the Dodgers’ front office were undeterred. They still wanted him, as they had for years.
“To know that I was valued and coveted by them, it’s a good feeling,” Edman said. “It gives me confidence.”
Down the stretch, he played primarily center field and offered Rojas the ability to get off his feet at shortstop. On six different occasions, he played both positions in the same game. That ability is especially crucial now. After starting in center the first three games of the NLDS, Edman has played shortstop every game since. He has also hit in five different spots in the Dodgers’ order this postseason.
“I never imagined once we acquired him, he’d be hitting fourth in a postseason game,” Roberts said. “But I trust him. The guys trust him.”
With the Mets turning to lefty Sean Manaea, it allowed the switch-hitting Edman to hit from the right side, where he has excelled this year. On Sunday, he delivered a two-run double his first time up and a two-run homer his next time up. The Dodgers tagged the Mets for 10 runs for the second time in three games, while their fourth game with at least eight runs tied another postseason record.
Edman’s 11 RBIs in the NLCS tied him with Corey Seager (2020 NLCS) for the most in a postseason series by a Dodgers player. Kopech, meanwhile, became a key piece of a makeshift pitching staff that at one point tied a playoff record with 33 consecutive scoreless innings pitched, dating back to the end of the NLDS.
The Dodgers’ scoreless innings streak ended in Game 2 of the NLCS, when a bullpen game went awry. On Sunday, Roberts utilized the strategy again to better effect, having saved most of his most trusted arms for the occasion.
“To go from a season that I was struggling on a team that was struggling, to be able to have success on a team that’s having a lot of success means the world to me,” Kopech said. “To be a part of this, where guys are doing what they’re doing, guys like Shohei, Mookie and Freddie putting his whole body on the line to go out there and play for as much as he can this postseason, for guys like Tommy to show up and be more than a role player and be the star that I think he is, it’s really special.”
Entering Game 6, Kopech, Evan Phillips and Daniel Hudson had each pitched only once this series, not only keeping them fresh but also limiting their exposure to Mets hitters. Blake Treinen and Anthony Banda were plenty rested, too. With the offense exploding for 10 runs, the bullpen game’s five runs would suffice.
Ohtani reached base three times and scored twice. Hernández, who was hitless in the first five games, and Will Smith snapped out of their slumps. Betts had an RBI double in the eighth that put the game away. And there was Edman, who had multiple hits for a third straight game.
“You look at what happened in the offseason, you sign Shohei, and you’ve got so many superstars on the team, it’s kind of the expectation to have success,” Edman said. “I think to have those expectations and come through on all those is impressive and says a lot about the group we have here.”
In an MLB season without a 100-game winner, a ravaged Dodgers club still emerged as the top seed in the National League with the best record in baseball. Beyond their superstars, some shrewd deadline additions and a bevy of relief arms helped mask their deficiencies to start the postseason.
Now, a marquee matchup against the American League’s top seed awaits, with the Dodgers and Yankees meeting Friday in the first World Series clash between the storied franchises since 1981.
“You’re talking about the absolute biggest stars in the game, and now they’re going to be playing on the biggest stage,” Muncy said. “As a fan, how special is this, man?
Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.
Dave Roberts spoke to the “MLB on FOX” crew about the Los Angeles Dodgers’ NLCS Championship, Dodgers vs. New York Yankees World Series matchup & more.
The Dodgers clinched their record 25th NL pennant and first at home since 1988, when they beat the Mets in seven games. They moved on to their 22nd World Series — 13th in Los Angeles — and first since 2020, when they beat Tampa Bay during the pandemic-delayed season.
Dodgers defeat Mets and ADVANCE to World Series | MLB on FOX
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Next up for Ohtani and Co. is Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees, who are back in the World Series for the 41st time and first in 15 years. Game 1 is Friday at Dodger Stadium, pitting Judge (58) and Ohtani (54) — MLB’s top home-run hitters this season.
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“It’s kind of what the people wanted, what we all wanted,” Dodgers star Mookie Betts told FOX Sports’ Tom Verducci. “It’s going to be a battle of two good teams, a lot of long flights across the country.”
It’ll be the 12th time the storied franchises meet in the World Series and the first in 43 years. The Yankees have beaten the Dodgers eight times, while the Dodgers’ three championships against the Bronx Bombers came in 1955, 1963 and 1981.
“It’s the place that I’ve dreamt of playing all my life,” Ohtani said through a translator, “and to be able to finally come to this stage and be able to play and hopefully win it is my next goal.”
Ohtani, playing his first season with the Dodgers after agreeing to a record-breaking contract in free agency, had two hits and scored two runs in Game 6. He hit .364 with two homers and six RBIs in the NLCS.
Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts on how it feels to clinch a World Series appearance | MLB on FOX
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Not bad for his first postseason after spending six years with the Los Angeles Angels, who never had a winning record or reached the playoffs during his tenure.
The Dodgers briefly trailed 1-0 before cleanup hitter Edman came up big.
He drove in the Dodgers’ first four runs and his 11 RBIs in the NLCS tied a franchise record set by Corey Seager in 2020 against Atlanta. Edman, who the NLCS MVP award, joined the Dodgers at the July trade deadline from St. Louis.
The Dodgers eliminated the Mets on their second try in the series. They outscored New York 40-26 in the six games. None of the games were close, with the Dodgers earning two shutouts.
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The Mets came within two wins of reaching the World Series after a 22-33 start.
The Dodgers led 2-1 in the first on Edman’s double into the left-field corner off Sean Manaea that scored Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández, who both singled. Hernández snapped an 0-for-18 skid in the NLCS. Manaea needed 34 pitches to get through the first.
Facing two strikes in the third, Edman sent a 406-foot shot to left-center for a two-run drive. A walk to Max Muncy and two outs later, Smith homered 416 feet to center off Phil Maton, extending the lead to 6-1.
The Mets cut their deficit to 6-3 in the fourth. With two out, Vientos hit a two-run homer — his fifth of the postseason — off Ryan Brasier. Vientos’ first career grand slam highlighted the Mets’ series-tying win in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium.
New York twice failed to cash in with the bases loaded. Trailing 6-3 in the sixth, Jesse Winker flied out against Evan Phillips to end the inning. Down a run in the third, the Mets loaded the bases against Anthony Banda only for Jeff McNeil to strike out swinging.
A clearly amped Michael Kopech opened the bullpen game for the Dodgers for his first career playoff start. He promptly issued a leadoff walk to Francisco Lindor and then threw a wild pitch. With two outs, Alonso had a two-strike flare to second base and Lindor scored on a throwing error by second baseman Chris Taylor for a 1-0 lead.
Los Angeles Dodgers NLCS Trophy & MVP Presentation | MLB on FOX
The Dodgers, whose starting pitching has been decimated by injuries, used seven pitchers in finishing off the Mets, whose $332 million payroll was the biggest in baseball.
Manaea lasted just two innings, giving up five runs and six hits. The left-hander struck out two and walked two. His revamped delivery baffled the Dodgers in Game 2, when Manaea limited them to two earned runs over five innings, but they had no such trouble Sunday.
Alonso had two hits and drove in a run in what could have been his final game for the Mets. The first baseman is eligible for free agency after the World Series.
The Dodgers, who were eliminated in the Division Series the last two years, spent a combined $1 billion last winter to sign Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to lucrative long-term contracts in hopes of winning the franchise’s eighth World Series title.
Dave Roberts on Dodgers vs. Yankees World Series: ‘This is what the baseball world wanted’ | MLB on FOX
The sellout crowd of 52,674 included Tom Hanks, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Magic Johnson, Rob Lowe, Josh Groban, Jenny McCarthy and Vanessa Bryant.
Dodgers 1B Freddie Freeman sat out for the third time in the postseason because of his sprained right ankle. He also missed Game 4 of the NLCS and Game 4 of the NLDS.
