Dodgers finally claim World Series trophy

For the first time since 1988, the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champions. This was not an easy path for the Dodgers to take as they had to go through four teams and secure 13 victories to become champions.

In the first round of the playoffs, the Dodgers took on the Milwaukee Brewers and swept them 2-0 to advance to the National League Division Series to take on the San Diego Padres. They were led by their veteran left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw in this series as he pitched eight innings and struck out 13 batters.

They made quick work of them as they swept them 3-0. Kershaw was again the centerpiece of this victory as he struck out six batters in six innings pitched.

On the offensive side, his teammate and reigning National League Most Valuable Player Cody Bellinger added a home run against the Padres.

After getting through the Padres, they turned their focus to their next opponent, the Atlanta Braves. The Braves were a competitive team this season and did not come as an easy matchup for the Dodgers.

Atlanta won the first two games with great pitching and big bats in their lineup led by Freddie Freeman and Ronald Acuňa Jr. The Dodgers took game three of the series after dropping 11 runs in the first inning against Atlanta. Max Muncy, the Dodgers first baseman added a grand slam during that 11-run half inning.

The Braves took game four and went up in the series 3-1. At this point, it looked like the Dodgers season would end in another disappointment as they would fail yet again to bring a championship home to their city.

Luckily, their bats started to wake up as they put up more offense and came from behind in the series to win the next three games and advance to the World Series. 

Corey Seager, the Dodgers shortstop, was a huge reason why the Dodgers took the National League Pennant as he took home National League Championship Series MVP honors. Seager during this series batted .310 while hitting five home runs and driving in 11 runs. He is the only National League player to hit that many home runs and drive in that many runs in a postseason series.

The Dodgers got back to the World Series for the third time in the last four seasons. They lost the World Series in 2017 and 2018 to the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox.

This time their opponent was the Tampa Bay Rays. The Rays came into that series with the best regular season record in the American League having been only one of two teams to get over 40 wins this season, the Dodgers being the other.

The Dodgers won this series in six games over Tampa Bay. They were led once again by Kershaw who went 2-0 in this series pitching 11.2 innings and striking out 14 batters between both starts. Seager was once again named the MVP of the series as he batted .400 with two home runs as well as four doubles, including a stolen base.

Seager is the eighth man to win both the LCS and World Series MVP award in the history of the game. The last to do it was Madison Bumgarner of the San Francisco Giants in 2014.

Dodgers fans and their entire organization can finally take a deep breath as they have finally reached the mountaintop and ended their 32 year drought.

Alex Martin can be reached at [email protected] or @alexmartinjour on Twitter.