November 11, 2024 by Daniel Hancock (‘26)
The New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers faced off in the 2024 World Series after two incredibly successful seasons. The Yankees led the AL East with 94 wins, to LA’s NL West lead with 98 wins.
New York’s playoff appearance started with them facing off against the Kansas City Royals. The Royals had come from the American League Wildcard round, defeating the Yankees’ division foes, the Baltimore Orioles. New York continued their dominance, taking the series in 4 games, with a 3-1 record. The Yankees then went on to face the Cleveland Guardians. Despite taking two games resulting in extra innings, the Yankees managed to defeat the Guardians in 5 games, winning the AL Championship Series 4-1. By winning the American League, they earned their spot to face the winner of the Dodgers-Mets game.
The Dodgers started their World Series run against the San Diego Padres, both teams from the NL West division. They took home the 5-game series, coming back 3-2, after taking losses in the 2nd and 3rd games. They went on to face the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series. Both teams put up high scoring games, but Dodgers were able to take the series in 6 games to claim their spot in the World Series, to face off against the New York Yankees.
The World Series started off with a bang. Game 1 started with a run for LA’s Enrique Hernandez in the 5th, followed by 2 runs for NY in the 6th, via a home run from Giancarlo Stanton. The Dodgers tied the score back up at the bottom of the 8th inning, with a sacrifice fly by Mookie Betts. The game headed into the 10th inning. At the top of the inning, Chisholm made it home for the Yankees, putting them in the lead. However, with bases loaded for LA, Freddie Freeman unloaded a 413-yard grand slam. Freeman’s walk-off led to the Dodgers taking home Game 1.
Games 2 and 3 marked LA’s lead. With 3 home runs in Game 2, from Tommy Edman, Teoscar Hernandez, and another from Freedy Freeman, the Dodgers managed to take home Game 2 with 4 runs, to NY’s 2. Juan Soto hit a home run for the Yankees, and Stanton batted in a single, but the Dodgers held a lead all game.
Despite bringing the game back home to New York, the Yankees struggled to keep up with the Dodgers. Freddie Freeman hit his 3rd home run of the series, bringing in two runs, right in the first inning. With more runs driven in, even Yankee Alex Verdugo’s 2-run home run was not enough to bring them back.
Finally, the Yankees managed to bring back some momentum. In Game 4, the Yankees put up 11 runs, to LA’s 4. New York hit 3 home runs, from Gleybar Torres, Anthony Volpe, and Austin Welles. Yankees slugger Aaron Judge also broke his series drought with an RBI this game.
Game 5 looked like more of the same for the Yankees. By the 3rd inning, the Yankees led 5-0. Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm both scored home runs in the first, along with Stanton in the 3rd. However, LA was not out of the game. The Dodgers made multiple hits which, due to a series of multiple fielding errors, allowed them to tie up the score in one inning. The Yankees scored in the 6th to regain their lead, but LA was able to score twice in the 8th, sealing the game. With their win in Game 5, the LA Dodgers took home their 8th World Series title, by securing a 4-1 series win against the Yankees.