The Los Angeles Dodgers have won the 2020 World Series, defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in game 6 by a score of 3-1 and taking the series 4-2. This is the Dodgers’ seventh World Series title in franchise history and their first since 1988 after appearing in the World Series in three out of the last four years.
The Rays jumped out to an early lead in game 6 when Randy Arozarena crushed a home run in the top of the first, extending his record for most home runs in a single postseason to 10 and putting his team up one run. That lead would hold until the bottom of the sixth.
After 5.1 shutout innings, Rays starting pitcher Blake Snell was taken out after surrendering just his second hit of the night on his 73rd pitch. Nick Anderson came in to replace Snell and promptly surrendered a double to former American League MVP Mookie Betts, which pushed Austin Barnes to third. Anderson then threw a wild pitch, allowing Barnes to come home and tie the game up at 1 as Betts moved over the third base. Corey Seager then hit a weak ground ball to first baseman Ji-Man Choi, who threw home, but too late to stop the speedy Betts from scoring the go-ahead run on the fielders choice.
The Dodgers would not surrender the lead or even give up another run for the rest of the game. Betts extended the advantage in the bottom of the eighth when he hit a leadoff home run to push the lead to 3-1.
Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was pulled from the game without explanation in the ninth inning. Following the game, FOX broadcasters announced he had been removed due to a positive COVID-19 test.
Like everything in 2020, the World Series this year was radically different from years past due to the coronavirus pandemic. The entire series was played at Globe Life Field, the home stadium for the Texas Rangers located in Arlington, Texas. A limited number of fans were allowed to attend the World Series, but no seats were sold in the front rows where spectators could conceivably get too close to the players. Instead, those seats were covered with tarps.
The season itself was drastically altered as well, as the standard 162-game regular season was cut down to just 60 games. The playoffs were expanded to allow for four wild card teams from each league, creating a full-fledged wild card round, as opposed to the singe wild card play-in game that had been in place since 2012. The wild card round, division series and championship series were all played with no off days.
