The Major League Baseball season has concluded with the 2020 World Series. It took the Los Angeles Dodgers six games to beat the Tampa Bay Rays and win it all.
Game 6 ended with the Dodgers rallying late for a 3-1 win. It was mostly a game of great pitching, but a controversial decision from Tampa Bay may have cost them a chance to force Game 7.
Blake Snell was throwing a gem for the Rays. He pitched 5.1 innings and only allowed two hits but was pulled in the sixth by Kevin Cash after 75 pitches after allowing his second hit of the game. This is a decision that will haunt Cash for some time.
After allowing a base hit to Austin Barnes, Snell was replaced by Nick Anderson. He allowed one run on a wild pitch, and another on a fielder’s choice.
Mookie Betts went deep to add to the lead, his home run giving the Dodgers the 3-1 edge heading into the ninth. The Dodgers were able to close it out and celebrate their first World Series win since 1988.
Kershaw Finally Gets World Series Win
If there was anyone who desperately needed this World Series win, it was Clayton Kershaw. He is a future Hall of Famer that has come up short of this moment for several years. He went 2-0 in this World Series, proving to the haters that he could pitch in the postseason.
“I was trying to take it all in as best I could,” Kershaw said. “You never really script what you’re gonna do or how you’re gonna feel, but it was a content feeling. Just like a: ‘Job is done. We won. We did it. We won our race, and it’s over. We completed our mission.’ Just a feeling of contentment. Joy.”
He has been one of the best pitchers in baseball for years. Since this postseason was played in Arlington, Tex., near Kershaw’s hometown of Dallas, many of his friends and family attended the games.
Now, the monkey is off of his back. He finally got the World Series championship to add to his legacy.
COVID-19 Makes a World Series Appearance
Baseball made it a long time without a positive COVID-19 test. However, Justin Turner and the Dodgers were notified of Turner’s positive test result after play began. In the eighth inning, Turner was removed from the game to the surprise of everyone watching in the park and at home.
“We’re glad to be done,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “I think it’s a great accomplishment for our players to get the season completed, but obviously we’re concerned when any of our players test positive. We learned during the game that Justin was a positive. He was immediately isolated to prevent spread.”
At first, it seemed like that Turner wouldn’t be able to participate in the post-game activities, but he shortly made his way out on the field to celebrate with his teammates. Soon after Manfred said Turner had been isolated to prevent the spread of COVID-19, Turner was seen without a mask taking pictures with teammates and posing with the World Series trophy.
“He’s part of the team,” Betts said. “We’re not excluding him from anything.”
Since arriving in L.A., Turner has been one of the backbones of the Dodgers and deserved a lot of credit for how far he brought them. Still, seeing him on the field despite the positive COVID test was unsettling.
The 2020 season began amidst COVID chaos, and it seems disappointingly appropriate to end the season that way, too.