NEW YORK (AP) — You’ve got to hand it to Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Yankees certainly did that.

When New York allowed LA back into World Series Game 5, the star-studded Dodgers did what they’ve done all year: move on and be ready.

After taking advantage of three miscues to erase a five-run deficit in the fifth inning during one of the most memorable midgame meltdowns in baseball history, the Dodgers rallied on sacrifice flies by Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts in the eighth and defeated New York 7-6 on Wednesday night.

“We’re obviously resilient, but there’s so much love in the clubhouse that won this game today,” Betts said. ‘That’s it. It was love, it was courage. I mean, it was just a beautiful thing. I’m just proud of us and I’m happy for us.”

Aaron Judge and Jazz Chisholm Jr. hit back-to-back home runs in the first inning for New York. Alex Verdugo’s RBI single chased Jack Flaherty in the secondand Giancarlo Stanton’s third-inning homer against Ryan Brasier built a 5-0 Yankees lead.

But mistakes by Judge in center and Anthony Volpe at shortstop, combined with pitcher Gerrit Cole’s failure to cover first on Betts’ grounder, helped Los Angeles score five unearned runs in the fifth.

“This will stick forever,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I’m devastated.”

After Stanton’s sacrifice fly in the sixth inning put the Yankees back ahead 6-5, the Dodgers loaded the bases against loser Tommy Kahnle in the eighth before the sacrifice fly flew off Luke Weaver.

Judge doubled off winner Blake Treinen with one out in the bottom half and Chisholm walked. Manager Dave Roberts walked Treinen to the mound at 37 pitches.

“I looked into his eyes. I said, how are you feeling? How much do you have left?” Roberts recalled. “He said, ‘I want it.’ I trust him.”

Treinen retired Stanton on a flyout and struckout Anthony Rizzo.

Walker Buehler, who makes his first relief appearance since his rookie season in 2018pitched a perfect ninth for his first Major League save.

When Buehler struck out Verdugo to end the game, the Dodgers poured onto the field to celebrate between the mound and first base, capping a season in which they won 98 games and finished with the best record of the regular season.

As several thousand Dodgers fans remained in a largely empty stadium, baseball commissioner Rob Manfred presented the trophy on a platform quickly erected above second base.

“There’s just a lot of ways we can win baseball games,” Buehler said. “Obviously the superstars we have on our team and the discipline, it all adds up.”

Shohei Ohtani, the Dodgers’ record-breaking $700 million signing and baseball’s first 50-homer, 50-steal player, went 2 for 19 with no RBIs and had one hit after dislodging his left shoulder on a stolen base attempt in Game 2.

Freddie Freeman hit a two-run single and tied the Series record of 12 RBIsput up by Bobby Richardson for seven games in 1960, and was named Series MVP. With the Dodgers one out after losing Friday’s opener, Freeman hit a game-ending grand slam reminiscent of Kirk Gibson’s homer off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley in Game 1 of 1988 that led Los Angeles to the title.

The Dodgers won their eighth championship and seventh since leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles – their first in a non-shortened season since 1988. They won a World Series on neutral site against Tampa Bay in 2020 after a 60-game regular season and was unable to hold a parade due to the coronavirus pandemic.

These Dodgers of Ohtani, Freeman and Betts joined the Duke Snider and Roy Campanella Boys of Summer of 1955, the Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale era that included the three titles from 1959-65, the Tommy Lasorda-led groups of 1981 and ’88 and the 2020 Betts and Clayton Kershaw champions.

Roberts ended a season that began with a gambling scandal involving Ohtani’s interpreter and won his second championship in nine years as Dodgers manager, matching Lasorda and trailing Walter Alston’s four. The Dodgers won for the fourth time in 12 Series meetings with the Yankees.

New York has remained without a title since finishing at a record 27th in 2009. The Yankees acquired Juan Soto from San Diego in December, knowing he would be eligible for free agency after the 2024 Series. The 26-year-old star went 5 for 16 with one RBI in the Series, heading into what will be closely monitored in open market bidding.

Judge finished 4 for 18 with three RBIs.

Cole did not allow a hit until Kiké Hernández singled in the fifth inning. Judge, who made a leaping catch off the left-center wall an inning earlier to deny Freeman an extra base hit, dropped Tommy Edman’s fly to center. Volpe then bounced a throw to third base on Will Smith’s grounder, allowing the Dodgers to load the bases with no outs.

Cole struck out Lux and Ohtani, and Betts grounded out to Rizzo. Cole didn’t cover first and pointed to Rizzo running for the bag when Betts outpaced the first baseman.

Freeman followed with a two-run single and Teoscar Hernández hit a tying two-run double. Max Muncy walked before Kiké Hernández grounded in a force out on Cole’s 48th pitch of the inning.

“We just took advantage of every mistake they made in that inning,” Teoscar Hernández said. “We put together some good at bats. We put the ball in play.”

Stanton’s sacrifice fly in the sixth inning off Brusdar Graterol gave the Yankees a 6-5 lead, but the Dodgers rallied one last time in the eighth.

Kiké Hernández singled off Tommy Kahnle to lead off. Edman followed with an infield hit and Smith walked on four pitches. Lux’s sacrifice fly to Luke Weaver tied the score. Ohtani reached on a catcher’s interference and Betts followed with another sacrifice fly to give the Dodgers their first lead.

Purchased by Guggenheim Baseball Management in 2012the Dodgers hired Andrew Friedman from Tampa Bay two years later to run their baseball operations. He bolstered the front office with a host of analytics and performance scientists, and ownership provided the money.

Los Angeles spent an unprecedented $1.25 billion last offseason on deals involving Ohtani, pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and James Paxton, and outfielder Teoscar Hernández. Much of the money was in future liabilities, bringing the Dodgers’ deferred compensation to $915.5 million between 2028 and 2044.

Faced with injuries, the Dodgers acquired Flaherty, Edman and reliever Michael Kopech before the trade deadline, and they all became key cogs in the title run. The additions increased the payroll to $266 million, third behind the Mets and Yankees, plus a projected luxury tax of $43 million.

NEXT

Los Angeles opens its spring schedule on February 20 against the Chicago Cubs at Camelback Ranch, and the Yankees open the next day against Tampa Bay in Tampa, Florida.

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