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    • This World Series is over. Dodgers win again, put champagne on ice.
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    This World Series is over. Dodgers win again, put champagne on ice.

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    NEW YORK − Start spreading the news, this World Series is over.

    The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees again on Monday evening, 4-2, in front of a subdued crowd at Yankee Stadium, and can complete a four-game sweep with a victory on Tuesday evening.

    The Dodgers have a 3 games to 0 lead in the World Series, with one baseball team in postseason history to ever overcome a 3-0 deficit.

    And the Yankees are not the ’04 Boston Red Sox.

    Not even close.

    The Dodgers know this and, in addition to ordering champagne, have also tentatively planned a parade in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.

    The Yankee have been outmatched in virtually every facet of the game, with Freddie Freeman looking like Reggie Jackson and Aaron Judge looking like George Costanza.

    Freeman homered again, a two-run shot in the first inning, tying a World Series record for homering in five consecutive games, as Judge’s postseason woes continue.

    Freeman is hitting .333 (4-for-12) with three home runs and seven RBI, while Judge is hitting .083 (1-for-12) with seven strikeouts.

    Game 3: Dodgers one win away from the World Series championship

    Judge’s struggles, according to several scouts, can be attributed to him being drilled in the rib cage by a 96 mph fastball by Cleveland Guardians starter Tanner Bibee in Game 5 of the ALCS.

    Judge hasn’t been the same since, going 1-for-16 with nine strikeouts and just one hit. It’s almost as if Judge is now so aware of the fastball that he struggles to even make contact on off-speed pitches. Sure, the hit-by-pitch has led to bad mechanics. They haven’t even seen him try to hit the ball in the opposite direction of right field, which shows how bad he is at the plate.

    Really, the entire Yankees team is out of sync, while the Dodgers barely break a sweat.

    The Dodgers don’t need heroics or even a hit from Shohei Ohtani to win this series. He wore a sling during pre-match introductions, ran gingerly with his partially dislocated left shoulder, didn’t take a hit, but that didn’t matter at all.

    The only real drama was whether Ohtani would even be in the lineup after suffering a subluxation in the seventh inning of Game 2, but he made it a complete non-issue by telling the Dodgers he was playing before they even came on board from the flight to New York. .

    “He was confident he was going to play,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I think there was more uncertainty in our minds, but in his mind he was going to play from day one, from Saturday evening. …

    “Not that there was ever any doubt that he would post, but he is a competitor, he wouldn’t be there.”

    But even if Ohtani could swing with one hand, Roberts said, his presence alone could be a factor.

    “I think it’s definitely an advantage that we have him in the batter’s box,” Roberts said. “No matter what limitations a pitcher thinks he has or doesn’t have, not many guys are willing to take that opportunity. I just expect him to control the strike zone, let the at-bats come to him and swing and shoot when the ball is in a strike zone.

    “We’re just very grateful to have him in the lineup.”

    If Ohtani needs some inspiration, look no further than Freeman.

    Freeman severely sprained his right ankle on September 26, an injury that doctors told him would take six weeks to fully heal. Undeterred, Freeman came for four and a half hours of treatment every day and has become the most feared hitter in the postseason.

    Freeman, who hit the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history in Game 1, hit a home run in the third inning of Game 2, wasted no time that night and homered on the fourth pitch he saw, as he drilled through Clarke Schmidt’s ball. 90 mph fastball into the right field bleachers.

    “He looks pretty normal,” Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “It was quite special. You’re talking about a six-week injury that he came back from in four or five days.

    “He obviously wasn’t himself (at the start of the postseason), but when you’re talking about a name like Freddie Freeman in the lineup, that means a lot. Just having certain guys in the lineup goes a long way because the other team never knows how a certain guy feels.

    “For example, you could try to have a lefty come in and look at him, and he hits a grand slam.”

    Ah, nothing like a little shade, with Muncy referencing Freeman’s strike on southpaw Nestor Cortes.

    The Yankees’ biggest advantage in this series would be the starting rotation, but they have not been able to beat the Dodgers in any of the three games. While Schmidt lasted only 2 ⅔ innings this evening, Walker Buehler, who has not pitched in twelve days, threw five shutout innings and gave up only two hits.

    The Yankees are out-pitched, out-hit, out-played, out-managed and even out-performed during pre-game ceremonies, with Ice Cube easily outshining Fat Joe in a battle of rappers.

    It’s been a complete team effort that has methodically dismantled the Yankees, bringing back memories of Roberts’ team speech during spring training at Camelback Ranch in Phoenix.

    “I believe his exact words are, ‘You have to want to be the man,’” Muncy said. ‘That’s why we’re all here. We all want to be in this situation. We all want to be the man at that moment. …

    “That’s definitely something you notice when your manager calls you up like that in spring training and says, ‘Hey, you all have to want to be the guy in that situation. You can’t leave it to someone else.’

    “It has already been proven how many boys have come through for us in big moments.”

    Now one more game, one more win, one more hero, and the Dodgers can get ready to party like it’s 1988.

    Follow Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale

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