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Dylan Hernández: How Shohei Ohtani drove himself to become a first-time World Series champion

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — Shohei Ohtani was hitting with one arm.

Limited by the left shoulder he partially dislocated just four days earlier, Ohtani was at this point more or less a decoy, which, coincidentally or not, is the name of his world-famous dog.

Didn't matter.

He wanted to hit. So when Tommy Edman drew a walk in what turned out to be a decisive...Read more

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Bill Shaikin: Magic Johnson all smiles over Dodgers' transformation into a World Series power

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — Magic Johnson smiled, because of course he did. It is the smile that won over a city. It is the smile that eased our anxieties over the decades.

In 1980, the kid smiled and told Los Angeles he would lead the Lakers to a championship on a night without Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In 2012, the old man smiled and told Los Angeles he would ...Read more

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Twins first baseman Alex Kirilloff retires from baseball at age 26

Sports / Baseball /

MINNEAPOLIS — Alex Kirilloff, once considered the top prospect in the Twins’ organization, announced Thursday he is retiring from the sport after four injury-plagued seasons in the major leagues.

Kirilloff, who will turn 27 on Nov. 9, played 249 career games with the Twins but never more than 88 games in a season. He dealt with a complex ...Read more

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Yankees star Aaron Judge says World Series loss 'will stick with me until I die'

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge’s difficult October came to a miserable end on Wednesday, as the Yankees’ superstar found himself at the center of a game-changing, calamitous fifth inning in Game 5 of the World Series.

With the Yankees fighting to keep their improbable championship aspirations alive, the presumptive American League MVP finally hit...Read more

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Braves trade Jorge Soler to the Angels in first notable move of MLB offseason

Sports / Baseball /

ATLANTA — Around 14 hours after the World Series ended, the Braves made the first notable move of MLB’s offseason.

The Braves on Thursday traded Jorge Soler to the Los Angeles Angels for right-hander Griffin Canning. A key point: The Braves did not send the Angels any money, which means the team is off the hook for the $26 million Soler ...Read more

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Dodgers used Kobe Bryant's 'Job's not finished' quote in World Series run. Vanessa says they got it done.

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — Job finished.

It's a succinct way of phrasing what the World Series-champion Dodgers accomplished this season, after years of regular-season dominance followed by postseason disappointment.

It's also appropriate because of the Mamba Mentality they showed along the way.

Vanessa Bryant posted the phrase "Job finished" on her ...Read more

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Actor Wendell Pierce hated World Series Game 5: The 'ugliness of humanity' sent him home early

Sports / Baseball /

LOS ANGELES — TV star Wendell Pierce says he will remember the fifth and final game of the 2024 World Series — but for all the wrong reasons.

In a series of tweets Wednesday, the "Jack Ryan" and "The Wire" actor condemned the unruly behavior and "obnoxious fans" that spoiled his night at Yankee Stadium, where the Los Angeles Dodgers ...Read more

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David Murphy: Flush with offseason cash, Steve Cohen and the Mets have the Phillies in a tricky spot

Sports / Baseball /

PHILADELPHIA — Sometimes, you have to play the cards you are dealt. Other times, you have to play the cards you’ve dealt yourself. The Phillies will likely find themselves in that second category this offseason. Their cards are face up in front of them. Their chip stack is in the middle of the table. As Steve Cohen bids on the aces, John ...Read more

Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Gerrit Cole's masterful start to Game 5 goes to waste with 5th-inning fiasco

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — In the biggest start of his Yankees career, Gerrit Cole appeared to be on his way to the performance of a lifetime.

With the Yankees facing elimination in Game 5 of the World Series, Cole retired the Dodgers’ first eight batters Wednesday night in the Bronx and held the loaded Los Angeles lineup hitless through four innings.

The...Read more

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Bill Plaschke: The Greatest! Historic Dodgers overpower Yankees for 8th World Series championship.

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — The silent somber Bronx was suddenly bathed in joyous dancing blue, a screaming scrum leaping and bouncing and hugging into history.

The Dodgers did it. They really did it.

The hallowed New York Yankees stood frozen in their dugout, stripped of their aura and bludgeoned at their essence, painfully demolished pinstripe by ...Read more

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Dodgers beat Yankees to win another World Series, cement 'golden era' of franchise dominance

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — It had felt so close, yet remained so difficult to cement.

For more than a decade, the Dodgers had aimed for more than just regular-season success. More than just repeated trips to the postseason. More than just a lone, COVID-bubble championship in a pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

This, as president of baseball operations Andrew ...Read more

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Ready to celebrate? Dodgers' World Series championship parade will be Friday.

Sports / Baseball /

After 36 years, the Dodgers have a date for a World Series championship parade: It's Friday.

The Dodgers last paraded with Los Angeles in 1988. The Dodgers won the World Series championship in 2020, but public health protections surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic prevented a parade then.

On Wednesday, the Dodgers defeated the New York Yankees, ...Read more

Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Gary Phillips: For the Yankees, a season of progress ends in sloppy World Series failure

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — When the Yankees’ 2023 campaign ended with the regular season in Kansas City, Mo., Aaron Judge and teammates stared out at Kauffman Stadium’s field.

By not making the playoffs, they knew they had failed in epic fashion. And so they lingered, delaying the start of an early offseason for a few dejected moments.

“I think that�...Read more

Dodgers beat Yankees to win another World Series, cement 'golden era' of franchise dominance

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — It had felt so close, yet remained so difficult to cement.

For more than a decade, the Dodgers had aimed for more than just regular-season success. More than just repeated trips to the postseason. More than just a lone, COVID-bubble championship in a pandemic-shortened 2020 season.

This, as president of baseball operations Andrew ...Read more

Yankees lose World Series to Dodgers after dreadful defense erases Game 5 lead

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — The Yankees’ season ended in disaster on Wednesday, as the Dodgers capitalized on dreadful defense while securing their second championship since 2020.

With Los Angeles celebrating at Yankee Stadium, the Bombers could only blame themselves for a 7-6 loss in Game 5. The Yankees, trying to defy history and a 3-0 series deficit, ...Read more

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Aaron Judge makes both spectacular and one of many season-costing plays in Yankees' loss to Dodgers

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — In many ways, Aaron Judge‘s defense in center field was a microcosm of Wednesday night’s Game 5 of the World Series between the Yankees and Dodgers.

When the center fielder made a jumping catch into the left-center field wall to rob Freddie Freeman of extra bases in the fourth inning, the Yankees were cruising with a flight to ...Read more

Yankees' World Series run brings extra revenue ahead of pivotal offseason, Juan Soto's free agency

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — When Yankee Stadium hosted Game 1 of the ALCS this month, a fan went viral for bringing a novelty check made out to Juan Soto for $600 million.

Two weeks later, after Soto’s game-winning home run in ALCS Game 5 clinched the American League pennant, the fan returned to Yankee Stadium for Game 3 of the World Series, that time with ...Read more

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Alex Verdugo hopes to return to Yankees as free agency nears

Sports / Baseball /

NEW YORK — Alex Verdugo knows his first season with the Yankees didn’t go as well as many had hoped. He’d like to get a shot at improvement.

If not next season, then perhaps down the road.

An impending free agent, Verdugo discussed his future before Game 5 of the World Series on Wednesday. With the Yankees facing the threat of ...Read more

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Will Venable will be new White Sox manager, taking over a team that lost 121 games last season

Sports / Baseball /

CHICAGO — Will Venable has been a first-base coach, a third-base coach, a bench coach and associate manager at the major league level.

All that experience — from his time with the Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Texas Rangers — has led Venable to the South Side.

The Chicago White Sox will name Venable as their new manager, a source confirmed to...Read more

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Dieter Kurtenbach: A month into Buster Posey's tenure, these are the same ol' Giants

Sports / Baseball /

Baseball’s GM meetings start next Tuesday.

Will the Giants have one to send?

For all the haste of Buster Posey’s takeover as the Giants’ director of baseball operations, the opposite has been true when it comes to hiring the person who will actually build the Giants.

It’s a big decision — likely the most important one Posey will ...Read more