The Los Angeles Dodgers eliminated the New York Mets in six games to win the 22nd National League pennant in franchise history and first since 2020.
It’s the 13th NL championship in Los Angeles franchise history and by winning Game 6, the Dodgers clinched the pennant at Dodger Stadium for the first time since doing so against the Mets in 1988.
Next for the Dodgers is a World Series matchup against the New York Yankees.
Since 1969, when MLB introduced the League Championship Series as part of the postseason, the Dodgers have played in the NLCS a total 16 times. That’s good for the most in NL history and ranks second all-time behind the New York Yankees (19).
The Dodgers appeared in the NLCS for the seventh time in the last 12 seasons (2013, 2016-2018, 2020-2021, 2024).
This year represented the Dodgers’ first trip to the NLCS since suffering back-to-back defeats at the hands of NL West opponents in the NLDS.
In some sense, the Dodgers being crowned 2024 NL champions was deemed a foregone conclusion by many several months ago. Particularly once the club spent more than $1.7 billion last offseason to sign Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Teoscar Hernández, among others.
Tyler Glasnow also received a lucrative contract extension as part of the Dodgers’ trade with the Tampa Bay Rays.
The Dodgers went on to finish with the best record in baseball at 98-64 despite injuries decimating their pitching staff and depth, and costing Mookie Betts and Max Muncy considerable time.
Injuries surfaced in the playoffs as Alex Vesia (intercostal) and Miguel Rojas (sports hernia) were left off the Dodgers’ NLCS roster, and Freddie Freeman has been limited by a severely sprained right ankle.
“I think part of it is we’ve dealt with it all year with very key contributors,” manager Dave Roberts said of the Dodgers ability to continue forging ahead in October.
“And it’s a clubhouse that’s very welcoming to new players — whether by way of trade, waiver-wire pickups, young players that get called up by the system — it’s a focused, tough group.
“It’s something that I feel proud that we can hang our hat on, that there’s never been an excuse all year for our club as far as winning the division and winning 11 games in October.
“And even as recently as this year, to not have Freddie start a playoff game, but there was no excuse. It is that next-guy-up mentality. And the fight that I’ve seen in these guys, I don’t think you can kind of quantify it. But I do believe that the mindset, the attitude is applicable and it manifests itself into winning baseball games.”
Dodgers prevent Mets from MLB history
The Mets reached the NLCS by upsetting the No. 3 seed Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card Series followed by eliminating the No. 2 Philadelphia Phillies in the NLDS.
That left the Mets in position to become the first team in MLB history to defeat three division winners in a single postseason.
Instead, the Dodgers steamrolled their way through the NLCS and are four wins from an eighth World Series championship in franchise history.
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