The Los Angeles Dodgers ending their World Series drought was obviously an incredible accomplishment for the franchise, but the clinching Game 6 victory did not come without some controversy.
Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash made headlines when he removed Blake Snell from the game after giving up a single to Austin Barnes in the sixth inning. The Rays were leading 1-0 at the time, and Snell had allowed just two hits while collecting nine strikeouts in 5.1 innings.
Despite Snell having only thrown 73 pitches, Cash took him out due to his typical struggles when facing a lineup the third time through. The move immediately backfired as Mookie Betts greeted reliever Nick Anderson with a double down the line, and the Dodgers wound up scoring a pair of runs to take the lead and never looked back.
One of the Rays biggest fans is long-time ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale. In a recent interview with Ben Bolch of the L.A. Times, Vitale made a bold claim that the Rays would have won the series if Cash did not remove Snell:
“I’m telling you, the people out in L.A. are so blessed, so lucky that the baseball gods were looking after them,” Vitale said, “because if [manager] Kevin Cash doesn’t take Snell out of the game, they win that game 1-0 and with the pressure on the Dodgers in Game 7, [Charlie] Morton would have beaten them and we would have had the world championship as well. Tell them I said that.”
There are obviously a lot of hypotheticals in Vitale’s scenario as although Snell was dominating, there is no way of knowing if that would have continued. And either way, he likely would have not been able to pitch a complete game, so the Rays bullpen was going to become a factor at some point.
Even if the Rays would have won that game to force a winner-take-all Game 7, the pitching matchup would have been a rematch of Game 3 when Walker Buehler tossed a gem and the Dodgers offense got to Charlie Morton early and often to earn a victory.
Unfortunately for Vitale and other Rays fans, the Dodgers are 2020 champions and that will never change. Additionally, the Rays got rid of both Snell and Morton this offseason, so it will be interesting to see if they are able to make it back to the World Series in 2021 without two of their best starters.
Dodgers World Series display installed at Baseball Hall of Fame
In order to commemorate the Dodgers’ 2020 World Series win, the Baseball Hall of Fame recently installed a display that includes the first ball thrown by Clayton Kershaw in Game 1, a bat used by Corey Seager, Max Muncy helmet and Mookie Betts jersey.
The exhibit is expected to remain on display until the conclusion of the 2021 postseason.
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