This day in Los Angeles Dodgers history saw the team end the franchise’s championship drought with a 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 6 of the 2020 World Series.
They did so in comeback fashion as the Rays took a 1-0 lead that held until manager Kevin Cash made the controversial decision to remove Blake Snell. The left-hander allowed a leadoff single to Chris Taylor in the third inning but the Dodgers didn’t have another baserunner until the sixth.
Austin Barnes’ single with one out prompted Cash to turn the game over to his bullpen, which backfired. Mookie Betts greeted Nick Anderson with a double, and the Dodgers then pulled even when Barnes scored on a wild pitch.
“It was kind of like a sigh of relief,” Betts would say of Snell being removed. “Had he stayed in that game he may have pitched a complete game. I don’t know exactly what would’ve happened, but he was rolling. He was pitching really, really well.
“That was the Cy Young Snell that came. Once he came out of the game it was a breath of fresh air. We’d had some pretty decent at-bats off their bullpen guys, so we figured we could scratch one across since we saw the bullpen guys a little better. Snell, got to tip your cap. He did amazing.”
Corey Seager reaching on a fielder’s choice gave L.A. a lead, and Betts’ solo home run in the eighth provided the Dodgers with some insurance.
By then Julio Urias was cruising through another dominant relief appearance. He inherited a baserunner with two outs in the seventh and proceeded to collect four strikeouts over 2.1 scoreless innings to earn the save.
Dodgers fall short of repeating
Coming off their first title in 1988, the Dodgers were a heavy favorite to repeat. They went on to tie what was a franchise record at the time 106 wins but were eliminated by the Atlanta Braves in the National League Championship Series.
With that, MLB did not have a repeat champion since the New York Yankees (1998-2000). That also held true in 2022, as the Braves were eliminated by the Philadelphia Phillies. And again in 2023, with the Texas Rangers eliminating the Houston Astros to advance to the World Series.
The Dodgers’ seven World Series titles is sixth-most in MLB history.
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