Dodgers advance to face Yankees in glamour World Series
Tommy Edman and Will Smith have homered to send superstar Shohei Ohtani into baseball's World Series for the first time as their Los Angeles Dodgers eliminated the New York Mets with a 10-5 victory in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series.
The Dodgers clinched their record 25th NL pennant and first at home since 1988, when they beat the Mets in seven games. They moved on to their 22nd World Series - 13th in Los Angeles - and first since 2020, when they beat Tampa Bay during the pandemic-delayed season.
Next up for Ohtani and company are Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees, who are back in the World Series for the 41st time and first in 15 years.
Game 1 is Friday at Dodger Stadium, pitting Judge (58) and Japan's Ohtani (54) - MLB's top home-run hitters this season.
"It's kind of what the people wanted, what we all wanted," Dodgers star Mookie Betts said. "It's going to be a battle of two good teams, a lot of long flights across the country."
It'll be the 12th time the storied franchises meet in the World Series and the first in 43 years. The Yankees have beaten the Dodgers eight times, while the Dodgers' two championships against the Bronx Bombers came in 1981 and 1955.
Ohtani, playing his first season with the Dodgers after agreeing to a record-breaking contract in free agency, had two hits and scored two runs in Game 6. He hit .364 with two homers and six RBIs in the NLCS.
"It's the place that I've dreamt of playing all my life," Ohtani said through a translator, "and to be able to finally come to this stage and be able to play and hopefully win it is my next goal."
Not bad for his first postseason after spending six years with the Los Angeles Angels, who never had a winning record or reached the playoffs during his tenure.
Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen struck out Brandon Nimmo, Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso swinging in the eighth in his first two-inning outing since the 2021 NLCS.
The Dodgers briefly trailed 1-0 before cleanup hitter Edman came up big.
He drove in the Dodgers' first four runs and his 11 RBIs in the NLCS tied a franchise record set by Corey Seager in 2020 against Atlanta. Edman joined the Dodgers at the July trade deadline from St. Louis.
The Dodgers eliminated the Mets on their second try in the series. They outscored New York 40-26 in the six games. None of the games were close, with the Dodgers earning two shutouts.
The Dodgers, whose starting pitching has been decimated by injuries, used seven pitchers in finishing off the Mets, whose $332 million payroll was the biggest in baseball.
The Dodgers, who were eliminated in the Division Series the last two years, spent a combined $US1 billion last winter to sign Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to lucrative long-term contracts in hopes of winning the franchise's eighth World Series title.
