Best Betts: Dodgers win first World Series title since 1988

Mookie Betts came to Dodgers to make a World Series difference. With a mad dash to home plate, he put Los Angeles over top.

end of a frustrating championship drought for LA — and perhaps just start for Betts and Dodgers.

Betts bolted from third for go-ahead run on Corey Ser's infield grounder in sixth and led off eighth with a punctuating homer, and Dodgers beat Tampa Bay Rays 3-1 in Game 6 to claim ir first championship since 1988.

Dodgers had played 5,014 regular season games and were in ir 114th postseason game since Orel Hershiser struck out Oakland’s Tony Phillips for final out of World Series in 1988, same year veteran lefty Clayton Kershaw — three-time NL Cy Young Award winner who won Games 1 and 5 of this Series — was born in nearby Dallas.

Kershaw was warming in bullpen when Julio Urias struck out Willy Adames to end it and ran alongside teammates to celebrate in infield — many players and coaches still wearing face masks at end of a season played out amid coronavirus pandemic.

Los Angeles had come up short in World Series twice in previous three years. And Betts was on or side two years ago with Boston Red Sox, who before this season traded 2018 AL MVP to Dodgers. y later gave him a $365 million, 12-year extension that goes until he turns 40 in 2032.

Betts’ 3.2-second sprint was just eugh to beat throw by first baseman Ji-Man Choi, pushing Los Angeles ahead 2-1 moments after Rays manr Kevin Cash pulled ace left-hander Blake Snell despite a dominant performance over 5 1/3 innings.

Randy Arozarena, powerful Tampa Bay rookie, extended his postseason record with his 10th homer in first off rookie right-hander Tony Gonsolin, first of seven Dodgers pitchers. Rays never got ar runner past second base as LA's bullpen gave reliever-reliant Tampa Bay a taste of its own medicine.

About 2 1/2 weeks after Lakers won NBA title while finishing ir season in NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida, Dodgers gave Los Angeles ar championship in this year when vel coronavirus pandemic has delayed, shortened and moved around sports seasons.

Im credits: AP