Dodgers win title, set parade on Fernando Valenzuela’s birthday
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Anthony Solis, Director of Social Media | New York Bureau Chief
- October 31, 2024
Dodgers capitalize on Yankees’ errors
NEW YORK – Kike Hernandez draped a Puerto Rican flag on his shoulders as the Dodgers picked up the Commissioner’s Trophy late Wednesday night. Brusdal Graterol carried a Venezuelan flag, and superstar Shohei Ohtani had the eyes of Japan tuned in as he celebrated his first World Series title.
In the Yankee Stadium concourse, fans wearing Fernando Valenzuela’s No. 34 jerseys danced, yelled and cried while waving Mexican flags. Valenzuela’s Dodgers are World Series champions again.
Two days before what would have been Valenzuela’s 64th birthday, Freddie Freeman, Teoscar Hernandez and the rest of the Dodgers overcame a five-run deficit to beat the Yankees 7-6 in Game 5 to earn the franchise’s eighth World Series title.
Freeman’s stepmom is a Dodgers fan who grew up watching Valenzuela. So although Freeman wasn’t born until 1989, he learned about Fernandomania and the Dodgers’ 1981 and 1988 titles with Valenzuela.
‘Little bittersweet’
“What Fernando means to the city of Los Angeles, and not just Los Angeles, to baseball fans around the world, I would assume, he brought Fernando mania,” Freeman said. “And it was electric. I obviously wasn’t alive during that, but to see what he meant to so many people being around him the last three years, I wish he was here.
“I’m glad he’s up there probably with my mom and jumping up-and-down right now. I’m glad we were able to bring it home. Kind of a little bittersweet, but I’m glad we were able to do it for Fernando and his family.”
The legendary Valenzuela died three days before the start of the 2024 World Series between the Dodgers and New York Yankees. With his family on the field, the Dodgers paid tribute to Valenzuela before Game 1, which Freeman capped with the first walk-off grand slam in World Series history.
Freeman put himself in Dodgers lore with that shot, which will be remembered by generations of Dodgers fans the same way they remember Kirk Gibson’s home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series and Valenzeula’s gutsy victory in Game 3 of the 1981 Fall Classic against the Yankees.
Freeman earns World Series MVP Award
Despite playing with an injured ankle, Freeman carried the Dodgers throughout the World Series. He was 6-for-20 (.300) with four home runs in the Fall Classic to be a unanimous selection for the Willie Mays World Series MVP Award.
Freeman added 12 RBIs in the Fall Classic, tying Bobby Richardson for the most RBIs in a World Series.
“I’ve just been blessed to be able to play this game a long time and be in certain situations because of the group of guys, the organization,” Freeman said. “Just from top to bottom, to be put into a situation — I mean, I got asked about the RBIs, and the RBIs are because there was guys on base. That’s my teammates.
“But, yeah, to come through in those situations, that’s what you dream about as a kid, doing that in the World Series. It’s hard to talk about right now, but maybe in a few days when I’ve let it settle in, I’ll have better answers for you. Right now I’m just ecstatic.”
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The National League champions were clearly the better team. They won the best-of-seven Series 4-1. But the Yankees sabotaged themselves with horrendous defense in Game 5.
After staving off elimination to avoid a sweep in Game 4, the Yankees jumped on Jack Flaherty early. Slugger Aaron Judge, the AL MVP favorite, hit a two-run home run in the first. Jazz Chisholm added another home run to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead in the first.
The Yankees added a run in the second and another in the third to take a 5-0 lead. Yankees ace Gerrit Cole appeared to be cruising before his teammates’ poor defense and his failure to field his position proved devastating for the Bronx Bombers.
Costly defense
Kike Hernandez led off the fifth with a single to right field. Tommy Edman followed with a routine fly ball to center. Judge somehow lost sight of the ball and dropped it for an error. Will Smith followed with a fielder’s choice grounder to short. Anthony Volpe, the Yankees’ hero in Game 4, bounced his throw to Chisholm at third for an error.
Suddenly, the Dodgers had the bases loaded with nobody out against Cole with the help of two errors on otherwise routine plays. Cole struck out Gavin Lux and Ohtani to put himself in position to escape.
But Cole never bothered to cover first base when the speedy Mookie Betts hit a grounder toward first base. Anthony Rizzo fielded the grounder, but Cole was nowhere to be found when he looked up to toss the ball to first.
Betts was credited with an infield single. Yankees fans will remember Cole’s failure to even attempt to cover the bag.
“I think part of it (was Cole) just being spent that inning and exuding so much energy to kind of almost work out of it. And then just the quick flinch of delay with a guy like Mookie running costs you,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “Thinking where it was — and typically it’s a ball the first baseman is going to be able to take.
“But because of the spin, Rizz had to make sure you kind of secure it. It’s hard to run through that ball that’s spinning like that.”
Dodgers pounce
Freeman followed with a two-run single to center. Teoscar Hernandez then tied it with a two-run double to center. Giancarlo Stanton put the Yankees ahead 6-5 in the sixth inning. The Dodgers weren’t going to be denied, though.
They loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth for Lux, who tied it at 6 with a sac fly. Ohtani then reached on a catcher’s interference, which was the Yankees’ third error of the night. Betts followed with a sac fly to cap the scoring. Walker Buehler, who started and won Game 3, came out of the bullpen in the ninth to close out the World Series.
Now the Dodgers are set for another championship parade on Friday, Valenzuela’s birthday.
“It’s going to be emotional,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Fernando was a friend of mine. I know he’s smiling right now and very proud of this organization. So he’s going to be missed. I’m sure it’s something that he would want to have been a part of, but it’s going to be emotional for all of us.”
Anthony Solis
Director of Social Media | New York Bureau Chief
Anthony Solis is a graduate of Penn State University. In 2018, he joined the MLB Players Association and rose to become its Manager of International and Domestic Communications. In 2022, he accepted a Social Media Manager role with RECUR, a groundbreaking NFT company. Solis joined Our Esquina as its Director of Social Media.
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