Dodgers appreciate World Series won in season of unique challenges

The Los Angeles Dodgers held on to their goal in a baseball season disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, claiming a World Series title after a season like no other.

The Dodgers captured their first World Series in 32 years with a six-game win over the Tampa Bay Rays, answering questions about the legitimacy of the title after a regular season cut from 162 games to 60.

Tradition-bound baseball saw rule changes: seven-inning double-header games, the designated hitter used in National League stadiums, and a runner placed at second base to start additional innings, in an attempt to maintain the ballpark. campaign on the right track.

A modified playoff format allowed 16 teams to enter the postseason, but manager Dave Roberts said none of that should detract from what the Dodgers accomplished in an uncertain season.

“You could argue to say that it’s even more difficult, all the things we had to do,” Roberts said.

“There shouldn’t be an asterisk, and I keep it.”

While more teams made the playoffs, they had to fight their way through a dangerous best-of-three first-round format.

By the time the best-of-five division series games rolled around, baseball had moved its remaining contenders to quarantine bubbles in Texas and California.

That left teams with a tough march to the World Series, with the Dodgers and Rays going the distance in seven games in seven days during the League Championship Series.

In the end, the two teams with the best regular season records – the Dodgers 43-7 and the Rays 40-20 – dueled for the title.

“Obviously we understand this is a different season,” Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner said before Los Angeles’ win on Tuesday.

“That was one of the first things we talked about when we got back together: look, it doesn’t matter how many games we play, it doesn’t matter what the postseason is like, if there’s a championship to win, we’re going to go after that and do whatever. is within our reach to bring it home. “

To that end, Turner was reported to be militant in urging his teammates to observe hygiene and social distancing protocols aimed at preventing the kind of Covid outbreaks that hampered teams, including the Miami Marlins and St. Louis. Cardinals, early in the season.

“I think for us, off the field was a bigger challenge,” said Enrique Hernández, whose wife is expecting the couple’s first child. “The whole Covid thing affected the routines of many people.

“For me, being from Puerto Rico, I haven’t seen my family in a long time, and I think there are a lot of people in that clubhouse who can share that feeling, who haven’t seen their families in a long time. time.

“Besides baseball, the most challenging part was dealing with everyday life as it is.”

Baseball had gone nearly two months without a positive test when Turner himself was pulled late from Game 6 on Tuesday after a follow-up test, following an inconclusive result, came back positive.

With the trophy secured, Turner couldn’t resist taking to the field to celebrate with teammates who had suffered World Series disappointments in 2017 and 2018.

Roberts hopes fans will understand the magnitude of the Dodgers’ achievement that caused Turner to put caution aside.

“I like to think that if they love baseball as much as we do, they could step back and look at the quality of the game, the quality of the talent,” he said. “It’s been a fantastic postseason and it’s been a great World Series.”