There is a saying as old as time itself:

“It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.”

Two batters into Game-6 of the 2020 World Series between the Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX, and needing only one more win to become the champions of baseball, Dodgers right-hander Tony Gonsolin gave up a solo home run to Rays left fielder Randy Arozarena.

Not a good start.

But three hours and 28 minutes later, 24-year-old Dodger left-hander Julio Urías struck out Rays shortstop Willy Adames to give the Dodgers – and the City of Los Angeles – their first World Series championship in 32 years.

A GREAT finish!

“We’re bringing the trophy home. It’s been too long,” said Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman after the thrilling and hard-fought 3-1 Dodgers win.

So hard-fought, in fact, that the Dodgers didn’t score their first run until the bottom of the sixth inning after Rays manager Kevin Cash unexpectedly removed right-hander Blake Snell from the game after allowing only one run on two hits with no walks and striking out nine Dodger batters in his 5.1 innings of work.

“I think at that point, I was like, ‘I got a chance; Snell was rolling,’” Dodgers right fielder Mookie Betts said of Cash’s surprising move. “I wasn’t asking any questions, though. I was just like, ‘Hey, your manager said you gotta go, next guy’s coming in.’ At that point, I tried to put an at-bat together and go from there.”

Go he did.

Betts promptly doubled off of Snell’s replacement, Rays right-hander Nick Anderson, to move Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes, who had singled off of Snell, to third base. Barnes then scored the tying run on a wild pitch by Anderson, with Betts advancing to third. Betts then broke for home on contact on a fielder’s choice ground out to Rays first baseman Ji-Man Choi by Dodgers shortstop and Series MVP Corey Seager, scoring just ahead of Choi’s throw to give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. Betts would homer off of Rays right-hander Pete Fairbanks in the bottom of the eighth for a huge insurance run to make it 3-1, the eventual final score.

After Gonsolin’s rocky start, Messrs. Dylan Floro, Alex Wood, Pedro Baez, Víctor González, Brusdar Graterol, and Urias were absolutely brilliant out of the Dodgers bullpen, allowing no runs and a combined two hits, while walking none and striking out 12.

“All of LA was waiting for that [final out],” Urías said postgame through an interpreter.

“He was incredible this postseason,” Friedman said of Urías’ stellar 2.1 innings of relief work to seal the deal. “The way he went about it was as good as it gets. We talked about putting him in that role in Game 7 [of the NLCS], and just to a man, it was easy to bet on. And then for him to go out and back it up the way he did just speaks volumes about him.”

Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw was ecstatic over his team’s World Series win. It was his third attempt at a World Series win in the past four seasons. When asked about his ‘legacy’ of having struggled in his previous attempts, the 32-year-old Dallas, TX native was very direct in his answer.

“We won the World Series. I don’t care about legacy, I don’t care about what happened last year,” Kershaw answered. “I don’t care at all. We won the World Series. The 2020 Dodgers won the World Series. Who cares about all that other stuff? It’s just pointless, doesn’t matter. We won, It’s great.”

The one (and only) downside to Tuesday night’s excitement is that extremely popular Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was abruptly removed from the game in the seventh inning. Dodger fans – and the entire world – would soon learn that the Dodgers’ senior statesman had tested positive for COVID-19.

“It’s a bittersweet night for us,” Manfred said during a postgame interview on FOX. “We’re glad to be done. I do think it’s a great accomplishment for our players to get this season completed. But obviously we’re concerned when any of our players test positive. We learned during the game that Justin was positive.”

A short while later, the 35-year-old Long Beach, CA native, who is now a free agent, posted this on Twitter:

Well done, Dodgers! Well done indeed!

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