photo credit: Carter Shilling
The crack of the bat rings out through the stadium, roaring cheers follow as the baseball flies over the heads of the outfielders and over the fence and the historic matchup begins. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays were the two teams competing for a World Series title.
This year in Major League Baseball, a new pitch clock rule has been instituted, giving players a specific amount of time to pitch or be prepared to hit the ball before they receive a penalty according to the player who earns the penalty, according to mlb.com.
“The addition of the pitch clock and other new rules that were added to grow the game of baseball have led to increased anticipation and excitement for the playoffs,” sophomore MLB fan and club baseball player Evan Benua said.
Before the eventful league finals, the MLB hosts the highest rated teams in an exciting playoff bracket, with the top four rated teams getting byes. The Toronto Blue Jays being one of these teams made it to the World Series.
“Obviously, getting the bye was important to keep players fresh, and honestly, the high scoring explosive innings are what I think set the Blue Jays apart from the teams they played, ultimately sending them to the World Series,” Benua said.
The Dodgers, the other contender in the World Series, did not get the luxury of a bye and fought through many teams to get to the World Series. They were led by a once-in-a-lifetime player, Shohei Ohtani, a pitcher for the Dodgers.
“Ohtani is the best baseball player of all time. It’s inarguable. He impacts the team from both the offensive and defensive side of the ball more than any player ever. If you tune in, you’re witnessing history,” varsity baseball coach and MLB fan Tom Marker said.
The first two games of the World Series showed to fans that both teams were clearly evenly matched, with each team winning one game. These traditional games were quickly ended however, as game three was the second longest world series game ever, lasting a whopping six and a half hours and taking 18 innings to complete, according to espn.com.
“The walk-off home run from Freddie Freeman in the 18th inning was the most intense for the Dodgers because it was a huge turning point in the series and ended a 6 hour 30 minute classic,” Benua said.
A long game has many consequences on teams who play through them, one of which being fatigue for the pitchers, as they need rested arms to reliably pitch, which negatively impacted both teams for the following games.
“How teams bounced back from marathon game three was interesting to watch. However, the injury to Springer impacted Toronto on a catastrophic level,” Marker said.
Fortunately for the Blue Jays, they seemed to handle the injury and pitching better than the Dodgers, as they went on a run winning two games back to back, going into game six with a chance to win it all, specifically diehard Blue Jays fans, wanting to get the win at home, with game six and seven being played back in Toronto, according to espn.com.
“People overall wanted the Blue Jays to win because the Dodgers are such a dynasty and are looking to get back to back World Series wins,” Benua said.
Game six was intense, as it was all on the line for the Blue Jays, but the Dodgers managed to pull a three to one win over the Blue Jays, with a questionable play with the ball getting caught in the outfield wall, and an incredibly executed double play to secure the win for the Dodgers, officially sending the series to the final decision, game seven.
“I wanted the series to go to game seven. I always hope sports series go the maximum allotted distance. It gives us the opportunity to experience more,” Marker said.
Game seven was a back and forth fight, with The Blue Jays taking an early lead, and the Dodgers fighting back to tie it up at the very end with an intense ninth inning, sending the game to extra innings, where the dodgers managed to secure the win, ultimately winning the World Series and securing the game and series to the history books.
“This World Series was one of the best we’ve seen in a while, and game seven will inevitably be remembered for years to come,” Benua said.
