Chris Sale’s final pitch produced celebrations on the Dodger Stadium infield amidst thousands of Boston fans who made their way to California and back home, outside of Fenway Park. Thousands of fans continued to show their support on the first-base side of the field long after the final out chanting “Let’s go Red Sox!” and “Sweet Caroline.”

Boston beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-1 on Sunday October 28 to finish a one-sided World Series in only five games. The Red Sox came in as the superior opponent and proved it throughout the five games. The Dodgers fell short once again but also made it here again.

Going from a franchise which experienced decades of despair before ending an 86-year championship drought in 2004, to becoming the best team in the MLB with four titles in 15 seasons while the Dodgers continued to search for their first one in 15 years really made the Boston Red Sox the team of the century.

Alex Cora, Boston Red Sox manager and player on the 2007 Boston Championship team, became the first manager from Puerto Rico to win a title and the fifth rookie skipper overall.

Steve Pearce hit a two-run homer on Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw’s sixth pitch. Solo homers by Mookie Betts in the sixth inning and J.D. Martinez in the seventh quieted the Los Angeles fans. Pearce also added a solo drive off Pedro Baez in the eighth and was named the Series MVP after the game. Pearce was acquired from Toronto in June, he had three homers and seven RBIs in the last 11 innings of the Series.

Boston outscored the Dodgers 28-16 and also had a slightly better batting average at .222 to .180. Unlike the Dodgers, the Red Sox managed to get timely hitting and won their ninth title, tying the Athletics for third-most behind the Cardinals (11) and the Yankees (27). The Dodgers did not hit nearly enough which gave their bullpen an extremely small margin of error.

In Game 1, the Dodgers were defeated by defensive errors. The rough fifth inning of Game 2 sealed their fate. The only thing that stopped the Red Sox from achieving a sweep was the 18-inning loss in Game 3 which was the longest World Series game in history. Boston was trailing 4-0 in the seventh inning of Game 4. It was at that point that Sale rose from the bench for a motivational rant that got his teammates to wake up and rally for a 9-6 victory over the Dodgers. In Game 5, the Red Sox never trailed.

David Price, 33-year-old 2012 Cy Young Award Winner, pitched under an October shadow cast by his regular season’s success. He had a record of 0-9 out of his 11 postseason starts but then defeated Astros ace Justin Verlander in Game 5 of the AL Championship Series. The left-hander earned his third start Sunday and became the first pitcher to beat Cy Young winners in the finale of an LCS and the World Series, according to ESPN.

Price gave up a homerun to David Freese on his first pitch, then allowed only two more hits. He struck out five and walked two, retiring 14 in a row before a leadoff walk to Chris Taylor in the eighth. The left-hander ended his night with a total of 89 pitches.  

Clayton Kershaw’s October struggles remained at the forefront. He started Game 5 needing a victory to extend the Dodgers’ season but gave up four runs in seven innings—off home runs by Mookie Betts, Steve Pearce, and J.D. Martinez—and was ultimately outdueled by Price in a crushing 5-1 loss.

In an interview with ESPN, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “Ran up against a very good ballclub—and just a little bit too much for us.” The Dodgers were eliminated by the Houston Astros in 2017 after the maximum seven games and are now the first team since the Texas Rangers of 2010 and 2011 to lose back-to-back World Series. Only three teams have returned to the World Series a third straight time after losing two in a row: the 1909 Detroit Tigers, the 1913 New York Giants, and the 1923 New York Yankees. Out of the three, only the Yankees won the World Series the third time. Will the Dodgers return to the World Series next year for yet another shot at redemption?