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Los Angeles Dodgers: 1926 World Series champions (1st title)
BOB COSTAS & JOE MORGAN — GAME 6 / SERIES CLINCHER RECAP
Dodgers 3, Indians 1 — Los Angeles wins the World Series, 4–2
COSTAS:
“On a crisp November afternoon in Cleveland, under clear skies and a sharp Midwestern wind blowing out toward left, baseball history was rewritten.
At long last—and for the first time in this alternate tapestry of the national pastime—the Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series champions.
A franchise with resources, with expectations, with the weight of a sprawling metropolis behind it… but also a franchise that, until today, carried the burden of unfulfilled potential. Now, at last, they stand atop the baseball world.”
MORGAN:
“Bob, this was about pitching. That’s the headline for me. The Dodgers’ staff shut down Cleveland almost the entire series. You beat a powerful lineup four times because your pitchers execute. Campbell was great again today—seven strong innings, only one run—and Kovach has been nails out of the bullpen all postseason.
And remember, this Indians team has dominated the American League for four straight years. Four great regular seasons. But, like we always say: the postseason is a different game.”
COSTAS:
“And that’s what makes today so bittersweet for Cleveland, a team that, for over half a decade, has been the class of the league. One championship during that span—one—and it reminds us, painfully and beautifully, of the truth at the heart of this sport:
It is hard to win a World Series.
Sometimes impossibly hard. Even the best can fall short.”
MORGAN:
“The Dodgers didn’t fall short, though. They came out swinging. Dakota Milar set the tone with a leadoff home run—first pitch he sees, it’s 1–0. In a clinching game, that matters. Players feed off that.
Then Maes doubles home another, then another run scores in the second, and suddenly Cleveland’s playing from behind the whole afternoon. That’s not how you want to play an elimination game.”
COSTAS:
“And in that steady, unflinching Dodger dugout, Bobby Cimabue—named the Series MVP—was the embodiment of their approach: timely hits, sharp defense, leadership by example. He said it best after the final out: ‘We played better than the other team.’
Simple. Honest. True.”
MORGAN:
“People underestimate how important that is, Bob. You don’t need drama every night. You just need to play cleaner baseball, make better pitches, put together better at-bats. The Dodgers did that all series. They had the better team this week.”
COSTAS:
“And as Campbell induced that final grounder, as Maes flipped to Brierton for the final out, you could almost feel an entire franchise exhale.
Years of frustration gone in an instant.
Confetti waiting back home.
A parade already being planned in Los Angeles, where fans who had hoped, waited, and sometimes doubted will celebrate a championship more than a century in the making—at least in the imagination of this wonderfully twisted baseball universe.”
MORGAN:
“Well, they earned it. They pitched better. They fielded better. They hit when they needed to. That’s what champions do.”
COSTAS:
“And now the Dodgers take their place among baseball’s immortals.
The 1926 champions.
A long time coming—
But absolutely worth the wait.”
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