Dodgers Win Pandemic Series

 The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays to win the 2020 World Series in six games at Arlington, TX.  For a baseball season that began in late July and shortened to 60 regular season games performed in empty stadiums due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and few thought should have been played at all after two teams had outbreaks, this was quite an accomplishment.

Game 6, won by the Dodgers 3-1, was notable because:

• Rays manager Kevin Cash lifted his starting pitcher Blake Snell in the sixth inning with a 1-0 lead, ultimately losing the game and the Series with subsequent relievers failing to stem the tide.  So the moral of this story is:  If you live by the pitch count, you can also die by it too.
• Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner was taken out of the game when he tested positive for Covid-19, yet he was allowed to celebrate maskless with his wife and teammates in the post-game championship ceremonies.  Obviously, somebody dropped the ball here.

This World Series was played at the Texas Rangers' new retractable roof stadium in Arlington, which is actually closer to Fort Worth than Dallas.  Not only was this the first Series to be played at a neutral site (league championship playoffs had also been held in Houston, San Diego and Los Angeles), but it was also the first held in the same ballpark since 1944 when the Cardinals and Browns (now the Baltimore Orioles) shared Sportsman's Park in St. Louis during that wartime series.  Until Turner's diagnosis, Major League Baseball had done a pretty good job of keeping the virus at bay with keeping close tabs on the players and limiting attendance.

The Dodgers, who have been in the Series three of the past four years before finally winning their first title since 1988, went through the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves in the National League playoffs to get here.

The Rays, only in their second Series since 2008, defeated the Toronto Blue Jays (who spent their regular season in Buffalo), New York Yankees and Houston Astros in the American League playoffs.

The Dodgers have now won seven world championships in franchise history, starting in Brooklyn in 1955 and the rest in Los Angeles.  This is the first title in which Vin Scully, who broadcast Dodgers games from 1950 to 2016, was not in the booth when they won.

Against all odds, Major League Baseball survived long enough to play a season in the shadow of Covid-19.  Whether there will be a full season in 2021, with paying customers permitted to watch inside a stadium, is anyone's guess.