LOS ANGELES — The pitching staff was too depleted to make a difference and the infield too hobbled to make a significant mark.
And yet the Los Angeles Dodgers navigated their way to the World Series behind seven relief pitchers and a four-RBI night from shortstop Tommy Edman to earn a 10-5 victory over the New York Mets on Sunday in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series.
Edman and Will Smith each hit two-run home runs as the Dodgers earned a matchup with the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic, which begins on Friday in Los Angeles. It will be the Dodgers’ fourth World Series appearance in the past eight seasons.
“I think the whole world was looking forward to, or hoping for this potential matchup, this showdown,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “It’s going to be great. (The Yankees) are a very talented team. But I think for us, it’s kind of one game at a time, appreciating the fact that we’ve still got four wins to take care of business.”
The Dodgers and Yankees are headed toward their 12th Fall Classic matchup and the first since 1981. New York has won eight of the previous 11 meetings with a title on the line.
In a bullpen game Sunday, which was required because of so many injuries to the starting staff, Dodgers pitchers gave up 11 hits and struck out nine. Ben Casparius (1-0) went 1 1/3 innings to earn the win, and Blake Treinen pitched the final two innings for his third save of the playoffs.
Casparius didn’t make his major league debut until Aug. 31 and has pitched in three postseason games after pitching in just three regular-season games.
“I wouldn’t say we planned for injuries but we planned to have multiple guys contribute throughout the year,” said Dodgers right-hander Evan Phillips, who pitched a scoreless sixth inning. “I think you saw that at points during the season when guys went down with injuries and guys stepped up in a big way.”
Edman, who arrived from the St. Louis Cardinals in a July 29 trade, had 11 RBIs in six games against the Mets to tie Corey Seager’s franchise record for RBIs in a single NLCS, a mark set in 2020.
Edman was at shortstop because of a groin injury to Miguel Rojas. Freddie Freeman did not start in two NLCS games due to a sprained right ankle, forcing Edman to bat in the cleanup spot in two of the past three games.
“I don’t know if the spot in the lineup necessarily means that much to me,” Edman said. “But, I mean, I didn’t really know what my role was when I got traded here. The postseason, moving around a little bit, I feel like I’ve just done a good job of adjusting to whatever is required of me in any given situation.”
Mark Vientos hit a two-run home run for the Mets, while Sean Manaea (2-1) gave up five runs on six hits over two-plus innings. The Mets fell two victories short of a Subway Series after securing a postseason berth on the final day of the regular season and getting past the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies in the playoffs.
“Obviously it stinks because you want to keep going,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said. “But I just told the guys how proud I was because we not only became a really good team, we became a family. And now we raised the bar. This is what we should strive for every year, to be playing deep into October. And we showed that this year.”
The Mets had an early 1-0 lead after Pete Alonso hit a blooper over the mound for a run-scoring infield single in the first inning.
The Dodgers responded in their half of the first when Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernandez singled before Edman doubled them home for a 2-1 lead.
Los Angeles made it 6-1 in the third inning when Edman hit a two-run home run off Manaea and Smith hit a two-run shot off Phil Maton.
The Mets got within 6-3 in the fourth inning when Vientos greeted right-hander Ryan Brasier with a two-run home run for his fifth long ball of the postseason.
Los Angeles added a run in the sixth inning on Ohtani’s RBI bloop single to center field. The Mets got the run back on a sacrifice fly from Francisco Alvarez. The Dodgers poured it on in the eighth inning with an RBI double from Mookie Betts, a sacrifice fly from Hernandez and an RBI single from Enrique Hernandez.
Jeff McNeil had a run-scoring single in the ninth inning for the Mets.
New York had its chances but left the bases loaded in the third inning, when McNeil struck out, and in the sixth, when Jesse Winker hit a flyout to left. The visitors left 13 runners on base in the game and went 2-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
“We understand we’ve got a lot of work to do, but I think we took a really good step forward to move in that direction,” Mendoza said.
–Doug Padilla, Field Level Media
