Dodgers back in the World Series for 3rd time in 4 years

Cody Bellinger

The Los Angeles Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series to the Houston Astros, and they lost the 2018 World Series to the Boston Red Sox. 

Will the third time be the charm?

The Dodgers are National League pennant winners for the third time in four years, after they beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-3, on Sunday in Game 7 of the NL Championship Series.

Los Angeles was down 3-2 after five innings, but it tied the game in the sixth on Enrique Hernandez's pinch-hit solo home run off A.J. Minter. The Dodgers went ahead to stay in the bottom of the seventh, when center fielder Cody Bellinger homered off Chris Martin.

Both Hernandez and Bellinger homered on 2-2 pitches to cap off eight-pitch battles.

The big defensive play, not surprisingly, came from right fielder Mookie Betts, who robbed Atlanta's Freddie Freeman of a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning. If that ball gets out, the Braves go ahead 4-2, and who knows how that changes the game and the strategy moving forward?

Interestingly, the Dodgers won this game without using longtime ace Clayton Kershaw, or longtime closer Kenley Jansen. Los Angeles used five pitchers, none of whom worked more than three innings: Dustin May, Tony Gonsolin, Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol and Julio Urias.

There aren't any household names among those five pitchers, but that list shows the depth of the Dodgers, and it's shows the diverse way in which Los Angeles built its team.

May and Gonsolin were drafted and developed by the Dodgers; both are products of the 2016 draft class. Treinen was a free-agent acquisition. He was coming off a down year with Oakland in 2019, but he found new life with the Dodgers. Graterol was acquired from the Minnesota Twins in a three-team blockbuster last offseason -- the same deal that brought Betts to Los Angeles and had the Dodgers sending pitcher Kenta Maeda to Minnesota.

And Urias was signed as an international free agent out of Mexico at age 16. Now 24 years old, the left-hander finished the game Sunday with three perfect innings. Frankly, it would have been foolish for Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to go to Jansen, although the veteran right-hander was warming up in the bullpen when the game ended.

Urias was cruising, and there was absolutely no reason to believe he couldn't protect that one-run lead. Protect it he did, and now we'll see how the Dodgers fare against the Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series.

The Rays are making their first World Series appearance since 2008, when they lost to the Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers are attempting to win the World Series for the first time since 1988, a remarkable drought when you consider the overall success of the organization.

Los Angeles will turn to Kershaw in Game 1 on Tuesday night. Tampa Bay will counter with right-hander Tyler Glasnow.