2020 World Series Game 6: Cody Bellinger's HR vs. Rays

Lore & Background

The 2020 Dodgers started the season 30–10, matching the best 40-game start in franchise history. The last such Dodgers start came in 1977, along with the Brooklyn teams in 1888 and 1955. This was also the best 40-game start in the majors since the 116-win Mariners began 31–9 in 2001. The Dodgers led MLB in runs scored (349), home runs (118) and slugging percentage (.483, tied with the Atlanta Braves). The Dodgers finished the regular season 43–17, winning their eighth straight division title, and swept both the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLWCS and the San Diego Padres in the NLDS. They then defeated the Braves in the NLCS to advance to the World Series against the Tampa Bay Rays, their third World Series appearance in the last four years and their 24th pennant in franchise history, surpassing the San Francisco Giants for the most in the National League. The Dodgers would then go on to defeat the Rays in six games, winning their first World Series since 1988, their sixth since moving to Los Angeles, and the seventh in franchise history.

In Their Own Story

The air inside Globe Life Field felt heavy, trapped under the roof against the Texas night but unable to contain the suffocating pressure. Cody Bellinger adjusted his helmet, the weight of a season defined by slumps pressing down on his shoulders. The count stretched to full; in the strange, muffled silence of a bio-bubble crowd, time seemed to suspend itself. Then came it—the sharp, singular crack of the bat that cut through the humidity. The ball didn't just fly; it soared, a solitary white beacon arcing high into the left-field lights, defying the narrative that had plagued him all October. For a fleeting few seconds, the dugout erupted in a chaotic release of tension, players rushing the railing as if the 1988 drought was finally ending. But the moment stretched too thin. The Rays' pitchers quickly found their rhythm, the celebration evaporated into the cold reality of a series that refused to yield, leaving Bellinger and the Dodgers staring down a Game 7.

Reader's Guide

It only states that the Dodgers defeated the Rays in six games to win the World Series.

Did You Know?

• The Dodgers' regular season .717 winning percentage is the highest of the post-1960 expansion era.
• Had the team finished a 162-game season at the same pace, they would have tied the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 2001 Seattle Mariners with a record 116 wins.
• The Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988, their sixth since moving to Los Angeles, and the seventh in franchise history.