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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Tommy Edman and Will Smith homered to send Shohei Ohtani into the World Series for the first time, and the Los Angeles Dodgers eliminated the New York Mets with a 10-5 victory in Game 6 of the NL Championship Series on Sunday night.

The Dodgers clinched their record 25th NL pennant and first at home since 1988, when they beat the Mets in seven games. They moved on to their 22nd World Series — 13th in Los Angeles — and first since 2020, when they beat Tampa Bay during the pandemic-delayed season.

Next up for Ohtani and Co. is Aaron Judge and the New York Yankees, who are back in the World Series for the 41st time and first in 15 years. Game 1 is Friday at Dodger Stadium, pitting Judge (58) and Ohtani (54) — MLB’s top home-run hitters this season.

“It’s kind of what the people wanted, what we all wanted,” Dodgers star Mookie Betts said. “It’s going to be a battle of two good teams, a lot of long flights across the country.”

It’ll be the 12th time the storied franchises meet in the World Series and the first in 43 years. The Yankees have beaten the Dodgers eight times, while the Dodgers’ three championships against the Bronx Bombers came in 1955, 1963 and 1981.

“It’s the place that I’ve dreamt of playing all my life,” Ohtani said through a translator, “and to be able to finally come to this stage and be able to play and hopefully win it is my next goal.”

Ohtani, playing his first season with the Dodgers after agreeing to a record-breaking contract in free agency, had two hits and scored two runs in Game 6. He hit .364 with two homers and six RBIs in the NLCS.

Not bad for his first postseason after spending six years with the Los Angeles Angels, who never had a winning record or reached the playoffs during his tenure.

Dodgers reliever Blake Treinen struck out Brandon Nimmo, Mark Vientos and Pete Alonso swinging in the eighth in his first two-inning outing since the 2021 NLCS.

The Dodgers briefly trailed 1-0 before cleanup hitter Edman came up big.

He drove in the Dodgers’ first four runs and his 11 RBIs in the NLCS tied a franchise record set by Corey Seager in 2020 against Atlanta. Edman, who the NLCS MVP award, joined the Dodgers at the July trade deadline from St. Louis.

The Dodgers eliminated the Mets on their second try in the series. They outscored New York 40-26 in the six games. None of the games were close, with the Dodgers earning two shutouts.

The Mets came within two wins of reaching the World Series after a 22-33 start.

The Dodgers led 2-1 in the first on Edman’s double into the left-field corner off Sean Manaea that scored Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández, who both singled. Hernández snapped an 0-for-18 skid in the NLCS. Manaea needed 34 pitches to get through the first.

Facing two strikes in the third, Edman sent a 406-foot shot to left-center for a two-run drive. A walk to Max Muncy and two outs later, Smith homered 416 feet to center off Phil Maton, extending the lead to 6-1.

The Mets cut their deficit to 6-3 in the fourth. With two out, Vientos hit a two-run homer — his fifth of the postseason — off Ryan Brasier. Vientos’ first career grand slam highlighted the Mets’ series-tying win in Game 2 at Dodger Stadium.

New York twice failed to cash in with the bases loaded. Trailing 6-3 in the sixth, Jesse Winker flied out against Evan Phillips to end the inning. Down a run in the third, the Mets loaded the bases against Anthony Banda only for Jeff McNeil to strike out swinging.

A clearly amped Michael Kopech opened the bullpen game for the Dodgers for his first career playoff start. He promptly issued a leadoff walk to Francisco Lindor and then threw a wild pitch. With two outs, Alonso had a two-strike flare to second base and Lindor scored on a throwing error by second baseman Chris Taylor for a 1-0 lead.

The Dodgers, whose starting pitching has been decimated by injuries, used seven pitchers in finishing off the Mets, whose $332 million payroll was the biggest in baseball.

Manaea lasted just two innings, giving up five runs and six hits. The left-hander struck out two and walked two. His revamped delivery baffled the Dodgers in Game 2, when Manaea limited them to two earned runs over five innings, but they had no such trouble Sunday.

Alonso had two hits and drove in a run in what could have been his final game for the Mets. The first baseman is eligible for free agency after the World Series.

The Dodgers, who were eliminated in the Division Series the last two years, spent a combined $1 billion last winter to sign Ohtani and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto to lucrative long-term contracts in hopes of winning the franchise’s eighth World Series title.

The sellout crowd of 52,674 included Tom Hanks, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Magic Johnson, Rob Lowe, Josh Groban, Jenny McCarthy and Vanessa Bryant.

TRAINER’S ROOM

Dodgers: 1B Freddie Freeman sat out for the third time in the postseason because of his sprained right ankle. He also missed Game 4 of the NLCS and Game 4 of the NLDS.

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NEW YORK (AP) — As confetti fell and Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blared through the arena, the New York Liberty celebrated the end of a 27-year odyssey.

The team that always fell short, starting from their days in Madison Square Garden, through detours to Radio City Music Hall and Westchester County Center, finally found their way to the top.

Start spreading the news, indeed: There’s finally a pro basketball champion in New York again after a 67-62 overtime win over Minnesota in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday night.

“I’ve been manifesting this moment for awhile, There’s no feeling like it,” Breanna Stewart said. “Credit to Minnesota they gave us a tough series. The fans have been amazing everywhere we’ve gone. To bring a championship to New York, first ever in franchise history it’s an incredible feeling. I can’t wait to continue to celebrate with the city. It’s going to be bonkers.”

Jonquel Jones scored 17 points to lead New York, which was one of the original franchises in the league. The Liberty made the WNBA Finals five times before, losing each one, including last season. This time they wouldn’t be denied, although it took an extra five minutes.

With stars Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu struggling on offense, other players stepped up. Leonie Fiebich started off OT with a 3-pointer, and then Nyara Sabally had a steal for a layup to make it 65-60 and bring the sellout crowd to a frenzied state.

“Whoever scores in overtime first usually wins,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said.

Minnesota didn’t score in OT until Kayla McBride hit two free throws with 1:51 left. The Lynx missed all six of their field goal attempts in overtime. After Ionescu missed a shot with 21 seconds left, her 18th miss on 19 shot attempts, the Lynx had one last chance, but Bridget Carleton missed a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left.

Stewart, who missed a free throw with 0.8 seconds left in the end of regulation in Game 1, hit two free throws with 10.1 seconds left in overtime to seal the victory.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock the players hugged and streamers fell from the rafters. Stewart and Jones hugged. The two prize free agent signees two years ago that helped get this team its first title.

New York trailed by two in regulation when Stewart was fouled with 5.2 seconds left. After a lengthy video review, Stewart calmly hit two free throws to tie the game at 60.

Kayla McBride, who finished with 21 points, had an open look for a 3, but it fell off the rim and the game went to OT.

Many of the former Liberty greats were in the audience, including Teresa Weatherspoon, who hit a half-court heave in the 1999 WNBA Finals to force a decisive Game 3 that year. That was the last time that New York had a chance to play in a championship-deciding game until this year.

Jones, who was the only player on the Liberty to compete in a Game 5 before when she was with Connecticut in 2019, earned MVP honors.

“I could never dream of this. You know how many times I’ve been denied. It was delayed. I am so happy to do it here,” she said.

Napheesa Collier scored 22 points to lead Minnesota before fouling out with 13 seconds left in OT.

The Lynx were trying for a record fifth WNBA title, breaking a tie with the Seattle Storm and Houston Comets. Minnesota won four titles from 2011-17 behind the core group of Lindsay Whalen, Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, Sylvia Fowles and Maya Moore. That was the team’s last appearance in the WNBA Finals until this year.

“Congratulations to the Liberty on their first championship,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “It took them 28 years, congrats to them. We were that close to our fifth, it just didn’t happen.”

This is the first time since 2019 that the WNBA Finals have gone the distance. Since the league switched to a best-of-five format in 2005, seven other series have gone to a Game 5 and the home team had won five of those previous contests, including in 2019.

This series has been a fitting conclusion to a record-breaking season for the league. All five games came down to the last few possessions and have included two overtime games and a last-second shot, which have led to record ratings.

The first three games each had over a million viewers on average, with the audience growing for each contest. They also have had huge crowds in attendance.

Liberty fan Spike Lee was courtside over an hour before tipoff chatting with the media while wearing his Ionescu jersey. Once Ionescu finished warming up pregame, the pair had a brief exchange and hugged. Lee was part of a sellout crowd of 18,090 that helped this series set both the overall attendance record for a WNBA Finals as well as the average attendance mark.

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NEW YORK (AP) — Broadway vs. Hollywood. Subway vs. Freeway. Judge vs. Ohtani.

New York neighbors who became cross-country rivals, the Yankees and Dodgers renew their starry struggle in the World Series for the first time in 43 years.

“When you’re playing for the Dodgers and playing for the Yankees, it better feel different,” LA manager Dave Roberts said at Yankee Stadium last June. “If not, you better do something different for a profession.”

Two of baseball’s most successful teams face each other starting Friday at Dodger Stadium, the Yankees coming off their 41st American League pennant and the Dodgers their 25th National League championship. New York is seeking its 28th World Series title but first since 2009, the Dodgers their eighth and second in a five-year span.

Yankees pinstripes vs. Dodgers Pantone 294. The Bronx Bombers vs. the Dem Bums’ descendants. The granite-and-limestone of new Yankee Stadium on chilly autumn nights vs. Dodger Stadium in sunny Chavez Ravine, with the San Gabriel Mountains beyond the pavilions.

“It’s kind of what the people wanted, what we all wanted,” Dodgers star Mookie Betts said. “It’s going to be a battle of two good teams, a lot of long flights across the country.”

New York is 8-3 against the Dodgers in the most frequent World Series matchup, including 6-1 against Brooklyn and 2-2 since the rivalry became Big Apple against Tinseltown.

Mickey Owen, Al Gionfriddo, Cookie Lavagetto, Sandy Amoros, Johnny Podres, Don Larsen, Sandy Koufax and Reggie Jackson created indelible images in the matchup, which started in 1941 with one of the wackiest World Series turns.

Trailing 2-1 in the Series, Brooklyn led 4-3 with two outs in the ninth inning at Ebbets Field when Tommy Henrich swung and missed at strike three from Hugh Casey. The ball bounced away from Owen and rolled toward the Dodgers dugout as Henrich reached on the dropped third strike. Joe DiMaggio singled, Charlie Keller hit a two-run double and Joe Gordon added another two-run double later in the inning as the Yankees won 7-4 and went on to win the title in five games.

Lavagetto’s two-out, pinch walk-off double in the ninth ended Bill Bevens’ no-hit bid in 1947’s Game 4 and two games later Gionfriddo robbed DiMaggio of a tying three-run homer.

New York beat the Dodgers again in 1949, 1952 and 1953, frustrating the fans in Flatbush, but Brooklyn finally won the title in 1955 when Podres pitched a Game 7 shutout at Yankee Stadium and Gil Hodges drove in both runs. Amoros preserved the lead when he made a running catch of Yogi Berra’s sixth-inning drive in the left-field corner with two on and relayed to shortstop Pee Wee Reese, who threw to Hodges at first and doubled up Gil McDougald. Those players were celebrated in Roger Kahn’s 1972 book “The Boys of Summer.”

Larsen pitched the World Series’ only perfect game in 1956’s fifth game in the Bronx, Berra jumping into his arms after the final out, and the Yankees won Game 7 behind Johnny Kucks’ three-hit shutout in what turned out to be the last World Series game at Ebbets Field.

Walter O’Malley moved the Dodgers to California after the 1957 season, and Koufax had an interlocking “LA” on his cap instead of a “B” when he struck out a then-Series record 15 in the 1963 opener at Yankee Stadium. The rivalry didn’t resume until 1977 with the first of three matchups in a five-year span.

Jackson’s three home runs led the Yankees to a clinching win in 1977’s Game 6. The Yankees won another six-game Series the following year, highlighted by third baseman Graig Nettles’ diving stops on Reggie Smith, Steve Garvey and Davey Lopes.

Los Angeles lost the first two games in the Bronx in 1981, and then won four in a row — capped by a 9-2 victory that had Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda dancing. The defeat prompted Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, his right hand bandaged after an alleged fight with Dodgers fans in a hotel elevator, to issue a written apology “to the people of New York and to the fans of the New York Yankees everywhere.”

Both teams feel the history created by their predecessors.

“You put that jersey on and those pinstripes, it just feels different,” Yankees slugger Juan Soto said.

Los Angeles took two of three when they met in a much-hyped series in June.

Roberts is reminded of the history when he approaches Dodger Stadium.

“I can’t believe I’m driving up Vin Scully Way, when I go to work,” he said. “It’s overwhelming, but I try not to let my head go there too often; I just try to do my job.”

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