It happened in a bubble. No roaring, 50,000-strong crowd at Dodger Stadium. No beer showers in a packed clubhouse. Just the weird, sterile echoes of Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. If you're wondering who won the 2020 World Series, the answer is the Los Angeles Dodgers, but that short sentence doesn't even begin to cover the sheer chaos of that season.
They did it. Finally. After 32 years of "wait until next year," the Dodgers took down the Tampa Bay Rays in six games. It was a relief more than a celebration for most of Southern California.
Think about the context for a second. The world was upside down. The season was only 60 games long. Players were getting tested for COVID-19 constantly. Some people still try to put an asterisk next to this title, which is honestly kind of hilarious when you look at how hard it was to actually navigate that postseason gauntlet. You had more playoff rounds than ever. You had no home-field advantage. The Dodgers had to claw back from a 3-1 deficit against the Braves just to get there.
The Moment Everything Flipped: Blake Snell and "The Pull"
If there is one thing people remember about who won the 2020 World Series, it isn't Mookie Betts’ home run or Corey Seager’s MVP performance. It’s Kevin Cash’s decision in Game 6.
Blake Snell was shoving. He was absolutely dominant. Through 5.1 innings, he had struck out nine Dodgers and allowed only two hits. He looked untouchable. Then, Austin Barnes singled. That was it. That was all it took for Cash to walk out to the mound.
I still remember the look on Snell’s face. Pure disbelief. He was cruising, but the "Rays Way" was all about the third-time-through-the-order penalty. The analytics said pull him. The "eye test" said you’re crazy. Nick Anderson came in, and the Dodgers' dugout basically exhaled a collective sigh of relief. Mookie Betts doubled, a wild pitch scored a run, and Corey Seager drove in another. Just like that, the lead was gone. The game was gone. The series was essentially over.
Analytics are great, but that night, they felt like a cold shower on a hot streak.
Why This Dodgers Team Was Different
For years, the Dodgers were the team that dominated the regular season and then forgot how to hit in October. 2017 was the heartbreak (and the sign-stealing scandal). 2018 was a buzzsaw named the Red Sox. 2019 was a soul-crushing loss to the Nationals.
But in 2020, they had Mookie.
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Trading for Mookie Betts changed the DNA of that clubhouse. He didn't just bring a Gold Glove and a silver slugger; he brought a "win or die" energy that the team lacked. In Game 6, his baserunning was the difference. He didn't just hit; he manufactured pressure.
Corey Seager was also on another planet. He won the NLCS MVP and the World Series MVP. He hit .400 in the Fall Classic. It felt like every time he stepped into the box, the ball was going to find a gap or the seats. He became the eighth player in history to win both MVP awards in the same postseason.
The Julio Urías Closer Era
We need to talk about the final out. It wasn't Kenley Jansen on the mound. It was Julio Urías.
The young lefty came in and was absolutely ice-cold. He threw 2.1 perfect innings to close it out. No walks. No hits. Just pure heat and nasty breaking balls. When he struck out Willy Adames to end it, he didn't even celebrate wildly at first. He just crouched down, almost like he was soaking in the fact that the 32-year drought was officially dead.
It was 11:47 PM in Texas.
The Dodgers won 3-1.
The Justin Turner Situation
It wouldn't be 2020 without something incredibly strange happening. In the middle of the clinching game, Justin Turner was pulled because his COVID-19 test results came back positive.
One minute he's playing third base, the next he's gone. Then, after the game, he was back on the field with a mask on (and sometimes off) to take the team photo. It was a PR nightmare and a perfect encapsulation of how weird that year was. Some people were furious. Others felt bad for a guy who had spent his whole career chasing that trophy and didn't want to miss the photo. Either way, it’s a detail you can't ignore when talking about who won the 2020 World Series.
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Was it a "Real" Championship?
You'll hear fans of the Giants or Padres call it a "Mickey Mouse ring."
Let's be real: every team had the same 60-game sprint. Every team had to deal with the bubbles and the empty stadiums. If anything, the 2020 path was harder because the playoffs were expanded. The Dodgers had to win an extra round (the Wild Card Series against the Brewers) before they even got to the typical divisional round.
They finished the regular season 43-17. That's a 116-win pace in a normal year. They were the best team, period.
Key Stats from the 2020 Fall Classic
To understand how the Dodgers pulled it off, you have to look at the pressure they put on the Rays' pitching staff.
- Mookie Betts: Hit two home runs and stole two bases.
- Walker Buehler: Game 3 was his masterpiece—10 strikeouts in 6 innings.
- Clayton Kershaw: He finally got the monkey off his back, winning both of his starts (Game 1 and Game 5) and posting a 2.31 ERA.
- The Rays' Offense: They struck out 71 times in six games. You can't win like that.
Randy Arozarena was the only reason the Rays were even in it. The guy was a folk hero that October. He hit 10 home runs in the entire postseason, a record that still feels fake. But even a historic heater wasn't enough to stop the depth of the L.A. roster.
The Legacy of the 2020 Series
Looking back from 2026, that win was the start of a massive shift in how the Dodgers were perceived. They weren't just the "rich team that chokes" anymore. They were champions. It paved the way for the aggressive moves they made later—trading for Trea Turner, Max Scherzer, and eventually the massive Shohei Ohtani deal.
Winning in 2020 validated the Andrew Friedman era. It proved that the "process" worked, even if it took a global pandemic and a neutral-site bubble to get it over the finish line.
The Rays, meanwhile, proved they could compete with anyone on a shoestring budget, but that Game 6 decision still haunts St. Petersburg. It’s the ultimate "what if" in modern baseball history. What if Snell stays in? Do we go to a Game 7? In a Game 7, anything can happen. Charlie Morton would have been on the mound for Tampa. It could have been a very different history book.
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What You Should Do Next
If you want to really appreciate the technical side of who won the 2020 World Series, go back and watch the "Pitching Ninja" highlights of Julio Urías's final two innings. The command he had under that much pressure is a masterclass for any young pitcher.
Also, if you're a baseball nerd, look up the Statcast data on Mookie Betts's baserunning in the 6th inning of Game 6. His jump on the contact that scored the go-ahead run was elite. It’s a reminder that baseball isn't just about home runs; it's about those tiny, split-second decisions that end up defining a decade of sports.
Check out the official World Series documentary if you can find it. It captures the weirdness of the "fan-less" stands—which were actually filled with "FanKuts" (cardboard cutouts) and pre-recorded crowd noise. It’s a time capsule of a year we’d all mostly like to forget, except for the fans in Blue.
For those tracking the long-term stats, the 2020 win marked the Dodgers' seventh franchise title. It moved them into a tie with the Giants (at the time) for the most in the National League since moving to California.
Keep an eye on the current Dodgers roster. Many of the core pieces from that 2020 run are still the foundation of the team today. Understanding that championship is the key to understanding why the Dodgers play the way they do now: aggressive, analytically driven, and relentless on the basepaths.
Final scores for the historians:
- Game 1: Dodgers 8, Rays 3
- Game 2: Rays 6, Dodgers 4
- Game 3: Dodgers 6, Rays 2
- Game 4: Rays 8, Dodgers 7 (The Brett Phillips walk-off chaos game)
- Game 5: Dodgers 4, Rays 2
- Game 6: Dodgers 3, Rays 1
The Dodgers didn't just win; they survived the weirdest year in baseball history.