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Former UVA Baseball Star Chris Taylor Wins World Series With LA Dodgers

Matt Newton

Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Chris Taylor is a World Series Champion for a second time.

Former Virginia baseball star Chris Taylor helped the Los Angeles Dodgers defeat the New York Yankees in five games in the 2024 World Series. Four years after Los Angeles claimed the 2020 World Series title in front of limited crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taylor and the Dodgers did so again by winning a thrilling Game 5 by a score of 7-6 on Wednesday night at Yankee Stadium.

In the series-clinching win, Taylor pinch ran in the top of the ninth and advanced to second base on a balk, but did not score. He remained in the game and played left field in the bottom of the ninth, so Taylor was on the field when the game ended and the Dodgers won the World Series.

Although Taylor did not start any games in the World Series, he made an appearance in every game and finished each game, including being on base when Freddie Freeman hit his historic walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the tenth inning in Game 1.

This is the 11th season in the majors for Taylor, who has spent the last eight years with the Dodgers, making the postseason every year. Taylor won a World Series title in 2020, was an All-Star in 2021, and was named the MVP of the 2017 National League Championship Series. Included among Taylor's postseason resume, which now includes 80 career postseason games, is a three-home run performance in game 5 of the 2021 NLCS.

Taylor has once again filled a do-it-all utility role for the Dodgers. In 87 games this regular season, Taylor made 56 starts and appeared 21 times at second base, 24 times at third, 48 times in left field, and eight times in center field. In this year's postseason, Taylor delivered three hits and scored three runs in addition to filling in at multiple spots in the field, including second base, third base, center field, and left field, which is where he was at the moment he became a two-time World Series Champion.

This is the second season in a row that a Virginia baseball player has won the World Series. Last year, Josh Sborz pitched the final seven outs and earned the save for the Texas Rangers in their series-clinching victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks to win the 2023 World Series.

A total of seven former UVA baseball players have won World Series titles:
- Ricky Horton: 1988 (Los Angeles Dodgers)
- Javier Lopez: 2007 (Boston Red Sox), 2010, 2012, 2014 (San Francisco Giants)
- Derek Fisher: 2017 (Houston Astros)
- Sean Doolittle: 2019 (Washington Nationals)
- Ryan Zimmerman: 2019 (Washington Nationals)
- Josh Sborz: 2023 (Texas Rangers)
- Chris Taylor: 2020, 2024 (Los Angeles Dodgers)

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Published
Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.