Following a dominant 5-1 win to clinch the National League Championship Series on Saturday night, the Dodgers named outfielder Cody Bellinger their MVP of the series. Bellinger, 23, made noise when it mattered. Entering Saturday’s game, he carried a meager .190/.227/.238 batting line with just four hits and two RBI, but his hits in Games 4 and 7 became the difference-makers the Dodgers needed to keep pace with the Brewers and clinch the NL pennant. In Game 4, it was Bellinger’s 13th-inning base hit off of Junior Guerra that put the Dodgers over the top for the walk-off 2-1 win. The outfielder returned to put the finishing touches on the series with a go-ahead home run — his first of the postseason — in the second inning of Game 7. Bellinger wrapped his second season in the Dodgers’ organization in 2018, slashing .260/.343/.470 with 25 home runs, an .814 OPS, and 3.6 fWAR across 632 PA and all 162 games. He’s the youngest Dodgers player to receive the award to date.<doc-sep>Cody Bellinger reflects on his second straight trip to the World Series in only his second year in the majors. (0:41) With a key two-run home run in the decisive Game 7 against the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger was named the MVP of the National League Championship Series on Saturday. At age 23 years, 99 days, Bellinger is the youngest position player to win a postseason MVP award, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. The only other 23-year-old position player to win a postseason MVP was the Chicago Cubs' Javier Baez in 2016, who co-won the NLCS award with Jon Lester; Baez was 23 years, 326 days old at the time. The Dodgers trailed 1-0 in the second inning before Bellinger hit his home run off Brewers starter Jhoulys Chacin. The Dodgers won 5-1. "We had [starter Walker] Buehler on the mound today, who has nasty stuff, who loves the big game. Once we gave him the lead, we really liked our chances," Bellinger said. Bellinger went 1-for-4 on Saturday. He opened the playoffs with an 0-for-15 slide and finished with just five hits in the series against Milwaukee. But he certainly made the most of them. "All postseason I felt fairly good. I wasn't seeing any results," he said. "And luckily for me I've got a lot of veterans on this team. They said stick with the process and the results will come. And that's exactly what I did, and it showed." Bellinger's .200 batting average matches that of Boston Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. for the lowest by a position player selected MVP of a league championship series, with each coming this postseason. Now Bellinger and Bradley will face off in the World Series beginning Tuesday night at Fenway Park. Los Angeles is going for its first championship since 1988 after it lost to the Houston Astros in seven games in the Fall Classic last year. "We know how hard it is to make the World Series. To do it two years in a row is really special," Bellinger said. "I know how lucky I am to be a part of it two years in a row. "We've got a tough series against the Red Sox that's coming up. But we're going to enjoy this right now and get our mind turned around tomorrow." After Bellinger went 0-for-4 in Los Angeles' 6-5 loss in the NLCS opener, manager Dave Roberts had him on the bench at the start of Game 2 with left-hander Wade Miley on the mound for Milwaukee. Bellinger entered in the fifth and got Los Angeles on the board with an RBI single in the seventh, helping the Dodgers rally for a 4-3 victory with his first hit of the playoffs. He picked up confidence from there, culminating with his clutch swing in the series-tying victory in Game 4 and his fourth career playoff homer in the clinching win. Manny Machado started the inning with a bunt single before Bellinger drove a 2-2 pitch from Jhoulys Chacin deep to right. He playfully flexed his right arm and pointed to his biceps after rounding third on his big drive. "These kids, man, guys like Cody and those guys, man, they're true champions," Dodgers outfielder Matt Kemp said. "They're warriors, and they listen, and they want to be great. That's the thing: They want to be great, and they listen, and it shows." The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>The Los Angeles Dodgers are World Series-bound. Saturday night the Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 7 of the NLCS to clinch their second straight pennant. Los Angeles will take on the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. Thanks largely to his Game 4 walk-off single and his Game 7 go-ahead home run, Cody Bellinger was named the NLCS MVP. Here is that Game 4 walk-off hit: Bellinger went 1 for 4 with his two-run home run in Game 7 and 5 for 25 (.200) with one home run and 4 RBI in the NLCS. All four runs he drove in were rather huge. Bellinger went hitless against the Braves in the NLDS but more than made up for it in the NLCS. Bellinger joins Dusty Baker (1977), Steve Garvey (1978), Burt Hooten (1981), Orel Hershiser (1988), and Justin Turner and Chris Taylor (co-MVPs in 2017) as Dodgers to be named NLCS MVP. Los Angeles is looking for its first World Series title since 1988. The 2018 World Series begins Tuesday night at Fenway Park. The games will air on Fox, and can be streamed on fuboTV (Try for free).<doc-sep>
Cody Bellinger came through in the clutch for the Dodgers in the latter part of the NLCS. A game-winning hit in the 13th inning at Dodger Stadium Tuesday and a go-ahead homer in Game 7 helped put the Dodgers back in the World Series for the second straight year. After the Dodgers took care of the Brewers with a 5-1 win at Miller Park Saturday, Bellinger was named NLCS MVP. The 23-year-old struggled to break through in the first seven games of the postseason, going 1-for-21 before Game 4. After making a huge catch in the 10th inning, Bellinger came to the plate in the 13th with Manny Machado on second. A base hit through the right side of the infield sent the teams home tied. “It feels unbelievable,” Bellinger told media after the game. “All postseason I felt fairly good. I wasn’t seeing any results. And luckily for me I’ve, got a lot of veterans on this team. They said stick with the process and the results will come. And that’s exactly what I did and it showed.” It was dramatic for the Dodgers who would have been down 3-1 in the series had they not won that game. In Game 7, Bellinger crushed a two-run homer to take the momentum back from a wild Miller Park. The Dodgers rode that momentum all the way back to the Fall classic. Los Angeles will arrive in Boston this next week to start the World Series against the Red Sox on Tuesday night.