Seven Alumni Become World Series Champions

Two-time alum Freddie Freeman collects MVP honors

The Los Angeles Dodgers won their eighth World Series in franchise history on Wednesday, defeating the New York Yankees in five games. Seven former Team USA players highlighted the roster, as Mookie Betts, Walker Buehler, Freddie Freeman, Jack Flaherty, Joe Kelly, Clayton Kershaw, and Will Smith all earned World Series rings.

Freeman, a two-time alum (2005 16U and 2006 18U), had a strong showing all postseason long, but turned it on during the Fall Classic by becoming the first player ever to homer in each of the first four games of the World Series. He batted .300 across five games, going 6-for-20 with 12 RBIs, a .364 on-base percentage and 1.000 slugging percentage to earn MVP honors. In Game 1 he hit a walk-off grand slam, the first ever in World Series history, to give the Dodgers a 6-3 comeback win. After going yard in the next three games to continue his hot streak, he drove in two runs with a clutch two-out single in the fifth inning during the Dodgers’ 7-6 series-clinching win in Game 5.

Betts (2023 WBC) was responsible for driving in the go-ahead run in Game 5 to allow the Dodgers to clinch the series with an eighth-inning sacrifice fly. He also sparked the Dodgers’ five-run burst in the fifth inning of that game with a bases-loaded RBI single to finish the World Series with a four-game hit streak. He is the only active position player to win three World Series titles, having won previous titles with the 2018 Red Sox and 2020 Dodgers.

Like Betts, Buehler (2014 CNT) was a late-inning hero for the Dodgers on Wednesday, as he hurled the final inning of Game 5 and retired the Yankees’ side in order to earn the save. After picking up the win in Game 3 by tossing five scoreless innings with five strikeouts, Buehler became just one of eight players to earn both a win and a save in the same playoff series.

Buehler, along with Smith (2023 WBC), who started every game behind the plate, are now two-time World Series champions with LA. Like Buehler, 2013 18U alum Flaherty also made two appearances on the bump during the Fall Classic, as he started Game 1 and Game 5, tossing a combined 6.2 innings with seven strikeouts.

Kelly (2007 CNT) and Kershaw (2005 18U) additionally pitched for the Dodgers during the season, but were unavailable during the postseason due to injury.

In all, 66 USA Baseball alumni made 2025 MLB Postseason rosters with the American League champions New York Yankees leading all teams with nine alumni.