NEW YORK – St. Louis Cardinals last year, World Series champs this year: Tommy Edman and Jack Flaherty.
Edman and Flaherty win their first World Series titles as Los Angeles Dodgers outlast the New York Yankees in the 2024 Fall Classic. The Dodgers have secured their eighth World Series championship, winning the series in five games and clinching the title with a 7-6 victory Wednesday.
On a star-studded team featuring Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, among others, Edman and Flaherty played key roles in helping the Dodgers reach and ultimately win the World Series.
Edman, 29, hit .333 with 2 home runs and 13 RBIs in 60 postseason at-bats from the Dodgers. The switch-hitter gained national attention for a strong National League Championship Series round prior to the World Series, picking up 11 hits and 11 RBIs over six games. His versatility has helped the Dodgers tremendously this October, shuffled around the infield and outfield while also hitting cleanup and several other spots in the batting order.
Flaherty, 29, made five postseason starts with mixed results to the tune of a 7.36 ERA over 22 innings. However, he was called upon to make the opening starts in both the NLCS and World Series rounds. He also started Game 5, though ran into trouble early, and left after allowing four runs over 1.1 innings pitched.
The Dodgers’ bullpen, paired with some late-game rallies, helped with getting Flaherty off the hook and completing a five-run comeback for the 2024 title.
Oddly enough, Flaherty and Edman both joined the Dodgers around trade deadline deals this year, but their paths from getting to the Cardinals to the World Series-champion Dodgers were a bit different.
The Cardinals, who finished with one of their worst records in decades in 2023, dealt then-pending free agent Jack Flaherty to the Baltimore Orioles last summer. He couldn’t find much momentum, and settled for a one-year “prove it” deal with the Detroit Tigers in the offseason.
Nearly two-thirds through a respectable bounce back campaign (2.95 ERA with Detroit), Flaherty was traded to a Dodgers team in desperate need of pitching due to injuries. He has filled a void as desired, even if his results have been hit-or-miss at times, winning six of 10 starts and tossing at least five innings in all but one, leading up to postseason.
Nearly one year later, the Cardinals dealt Edman at the trade deadline in more of a pickle around the trade deadline than previous years. St. Louis was in the hunt of a NL Wild Card spot for much of the summer and the front office felt the need for more pitching to make a postseason push. Starting pitcher Erick Fedde and outfielder Tommy Pham joined the Cardinals, Tommy Edman joined the Dodgers and the Chicago White Sox helped with completing a three-team trade.
Before the trade deadline, Edman was sidelined the whole 2024 season after offseason surgery. The Cardinals couldn’t find a fit on the roster and moved him to Los Angeles in response, where he debuted in mid-August and has complemented their championship aspirations quite nicely.
Edman hit .263 with 59 home runs, 242 RBI and 112 stolen bases over five prior seasons with the Cardinals. He won a Gold Glove award in 2021 and led the National league in at-bats that season.
Flaherty fared 41-31 with a 3.58 ERA over 153 games (153 starts) in seven prior seasons with the Cardinals. He enjoyed a strong 2019 campaign when the Cardinals last won a postseason round, finishing fourth in NL Cy Young voting that season with a 11-8 record, 2.75 ERA and 231 strikeouts.
Flaherty is once again a pending free agent at the season’s end. Edman has one more year of arbitration possible with the Dodgers before he could potentially test free agency.
Another former Cardinals pitcher Joe Kelly also secures his third World Series title (his second with the Dodgers), even though did not appear in the postseason this fall.