The Los Angeles Dodgers are on top of the world and no one can tell them nothing.
Not even Noah Lyles.
After the Dodgers downed the New York Yankees in the World Series, four games to one, the celebrations ensued.
And one player in particular, hasn’t forgotten what Lyles said when it came to what counted as a ‘world championship’ and what didn’t.
Dodgers’ Kiké Hernandez had a message for Lyles, as he celebrated the Dodgers’ 8th title in franchise history.
“We’re here, World Series champions,” Hernandez said.
“Suck it, Noah Lyles.”
Straight, simple and to the point.
Hernandez is referencing what Lyles said back in August 2023, after the U.S. sprinter had dominated the world championships in Budapest, Hungary and went on an all-time rant.
“You know what hurts me the most is that I have to watch the NBA Finals and they have ‘world champion’ on their head. World champion of what? The United States?”
“Don’t get me wrong. I love the U.S. — at times — but that ain’t the world. That is not the world. We are the world. We have almost every country out here fighting, thriving, putting on their flag to show that they are represented.
“There ain’t no flags in the NBA. We gotta do more. We gotta be presented to the world.”
Lyles of course went on to back up his words, winning gold in the men’s 100m final in the 2024 Paris Olympics, claiming the title of fastest man on the planet.
But only after his words caused an instant reaction from the basketball word, and it wasn’t lost on the gold-medal-winning USA team who took gold in France themselves.
The official USA Basketball feed on X posted, “Are we the World Champs now?” – and the post was viewed an astonishing 32.5million times.
Lyles likely has the same view on MLB‘s championship as he does the NBA’s.
But as Hernandez bluntly put it, the Dodgers don’t care.
In one of the most anticipated World Series match ups of all time, the Dodgers dominated the Yankees in tidy fashion.
It was a Fall Classic of who’s who.
Hernandez, Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts out performed Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and Giancarlo Stanton.
Freeman went supernova to capture MVP honors, setting all sorts of World Series’ records in the process.
Manager Dave Roberts is now a two-time winning manager and cemented himself as a Dodger great, along with his star-studded cast of players.
Baseball is perhaps more of an international sport and Major League Baseball is the most talented and competitive league in the world.
Just ask Ohtani, one of the greatest players of all-time, owner of a unique $700million contract and playing baseball in Los Angeles rather than Japan.
Just like the NBA, the MLB is comprised of players from all over the globe. It’s the best of the best. And now, the Dodgers can claim the title, World Series champions.
Emphasis on ‘World.’
