Negative Dodgers trade deadline takes aged like milk after NLCS triumph

Throughout the NLCS, the Dodgers and Mets see-sawed back and forth between blowouts and shutouts right until the very end. Although the Mets had the Dodgers sweating a little with a blowout in Game 5 win to make the series 3-2, the two teams had seemingly established a pattern for themselves, and Game 6 fell into it perfectly. The Dodgers were due for a rout.

The Mets threatened early with a Pete Alonso RBI single, but then Tommy Edman decided to have the best game of his still-short Dodgers career. In the bottom of the first, he doubled to drive in two. During his very next at-bat in the bottom of the third, he clubbed a two-run homer on a bad fastball from Sean Manaea to make the score 4-1.

Will Smith finally showed signs of life with a two-run homer of his own in the same inning, and that's probably more or less when the Mets started to feel the life getting sucked out of them.

Four more Dodgers got in on the scoring before the game was over: Shohei Ohtani with an RBI single, Mookie Betts with an RBI double, Teoscar Hernández with a sac fly, and Kiké Hernández with another RBI single to get the game to double digits. Again.

But when all was said and done, and the Dodgers had changed into their World Series gear on the field at Dodger Stadium, the NLCS MVP award went to the guy who kicked it all off, singlehandedly scored 40% of LA's runs that day, and all but guaranteed their trip to their 22nd World Series in franchise history: Tommy Edman.

Tommy Edman's NLCS MVP win makes him the biggest win of the Dodgers' trade deadline

Edman came over at the trade deadline with Michael Kopech as part of a three-way trade between the Dodgers, Cardinals, and White Sox. Edman had been a target for the Dodgers for some time, and they finally got their guy (and a dominant reliever!) for the price of Miguel Vargas and two prospects. Not too shabby.

But Edman came with caveats that had some Dodgers fans raising eyebrows at his addition to the roster. He hadn't played in a game in 2024 before the deadline, having started the season on the IL with a wrist sprain. He couldn't make his Dodgers debut until mid-August, but he got off to a nice start at the plate through his first few weeks, and his defensive versatility made him a crucial piece of the Dodgers' infield and outfield as players went in and out with injury.

No one could've expected this level of production from him during the postseason, though. He played in just 15 postseason games with the Cardinals over four years, and 11 this year with the Dodgers, batting .341 with a homer (in Game 6) and 12 RBI. That ribbie total tied for the Dodgers' lead, alongside fellow maligned postseason presence Mookie Betts.

An NLCS MVP for the price of Miguel Vargas and two prospects. That sounds like a won trade.