The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 to win the World Series on Saturday. This win makes them the first team since the 1999-2000 Yankees to win back-to-back titles, and is the franchise’s ninth World Series victory.

The series had plenty of drama including the altercation between Dodgers relief pitcher Justin Wrobleski and the Blue Jays’ nine hitter, Andres Gimenez after Wrobleski hit Gimenez with a pitch up and in- which led to benches clearing and the umpires issuing a warning to both teams. We also saw the first 18-inning World Series game since 2018, the two huge payrolls- 255 million for the Blue Jays and the 350 million for the Dodgers, and of course the exorbitant number of intentional walks throughout the series.

There were a combined twelve free passes issued which is greater than the amount in the 2021, 22, 23, and 24 championships combined. They were just one shy of matching the all-time record for the most in a series, where thirteen went to Barry Bonds in 2002. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani set the record for the most given to a single player in a World Series game at four intentional walks. He also tied the MLB record for the most times reaching base in a game at nine times. Ohtani went 4-for-4 with two home runs, two doubles, and three RBIs before the intentional walk train began in Game 3’s 18 inning saga.  Now, when a team is paying 700 million over ten years for arguably the best player baseball has ever seen, and he cannot even hit in about half of his at-bats- that shows that teams are taking advantage of the intentional walk. I think it would be in the game’s best interest to have a punishment for putting the runner on. Perhaps all runners could advance one base, or the opposing manager is allowed one intentional walk per player per game. In football, if your opponent receives a penalty, you can decline that if their penalty harms you more. In baseball, the intentional walk could set up a double play opportunity that was not previously there for the opposing team. I feel as though the team receiving the walk should be able to decline it, so that two things could happen, either the team is able to get a hit, or they walk the batter via four pitchers which further tires their pitcher. Simply put, the intentional walk removes some of the spirit of the game. Fans want to see the best player on the team be the hero. Fans are not paying to see him be put on base, they want a show. We are not talking about a small amount of viewers either. In Game 7 alone, over 27 million US viewers tuned in, 11.6 million in Canada, and 12 million in Japan for a grand total of around 51 million viewers world-wide. When you have this level of viewership, even the smallest flaws in the game are shown such as the abuse of the intentional walk. I believe that this is an issue that the MLB and its commissioner, Rob Manfred, will need to look at.