New York wins WNBA title, nearly nabs World Series

Jonquel Jones of the New York Liberty holds WNBA championship trophy

Jonquel Jones of the New York Liberty holds the WNBA championship trophy

(Image credit: Elsa / Getty Images)

published 21 October 2024

What happened

The New York Liberty, one of the original WNBA franchises, won their first championship title Sunday, beating the Minnesota Lynx 67-62 in overtime of a hard-fought Game 5. It was New York's first pro basketball title since the Knicks won the NBA championship in 1973. New York City lost a guaranteed World Series victory, however, when the Mets fell to the Los Angeles Dodgers Sunday, a 10-5 defeat in the deciding Game 6 of the National League championships. The New York Yankees, though, punched their ticket to the World Series on Saturday night in a 5-2 Game 5 win over the Cleveland Guardians.

The Liberty's win capped "27 seasons of disappointment," including five previous trips to the finals since the team's debut in the "WNBA's inaugural season of 1997," The Washington Post said. It was "far from New York's most aesthetically pleasing game," The Athletic said, but "the only number that matters is the final margin." As star Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu said, Sunday's most important stat was "one more [point] than the other team."

There is less novelty in the 12th World Series matchup between the Dodgers and the Yankees, though the players have changed many times since the Dodgers won their last face-off in 1981. Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani will lead his injury-hobbled, deep-benched team against Yankees slugger Juan Soto and a trio of veterans in their 30s — Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gerrit Cole — who covet a "championship as validation as much as accomplishment," The Associated Press said.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.