Chris Taylor Just Blasted the 5th Walk-Off HR Ever in a Winner-Take-All Postseason Game To Send The Dodgers To The NLDS
Hang em' bang 'em. We've got a postseason walk off homer in a winner take all game! Only the 5th ever in baseball history. Chris Taylor, who was 8 for his last 72 and didn't even start in this gam, just sent the Dodgers to the NLDS with a bullet 2 run blast off Alex Reyes. Dude said he was up there just trying to hit a single. Well, I think he did a little more than that. Thoughts and prayers to anyone holding a Cardinals +1.5 ticket at home. Brutal beat.
This game was much of a nail biter as you can get in a winner take all situation. Objectively, Tuesday's game was just bad and boring from a baseball perspective. This one was awesome. The underdog Cardinals didn't make it easy for LA and seemingly had traffic on the bases every inning, but the Dodgers kept skating on by. 0-11 with RISP with their only run coming home in the first on a Max Scherzer wild pitch. The Dodgers pen combined for 4.2 IP of shutout baseball after Scherzer lasted just 13 outs. Max was not happy getting pulled that early and actually shook Roberts' hand instead of giving him the ball. Don't think I've seen that one before. Skip is lucky Scherzer didn't stab him while grabbing that ball.
Credit to Dave Roberts though, he pulled every correct lever using the combination of Kelly, Graterol, Treinen, Knebel, and Jansen to piece together this W. Impressive tight rope he just walked. Heart goes out to the Cardinals. The run they went on to just get into the postseason and to play the 106 win Dodgers that tight all night? Brutal to lose like that.
Now we turn to the NLDS where the Dodgers head to San Francisco to take on the Giants for the first time ever in their history. Hey Giants, congrats on your historic 107 win season! Your prize is the 106 win Dodgers who will be able to throw Walker Buehler on full rest in Game 1. Obviously home field advantage is huge, but drawing the Dodgers this early is tough. Crazy that this will be the first time these two rivals meet in postseason history. Can't even imagine the fan fights we're about to get in this series. I cannot wait for that to get going on Friday.
P.S. Awesome seeing Scherzer find Juan Soto after the walk off and celebrate with them. Soto cannot wait for free agency.
P.P.S. We need to weaponize Bob Nightengale to stop covid or solve world hunger before it's too late. He is an unstoppable force.