It will be the Los Angeles Dodgers who live to tell the story of the clash between the two winningest teams in the 2021 MLB season. The Dodgers beat the San Francisco Giants in a thriller on Thursday night and punched the ticket for their fifth NL Championship Series appearance in six years.
After five scoreless innings, the Dodgers finally broke the tie at the top of the sixth when shortstop Corey Seager doubled to the left and All-Star Mookie Betts scored. But the Giants didn’t take long to respond, with first baseman Darin Ruf hitting a 452 home run. This was the longest homer of the postseason so far.
The deadlock was broken again thanks to Cody Bellinger’s RBI single at the top of the ninth.
Then it was up to Max Scherzer, a starter in the Game 3 loss, to take it home. Scherzer delivered by pitching a hitless inning, earning a save, and propelling the Dodgers to NLCS.
“To be in that moment, with everything on the line, with the way we’ve been playing this whole series, to get the ball in that situation, man, that was a rush,” said Scherzer after the game.
“We poured everything we could into this series, and it took everything we had to beat these guys,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts added.
The Dodgers now only have the Atlanta Braves standing in the way of their return to the World Series. The Giants, on the other hand, have ended their 107-win season earlier than expected and will have to wait until 2022 to end their NLCS drought.
