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For me, it was a seven-hour déjà vu.
The Dodgers won the third game of the World Series Monday night in 18 innings, tying for the longest game in post-season history. I was there for the other one, also in LA.
Freddie Freeman, who has hit dramatic walk-off home runs before, lined one over the centerfield fence in Dodger Stadium to beat the Blue Jays and take a 2-1 lead in the Fall Classic, which carries a 70 percent chance of winning the best of seven series.
In 2018, I went to LA to see the Red Sox play the Dodgers after they won the first two games in Boston. The Bums’ third-baseman Max Muncy, who played all 18 innings Monday night well into Tuesday morning, hit the walk-off in that game.
This time Freeman hit such a dramatic home run for the Dodgers to cap off 10 scoreless innings after a 5-5 tie in the seventh. So many weird and other memorable things happened in this one.
Designated hitter Shohei Ohtani blasted two home runs and two doubles in his first four at-bats and then was walked intentionally five straight times because the Blue Jays were trying to keep him from doing what Freeman eventually did.
Both teams used every relief pitcher they had, and the Dodgers were set to send out the starter who had gone nine innings in the second game Saturday night. Now Ohtani, who is the Babe Ruth of modern-day baseball, is set to pitch Game 4 that starts tonight at 8 o’clock.
Mookie Betts, the Dodgers all-star outfielder and infielder, was the American League MVP for the Red Sox in 2018. He played all 18 innings in centerfield eight years ago and played all 18 at shortstop last night.
The first seven innings were in contention for one of the greatest games ever. Then the bats for both teams went dead and the managers paraded one relief pitcher after another out until no one was left in either bullpen.
Fox showed Ohtani’s fans in his homeland waving towels for their hero during the entire game because Japan is 14 hours ahead and it was the middle of the day there. Dodger fans, whose celebrity attendees included Magic Johnson and Jason Bateman, stayed through about 13 innings before some of them had to get home for work the next day.
Besides the odds, the Blue Jays lost their clutch lead-off hitter George Springer to an injury midway through the game, and the team basically emptied its entire bench of reserves and pinch hitters to try to make up for his absence.
Dodger veteran all-star Clayton Kershaw, who has been injured and is retiring after this season, threw a third of an inning in relief and is unlikely to pitch again for the rest of the Series for the defending world champions.
Fortunately, the Red Sox won games four and five in 2018 and I followed them home happy but very tired.
Featured image via Associated Press/Brynn Anderson
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.
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Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.
