They were going to win. They were going to lose. All in one breath, all in one month.
Win. Lose. Win. Lose. Win. Lose.
Win!!!
Weeks later the chest still pounds, the throat still thickens, the mind still has not completely grasped.
The Dodgers won their second consecutive World Series championship this fall in pure dramatic art.
A catch worthy of a statue. An out at home plate by history-making inches. A cheating outfielder steals a victory. A struggling first baseman steals a marathon. A sore-handed catcher steals a title.
The greatest postseason game by one player in baseball history. The greatest World Series by one pitcher in baseball history. The greatest moment by a Dodger benchwarmer in baseball history, a guy so embedded in the landscape of Los Angeles sports that he will be forever known simply by two abbreviated versions of his name…
Enough said.
It’s perhaps appropriate today to give thanks for the drama, thanks for the art, thanks for the breathtaking uncertainty of the diamonds of October.
Thanks, baseball, for creating the tableau for the Dodgers’ 13 most memorable playoff moments, one for every win, one for every scream, one for every occasion when you thought it couldn’t get any crazier.
Then it did.
The Philadelphia Phillies’ Nick Castellanos is out at third after Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts gets the throw from Max Muncy and applies the tag in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the NLDS at Citizens Bank Park.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)