DODGERS VS ROCKIES: 2018 NL WEST DIVISION TIEBREAKER
If you thought the first game was good, wait until I tell you about what happened in the second game.
Well, in layman’s terms, it wasn’t good.
The Rockies were silenced to just four hits, two runs scored and four walks.
Those stats alone should give you an idea of how lopsided this game in Dodger Stadium was. While Colorado’s bats were neutered, the L.A. bats went guns blazing. The Dodgers began pulling away early in the game thanks to a Cody Bellinger two-run home run to right-center field in the bottom of the fourth inning. Their lead increased again by two runs in the next inning by virtue of another two-run home run which was hit by Max Muncy.
Even better for the Dodgers was their starting pitcher Walker Buehler also contributed to their offensive assault by hitting an RBI single in the sixth inning to make it a 5-0 game. By that point of the game, along with driving runs as a batter, he was dealing on the mound as the pitcher in which he ultimately threw six and 2/3 innings while surrendering one hit & three walks and getting three strikeouts in the process.
After he stepped aside, the bullpen kept the momentum going by continuing to shutout the Colorado offense. However, in the top of the seventh inning, Colorado found some much-needed life, where after two walks by Carlos Gonzalez and Ian Desmond while being down two outs, they had the chance to trim the Dodgers’ lead and finally jump-start their offense with a spark.
Matt Holliday, their prodigal son who returned to the team in August after being away for ten years, stepped up to the plate to face Kenta Maeda, the Japanese starting pitcher-turned-reliever for the postseason for the second straight year, in a major showdown. Surely something had to give, right?
Well, after one pitch, Holliday popped out to short where Manny Machado was there to make the grab.
While that was deflating for the Rockies, they kept trudging along, as they finally grabbed runs in the 9th inning through back-to-back home runs from Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story against the Dodgers’ premier closer Kenley Jansen. By the time those two players chipped in with the pair of crucial runs, the Rockies only had two hits to their name, with both of them coming from Charlie Blackmon, the team-leader in hits and runs scored this season.
Everyone else had done nothing, and with the possibility of playing the NL Wild Card Game in Chicago looming behind them, their chances of winning that game, along with winning this one, looked bleak. Finally, genuine hope has come to help the Rockies at the tail-end of the game. Could they do the impossible and comeback from a five-run deficit to win both the game and the division for the first time in franchise history?
Nope.
Three straight outs after hitting those two homers was all they could muster up on the L.A. closer. The Dodgers won the game 5-2 and became champions of the NL West division for the sixth straight year.
So now we know what the NLDS will look like. The Brewers will face the winner of the Wild Card game between the Rockies and Cubs in Wrigley Field, whereas the Los Angeles Dodgers will take on the Atlanta Braves (the NL East division champion) in the other series.
It took two additional games after a full 162 to decide the postseason matchups in the National League.
Whew
What a day that was. I can’t wait to see another game like this in the future. Wait a minute, that’s today. The Cubs and Rockies, by losing on Monday, have to play each other to stay alive in the Wild Card Game. Man, they should have won when they had the chance.
