The Dodgers came into the postseason as favorites, but they were swept by the Astros in 4 games. The Dodgers had a rough year and will have to look for different ways to improve next season.
The “what is a dodger” is the name of the Los Angeles Dodgers baseball team. The Dodgers’ season came to an end on September 28, 2018, with 4 wins and 10 losses.
ATLANTA, Georgia (AP) – With a 4-2 win against the reigning champion Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday night, Eddie Rosario finished an incredible NL Championship Series with a three-run homer, bringing the Atlanta Braves to the World Series for the first time since 1999.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 23: Atlanta Braves’ Eddie Rosario #8 hits a three-run home run during Game Six of the National League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia on October 23, 2021. (Photo courtesy of Getty Images/Michael Zarrilli) )
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The Braves won the best-of-seven series four games to two, putting to rest the ghosts of last year’s NLCS, in which they blew 2-0 and 3-1 leads against the Dodgers, and advanced to play the AL champion Astros.
The first game will be held at Minute Maid Park in Houston on Tuesday night.
The Braves will be attempting to win their first World Series since 1995, when they defeated Cleveland with a team that included Hall of Famers Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Jon Smoltz, and Chipper Jones — a no-nonsense group that became better known for numerous postseason flops during a historic 14-year division title run.
This flamboyant group is headed by a far more improbable hero.
Rosario broke an Atlanta team record and became just the fifth player in baseball history to have 14 hits in a playoff series after being acquired in a flurry of trades shortly before the July 30 trade deadline that rebuilt the Braves’ depleted outfield.
After a fantastic relief stint by winner Tyler Matzek, who escaped a big jam in the seventh by striking out the side, Will Smith worked a 1-2-3 ninth for his fourth playoff save. This postseason, the left-hander has struck out 11 batters with runners on base in the seventh inning or later.
Rosario hit 14 of 25 (.560) against the Dodgers, including three home runs and nine RBIs, fueled by cries of “Eddie! Eddie!” from the sold-out crowd of almost 43,000.
The 30-year-old Puerto Rican’s last hit was unquestionably the greatest of his career.
Rosario came up in the bottom of the fourth inning with the score knotted at one after pinch-hitter Ehire Adrianza prolonged the inning with a two-out double into the right-field corner. Coach Ron Washington kept slow-running catcher Travis d’Arnaud at third, knowing who was coming up next.
After ace Max Scherzer was unable to pitch due to a weary arm, Rosario got into a prolonged battle with Walker Buehler, who stepped up to start on three days’ rest.
The first two pitches were swung and missed by Rosario. After that, he fouled one. Then he grabbed a ball. He then flied out on two more pitches.
Finally, from the Dodgers’ 16-game winner, he got one he liked: a cutter that Rosario converted into a 105 mph rocket down the right-field line, higher and higher, straight as an arrow until it dropped way back into the seats under the Chop House restaurant.
Rosario knew it was over when he danced down the line after hitting a 361-foot game-winning home run for a highly paid team that won 106 games during the regular season — 18 more than the NL East-winning Braves — but fell short of becoming baseball’s first repeat champion since the 2000 New York Yankees.
The Braves will be hoping to put their city’s postseason woes behind them. From four World Series defeats in the 1990s to the NFL Falcons blowing a 28-3 lead in the 2017 Super Bowl, Atlanta finds itself on the verge of doing an extraordinarily uncommon accomplishment once again.
It’s a title.
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The 1995 Braves are the first team from the city to win a championship in any of the four major sports – baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. After a Game 5 defeat, Freddie Freeman said that the city’s past will continue to be a problem “unless we remove that narrative.”
They’re four victories away from achieving their goal.
The well-rested Atlanta bullpen took control after starter Ian Anderson surrendered Cody Bellinger’s run-scoring single in the fourth inning on his next-to-last batter of the night.
In two innings of work, A.J. Minter struck out four batters. In the seventh inning, Luke Jackson failed to get an out, allowing AJ Pollock’s run-scoring double, but Matzek stranded runners at second and third with three consecutive strikeouts, the last of which came on three pitches from Mookie Betts.
Matzek took the mound again for a 1-2-3 eighth inning before sending the ball over to Smith.
In the first, the Braves took a 2-0 lead off Buehler with back-to-back two-out doubles, the second of which came from Austin Riley, whose ball down the left-field line one-hopped into the Dodgers bullpen.
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 23: Los Angeles Dodgers’ Walker Buehler #21 reacts to a play during Game Six of the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves at Truist Park in Atlanta, Georgia on October 23, 2021. (Image courtesy of Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
The Dodgers scrapped plans to start Scherzer because their pitching staff was in chaos. Following Game 2, the right-hander complained of a dead arm, and he was still fighting to recover after a workout on Friday.
On only three days’ rest, Buehler was stepped up to start for Scherzer, who had been expected to pitch in Game 7 if the series went that far.
The Dodgers assured that Scherzer would be ready to play on Sunday night.
He now has the whole winter to recover.
ROOM FOR TRAINEES
After LHP Justin Bruihl felt something in his arm while warming up for Game 5, the Dodgers summoned an extra pitcher to Atlanta. However, Bruihl was kept on the roster after persuading manager Dave Roberts that he was well enough to pitch in Game 6. He wasn’t required, as it turned out.
UP NEXT
Dodgers: They won’t play another game that matters until the 2022 season opening against the Colorado Rockies, after a streak of seven consecutive triumphs in elimination games was broken. This will take place on March 31 at Dodger Stadium.
Braves: In Game 1 of the World Series, Charlie Morton will face his old club. In Game 7 of the 2017 World Series, he came out of the bullpen to throw four innings of two-hit ball, sealing the Astros’ lone championship with a 5-1 victory against the Dodgers.
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