The Dodgers are World Series bound, can it get any better?
Many said it was World Series or bust for the Dodgers in 2017. How did they respond? They went out and won the pennant.
It had been 29 years since the Dodgers were last in the World Series. I witnessed 18 of those years. But, on Thursday night, we all witnessed the moment everything changed.
If you had told me at the beginning of the season that the Dodgers would be in the World Series this year, I would’ve smiled, and I would’ve believed you. If you had asked me who the standout hero in the pennant-clinching game would be, I would’ve said Clayton Kershaw, Yasiel Puig, or Justin Turner. I wouldn’t have said, Kike Hernandez.
I’ve never been happier about being wrong.
This is the year the Dodgers reach the dream they’ve been working so hard to fulfill. This is the year that the sentence changes from “This could be” to “This is.”
The Dodgers won the pennant. This is happening.
In a Game 5 that moved fast and moved fiercely, the Dodgers showed baseball exactly who they are. They are not an eleven game losing streak. They are not a big payroll team playing in an even bigger city.
The Dodgers are Kike Hernandez, a career .236 utility outfielder/ infielder, hitting three home runs in one of the most important games in Dodger history.
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On Wednesday night, the Dodgers had a chance to win the pennant, but fate had another narrative in mind. After their 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs in Game 4 of the NLCS, the Dodgers came back to win the series in Game 5.
Game 4 was an anxiety-provoking, heart racing kind of game. When they lost, I told myself that they would win tomorrow, but it would probably be a lot like Wednesday.
Again, I was wrong.
Thursday’s game was over by the end of the 3rd inning. Kershaw was pitching a gem, and he was pitching with the lead. The Cubs offense was not hitting, and their bullpen wasn’t pitching at the level it needed to. Many have said it, and many believe it; the Dodgers were simply the better team in that series.
The Cubs and the Dodgers were vastly different teams in 2017 than they were in 2016. It’s the reason the why the Cubs found themselves in the fall classic then, and the Dodgers find themselves there now.
The Cubs were the better team in 2016; the Dodgers were the better team in 2017.
If any questions about the Dodgers’ ability to play well in the postseason were still being asked a few weeks ago, you can be sure that they have been answered now.
The Dodgers offense came alive on Thursday night. They scored 11 runs on 16 hits, 7 of those RBI’s belonging to Hernandez. Kershaw pitched 6 innings of 1 run baseball. The Dodgers played great, and they are headed to the World Series.
Can it get any better?
The Dodgers won the pennant. This is happening. After 29 years, it’s actually happening.
At last, the narrative that Kershaw can’t pitch in the postseason was left in the past, where it belongs. The Dodgers played a game in which everyone played a role. They won the pennant because they know how to win games in July when the lights aren’t as bright and the stakes aren’t as high.
Can it get any better?
In a game that is unpredictable and often unbelievable, we find ourselves asking this.
Can it get any better?
Next: Early Notes For World Series vs Astros
Yes. It can.