It wasn’t a baseball game, it was a sucker punch.
The New York Mets sneaked up on the Dodgers in broad daylight on Monday and flattened them, wiping the certainty from their faces and sending them tumbling to Queens.
Two games later, the National League Championship Series has now transformed into something few thought it would ever be, something that should have Dodger fans tying those blue rags around their numb fingers.
This series is now, well, a series.
The Mets created one by storming out of the dugout with bats flying and arms boiling, pushing Dodger manager Dave Roberts into another controversial playoff pitching decision, breaking down the powerful Dodger bats, leaving in the general chaos was caused in an overheated Chavez Ravine and a 7-way was stolen. 3 win in a Game 2 that tied the NLCS at one game apiece.
“They beat us back,” Dodgers catcher Will Smith said.
Read more: Bullpen play blows up in a big way as Dodgers lose to Mets
It was a stunning turnaround for a Dodger team that played like it had non-refundable reservations for the World Series.
Less than 24 hours after it appears they will play in November, their season may not last this week.
The Dodgers entered the afternoon having outscored their previous three playoff opponents 19-0.
They trailed 6-0 before this game was two innings old.
The Dodgers entered the afternoon with their pitching staff having set a major league postseason record, tying 33 consecutive scoreless innings.
That record lasted no less than four minutes.
One moment there were dreams of a fall classic with the New York Yankees. The next moment, Francisco Lindor of the opposing New York team went deep on the eighth pitch of the game.
One minute there were ideas for a parade. The next moment, four Mets were marching around the bases after Mark Vientos’ grand slam in the second inning.
One moment, the quartet of Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Teoscar Hernández and Freddie Freeman could conquer everything. The next moment they were held hitless in 15 at bats with eight strikeouts, leaving two runners stranded at the end of the game with consecutive strikeouts from Betts, Hernández and Freeman.
Particularly impressive is the declining performance of Ohtani, who is 0-for-19 with the bases empty in the postseason, who has not recorded an extra base hit in six games, and who seems unnerved by the opposing team’s general refusal to give him a to give an extra base hit. everything in the strike zone. Is Superman finally worn out? He’ll have to play at least three games to figure it out.
And now the seven-game series moves to Citi Field, where only Walker Buehler and his 5.38 regular-season ERA stand between the Dodgers and somewhere behind the eight ball. By the way, Buehler was last seen destroying the dugout after driving in six runs in Game 3 against the San Diego Padres.
“We know it’s going to be hectic out there,” Betts said. “Obviously this will give them a lot of confidence. We have to be ready to play.”
The Dodgers could even be wiped out of their season at Citi Field if they lose all three games there, but that seems unlikely as their two best starters will be working in Games 4 and 5, two guys who have had excellent playoff performances drop, Yoshinobu. Yamamoto and Jack Flaherty.
But you never know. After Monday, no one involved in this series can claim to know anything about anything.
Remember how everyone thought the Dodgers’ decision to use a bullpen game instead of starting Buehler was a smart decision, as eight Dodgers pitchers shut out the San Diego Padres 8-0 last week in a bullpen match?
Wrong. Game changing wrong.
Actually, it would have been a smart decision if manager Dave Roberts had only used the bullpen.
The game started with Lindor winning an eight-pitch battle with reliever Ryan Brasier and sending his 90 mph cutter high over the corner wall in left field for a quick run.
It was still relatively quiet when Roberts curiously replaced Brasier with rookie Landon Knack an inning later. It was strange because even though this was labeled as a bullpen play, Knack doesn’t normally work out of the bullpen. He isn’t one of the Dodgers’ six star relievers. He is a rookie starter.
And Knack looked like a rookie starter, as he led off the second with a single, a walk and then an RBI double from the light-hitting Tyrone Taylor. One out later, after an intentional walk to Lindor loaded the bases, Vientos hit a grand slam over the center field wall.
All of this led to the question of the day: What did Landon Knack do near a high-leverage situation in a high-leverage NLCS game?
“I think what was different today, that’s not the case [Alex] Vesia. [Daniel] Hudson was down … and that’s probably the biggest incentive for having – or knowing that you’re going to have to take some outs from Knack or you’re just not going to finish the game,” Roberts said.
You had to throw a rookie starter in relief because you don’t think you have enough arms to finish the game? What about the real relievers, guys like Blake Treinen and Evan Phillips and Michael Kopech? In a bullpen game where you’re already down by one run, shouldn’t the Dodgers have made an effort right away?
“You’re talking about the second inning here,” Roberts said, still defending the Knack decision. “So you have a guy on the mound who has to eat up innings.”
What about someone who can eat a win?
Read more: Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw plans to return for 2025 season: ‘Mentally I feel great’
For all their flaws, you have to appreciate the Mets’ comeback culture. They started the season 0-5. At one point they were eleven games under .500. Their postseason had gotten down to the final two outs at another point. They won in Atlanta on the final day of their regular season to clinch the playoffs, then upset the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies to stay there.
They’ve been here before.
But so do the Dodgers, who previously needed two straight wins to outlast the San Diego Padres, including one in San Diego.
Officially, both teams travel to New York on equal terms.
But the Dodgers, after the reality check of a long afternoon, are clearly and surprisingly upset, the troubled recipients of a nasty sucker punch.
Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.
This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
