Seven questions after one of the most incredible, exhausting games in World Series history!
1. How does this 18-inning Game 3 change this World Series?
Until Monday night’s battle between the Blue Jays and ultimately triumphant Dodgers, the only World Series game longer than 14 innings was Game 3 in 2018, which I attended seven years and one day prior.
By the 14th inning and second seventh-inning stretch, it was hard to remember life before arriving at the ballpark or what the outside world was even like. When Max Muncy finally walked it off, I was too stunned that it was over to feel anything else. A game that long, it seems, will play on forever. Any ending, when it finally comes, feels impossibly abrupt.
Unlike ’18, when I was confident the Red Sox would still win it all, I’m not sure how this series will end. Not simply because the exhaustion of playing an 18-inning game throws a serious wrench into any works, but because when two teams considered to have dangerously unreliable relievers put together one of the most incredible bullpen battles in postseason history, it completely flips the script.
2. What is it about the Dodgers, Brad Paisley, and extra-inning World Series games?
Not only have the Dodgers now won the two longest World Series games ever, but both were Game 3s at Dodger Stadium, ended via walk-off solo home runs in the bottom of the 18th inning.
At least this one lasted only six hours and 39 minutes, compared to the seven-hour, 20-minute madness in 2018. Thank goodness for the pitch clock.
The Dodgers were also one-half of the 1916 game that for decades held the World Series record (now a three-way tie for third). Then the Brooklyn Robins had no answer for a 21-year-old Red Sox phenom named George Herman ‘Babe’ Ruth, who pitched a complete Game 2, allowed one run, and had an RBI.
Country singer and ardent Dodgers fan Brad Paisley can’t be blamed for 1916, but he is part of an outrageous pattern in more recent Octobers. Monday was the fourth time a World Series game at Dodger Stadium went to extras after he performed the national anthem: Game 2 in ‘17 (11 innings), Game 3 in ‘18 (18), Game 1 in ‘24 (10), and this year’s Game 3.
3. Why did the Blue Jays wait so long to intentionally-walk Shohei Ohtani?
Watching the Blue Jays and Dodgers battle as Monday night stretched into Tuesday morning here on the east coast, I couldn’t help but think back to David Ortiz’s 2013 postseason.
After Ortiz’s unceasing torment of the St. Louis Cardinals in the first five contests – 11 for 15 (.733) with two doubles, two homers, five runs, six batted in, four walks and zero strikeouts – they finally capitulated and intentionally walked him three times and unintentionally walked him once.
And – I never thought I would say this about anyone – Ohtani has been better.
No player had ever reached base as many as seven times in a single postseason game. In Game 3, Ohtani reached base nine times, extending his Dodger Stadium streak to 13 consecutive plate appearances dating back to Game 3 of the NLCS.
His first four at-bats culminated in two doubles and two home runs. According to Stathead, Ohtani is the seventh player in MLB history to collect four extra-base hits in a postseason game. Blue Jays outfielder Daulton Varsho became the sixth earlier this month in Game 2 of the ALDS, but Ohtani is just the second player to reach the benchmark in the World Series. Chicago White Sox infielder Frank ‘Bald Eagle’ Isbell set record in Game 5 of the third-ever Fall Classic, in 1906.
Ohtani received intentional walks in his next four at-bats. Finally, the Blue Jays decided to pitch to him again, only to unintentionally walk him. He is the first player to walk as many as four times in a World Series game.
This is not to say I’m a fan of intentionally walking legendary hitters, especially in the postseason. There is a sense that both hitter and fans are being robbed of a potentially magical moment when the opposing team pulls out what is essentially the ‘Get out of jail free’ card.
But can you really blame the Blue Jays for not wanting to face him?
4. Was Game 3 Clayton Kershaw’s final major league outing?
It felt like the baseball gods were not going to let Game 3 end before Clayton Kershaw got involved.
And what a moment it was when he took the mound in the 12th and steered the Dodgers out of the path of a bases-loaded iceberg.
If this is it for Kershaw, it is the ultimate example of going out on top. Especially because he added something new and unique to what is sure to be a unanimous first-ballot Hall of Fame election down the road; for the first time in his 18-year career, the Dodgers lifer pitched in extra innings.
However, if the Dodgers have a commanding enough lead in a potential deciding game this week, I cannot think of anything better than letting Kershaw close it out.
5. Does Nathan Eovaldi get enough credit for his performance in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series?
The late innings of Monday night’s battle inevitably drew comparisons to Nathan Eovaldi. Especially when the Dodgers’ Hail Mary, rookie right-hander Will Klein, came in and shut out the Jays for the final four innings.
As the scheduled starter for Game 4, ‘Nasty Nate’ was a different kind of last resort when he took the mound for the Red Sox in the 12th inning of Game 3 in ’18. Sacrificing his first career World Series start, Eovaldi put together one of the most heroic performances in Red Sox history, handling the remaining six innings and throwing 36 more pitches than starter Rick Porcello (61). And when Muncy homered to end it, Eovaldi took the loss.
6. Can we stop trying to compare Shohei Ohtani to anyone else?
At some point in extra innings of Game 3 when Ohtani looked to steal second base after one of his four intentional walks, the broadcast began talking about Dodgers manager Dave Roberts’ famous game-changing steal for the Red Sox in Game 4 of the ‘04 ALCS.
Come on.
Roberts is Ohtani’s manager and it’s October baseball. That’s where the comparisons should end.
One was a midseason acquisition, put in a potential elimination game as a pinch-runner for a team that had not won a World Series in 86 years and was on the brink of being swept by their hated rivals.
The other is a superstar unicorn athlete of mythic proportions, on the bazillion-dollar roster of a franchise that has not missed the playoffs in over a decade and is vying for its second consecutive championship and third in six years.
In other words, what Ohtani is doing is incredible enough on its own. Let’s enjoy it, instead of trying to make fruitless comparisons to this incomparable athlete.
7. Is Shohei Ohtani the most talented baseball player of all time?
Yes. If you disagree, email me and let me know why.
