Oh my god - what a finish!!!!!!!
 

Best ending ever!!!!!


Wow!!!!!


Tampa bay

Amazing


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The whole game was a ton of fun - and the finish was nuts!!

How does Kenley give him a pitch to hit with the count 1-2???????

Just stupid......reminds me of Pete Carroll passing from the 1 yard line with the best running back at the time.

I was picturing a breaking ball in the dirt...swinging strike 3...game over!

He has a defensive replacement pinch hitting down 1-2..........just WOW!!!!

Plus how the hell does Arozarena score from FIRST on that bloop hit. Dude has some wheels!

Granted he was dead, but still. And it's not like he was running on a 1-2 count with a runner in front of him.

JUST AMAZING!!!!

That was a great game to watch! Awesome ending!

He made it to third on the E8, then scored on the E2 (that evidently wasn't scored).

Ugh, brutal.

So entertaining. Congrats to the Rays on tying it up.

My wife is from Tampa and was running around our living room in circles with her arms out. I loved Arozarena just lying there, smiling and patting home plate. Top 10 WS games I’ve ever seen, for sure.

Was it a bad throw by Muncy or was it a missed catch by Smith? I didn't see enough of the replays to figure out who should have got the second E. I saw Aroz on the ground and figured they were going to nail him. Next thing you know Smith doesn't have the ball and the series is tied. One of the more chaotic endings to a WS game.

What was funny was on one of the replays you could see a maskless Dave Roberts saying "Ah" and you knew what the next word, as he was turning his head from the camera, wasn't "For Pete's sake..."

Just in case

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wjzlC4XNug

Why didn't Jansen back up Smith? A lot went wrong on that play for the Dodgers. Now instead of Kershaw pitching for the series win, the pressure is squarely on his shoulders.

People keep saying that but I can’t imagine it would have mattered. Randy A looked like he was 20 feet from the plate when the ball bounced away. Can’t imagine it would have mattered. First of all he would have to have been standing right where the ball bounced away to. Very unlikely.

Mental error on Kenley - stupid pitch.

Error on Taylor in CF playing the ball.

Should Muncy have cut that throw off - possible mental error.

Muncy's throw to Smith, not the best, another error?, or if the throw was good enough then error on Smith not catching it from 30 feet away.

Mental error on Kenley not backing up home regardless if he would have gotten him or not, if he's there at least we'd know if he had a chance to get him, might have made Arozarena head back to third rather then home.

All on one play.

Ball bounced towards first base side of plate. Pitcher backing up that play
Properly wouldnt have been anywhere near that ball to make a play. Would have had to turn around and make some kind of throw backwards . Wasn’t happening.
So many things went wrong. To make a huge deal out of pitcher not backing up the plate is silly. His play
was lazy but inconsequential.

Well the worst thing he did was throw him a 1-2 meatball. After he takes an inside strike and takes an outside strike, both outstanding pitches. He comes down the middle 1-2. You can blame a Smith little too, look where he sets up. Although Smith wanted it up. So all Kenley.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qK1QSkwtQcw


And that finish is why baseball is great, you can have watched over 10,000 games and you see something you've never seen before!

And the look on Kershaw's face.

Little League plays are timeless....
 

Goes to show you that "Little League plays" still happen even to the best athletes. A mistake compounding the next and so on........ Even TBay's baserunning on that play could have been a blunder!

What an absolute fun finish and to see the team running around on the field after like Little Leaguers.

Its why I have always loved baseball and always will regardless of who is playing!

Peace, Mike

It was just surprising to see Roberts sticking with Jansen in the post season as his closer. He's lost 5MPH off his juice since his hey day. Yes, he's got more post season experience than any of the other relievers but I'd have considered a different strategy for the closing role. Always easy to armchair quarterback a baseball game.


Aint the first time Jansen was asleep in the 9th. I guess you also have to watch that runner on third and immediately go home if the ball gets away from the catcher. :p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0O_CavfZkc

Thanks for the link.

Need to find an entire video that shows the WHOLE thing. It takes a few angles to see the hit, the fielding error, the throw Mucny cut, Muncy's throw and Smith missing, Aroz on his belly and then scoring. So much crap going on.

Muncy had to cut the throw. Smith, could have caught the ball. If he did, he'd have had Aroz out.

The one thing that video doesn't show is Aroz on his belly about 30+feet from home plate. That was just a crazy ending.

Smith hurried the catch thinking he needed to make the swipe tag....and had Aroz not fallen, he would have been correct - Smith just didn’t see him fall and realize he had more time. It’s wild to think of everything that led up to that play, all the way back to Bellinger not playing CF. If LA loses this series, this will be the defining play. The Dodgers continue to be their own worst enemy. I still can’t believe it.

"Double Buckner" lol

Really I believable. I passed out
Last night but have prob watched the play 35 times this morning.

Would hv been even more interesting if last nite's game was Game 7.

When I first saw this title I thought someone else was at my son's little league game last night. :D Sorry, story time.

As background, my 10-year old son is on a rec team in a league in which all the other teams have at least a few "travel" players. Needless to say, the season hasn't gone great. They didn't win one game. At least once a game, they would leave the field due to the mercy rule.

Last night was actually a pretty close game. The league rules indicate an inning could not start after 7:45, after all, these are 10 and 11 year old kids.
Despite suffering another mercy run inning, at 7:35 going into the bottom half, our kids were somehow up by two and taking the field. One strikeout, and soon after, the bases were loaded. A runner is walked home. Bases still loaded. A sharp grounder to third was fielded cleanly and goes to home for a play at the plate. Now this is little league so what would you expect to happen? Of course, the runner is hit by the throw. He scores the tying run with the ball rolling up the first base line. My son, the catcher, grabs the ball while another runner comes down the third base line. The runner slides, my son fearlessly dives headfirst to block the plate. They collide. The ball still in his glove. The runner out having never reached the plate. The inning ends tied after another unremarkable strikeout.

All the parents, as you could imagine, are excited. At a minimum, our kids put on a good show, a great effort, and a moral victory for even making the game close. But this is the playoff, and there has to be a winner. So the game goes into extra innings, it is a bit late, but at least it is not a school night. Our team scores three through a combinations of walks, beat out grounders, and stolen bases. Once again, they are three outs away from their first win.

The bottom half of the inning started off as anything you would expect from a 10 and 11 year old little league game. Lots of balls. A couple wild pitches. A few foul tips. A single strikeout and the bases once again loaded. However, this is October baseball. The tying run on first. The winning run to bat. A hard grounder up the middle. Two runs score easliy. The runner on first stops at second as the ball makes its way back to the pitcher.

At this point I must interject for a moment. In my opinion, the game at this level is where kids should be taught how to play the game fairly. Not to try to take advantage of every little loophole. Wins, loses, should take a distant second to fairness. It is also where parents need to demonstrate how to act in the heat of the moment.

As the pitcher walks back onto the mound with the ball, the tying runner bolts from second and before anyone understands what is happening he's standing on third. Parents scream from the bleachers in protest. The ump threatening to toss one parent for protesting too much allows the runner to stay on third.

First and third, one out. The runner on first steals second on the first pitch. Still one out, the tying run on third, leading a quarter way down the line. The winning run on second. The pitch rings off aluminum bat as the line drive heads straight back at the pitcher. As he turns, the ball welds to the palm of his glove. In shock he looks to third. The runner slides back safely. No chance for a play. He turns to second and throws. The runner slides. The ball arrives and is held. The second basemen's foot on the bag. A momentary breath as everyone looks to the ump. His animated arm swings down, "You're OUt!", he roars. And celebration ensues for the hard earned first win.

And the WS game was pretty exciting too.

Yikes. OK, we interrupt this discussion about the 2020 WS to give someone's kid's little league story. Which was significantly longer than the WS posts. All righty. Now back to our regular programming.

Love that Little League story, been on both side of that game.

As for what if that was Game 7 last night.....I couldn't imagine...would have been the best finish ever!!!

I just wish it really had been at Tampa in front of their fans, a packed stadium. I seriously think they would have went on the field....like the old days.....especially if it was Game 7.

That being said as a fan of ALL baseball, can't wait to see Kershaw pitch tonight. But I'll take another 9th inning or extras win by either team.....just get it to 7.

I hope I'm not the only one who realizes how much escapism can be pulled from such a moment...lots of us forgot, at least for a second, what year it is...oh, sorry.

James Earl Jones in Field of Dreams. The one constant is baseball.

Dave Roberts needs to be sent packing. Its not news that Jansen has been a shell of his former self. I understand loyalty and admire it. However, in this situation his loyalty was misplaced. I understand there were two mental errors and two physical errors that occured. Nonetheless, Roberts' decision led to this meltdown. There has been 30+ years of waiting for Dodgers fans and the organization has the second highest payroll, Roberts failed his team, his organization, and Dodger fans. Even if the Dodgers win it all Roberts needs to go.

I agree Roberts has a history of questionable pitching decisions in big games and if I was a hard core LA fan I would be furious. That said, he’s not the one who threw a bad pitch, fumbled the ball in center, made a bad throw to the plate, missed the catch at home, or failed to back up the catcher. It was a team loss. You win together, you lose together.

Everyone keeps saying what a fantastic finish that was. Huh??? Like Shakespeare, I see it as nothing more than a comedy of errors. Talk about NOT making the big play when it counts. The outfielder completely half-assed the play, not approaching the ball correctly or strongly enough, and took his eye off of it. The throw was weak, off-line, and then the relay was mishandled by the catcher as he tried to quickly tag a non-existent runner. The runner loses his footing and does a complete header, and would've been pegged out going back to third if the catcher caught the ball. Tampa wins and starts parading around the field and celebrating? Congratulations, you made one less stupid move than the Dodgers did during the play and you won. Golf clap.
(To be clear, there's no rancor here. I don't care who wins. It is what it is, but my God!!! They looked like a bunch grade school kids playing Wiffle ball!!!) :confused:

Pitch choice
 

If you watched the whole game, you probably also had a feeling that something was going to happen, but certainly not that! Absolutely phenomenal finish.

I read a lot of comments asking why in the world Jansen threw pitch in the strike one, but clearly that wasn't the intended pitch. If you watch Smith, he is prepping to receive a pitch up in the zoom, but Jansen missed it by about 3 feet. Kudos to Phillips for being ready, because you know he was assuming they would probably go out of the zone on the 1-2...

I think that's part of what made it great. Was it good, technical baseball? No. Was it entertaining, unexpected, and fun to watch? Well, it appears that at least most us thought so.

Yeah, this is a peculiar spot to put a 1-2 pitch.

Bad throw by Muncy, 100%. I saw that right away. Three guys touched the ball: the right fielder, the first baseman, and the catcher. The right fielder and catcher got errors but it was Muncy who blew the play. He only has to throw the ball maybe 40 feet to the right side of home plate so the catcher can grab it in position to make the tag (and prepare for a possible collision) but Muncy throws it to the other side. Smith has to hurry, and by looking away from the runner to catch the ball, he's rendered blind on the play. So he makes a quick grab for the ball to prepare for the impending play at the plate, and he was just a bit hasty.

Just goes to prove one of the greatest things about baseball – there's always so many moving parts to watch at once! I had no clue what was happening – did the throw make it, wait, did Randy fake a run to bait a dive, wait no, he's getting to his feet?

Love it!! Hope more people tune in for tonight's game!

Let's get back to memorabilia, shall we...

Here's a screen capture of Game 4 hero Brett Phillips taking a drink of water three minutes and 52 seconds after hitting his Series-tying 2-RBI walk-off single. I hope somebody got that bottle authenticated! :eek:

Game-used, you know... (okay, post-game, but you know what I mean...) :D

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...01bc3577_b.jpg