LOS ANGELES — Now what?
After 18 innings, 609 pitches and six hours and 39 minutes of World Series insanity, what kind of state will the teams be in for Game 4?
Game 3, a 6-5 victory for the Los Angeles Dodgers over the Toronto Blue Jays on Monday night, was a flawed, glorious classic, matching the 18-inning Game 3 between the Dodgers and Boston Red Sox in 2018 for the longest in Series history.
The drama included Clayton Kershaw entering the game in the 12th to escape a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the first extra-inning appearance of his Hall of Fame career. A four-inning star turn from Dodgers reliever Will Klein, who was traded by both Oakland and Seattle in the past 10 months and left off the roster by the Dodgers in their first three playoff rounds. And finally, a walkoff homer by Freddie Freeman that spared the Dodgers from turning to Yoshinobu Yamamoto in relief on one day’s rest coming off a 105-pitch complete game.
The Blue Jays used every one of their position players, the Dodgers every one of their pitchers. Seventeen hours after the game’s conclusion at 11:50 p.m. PT, they will take the field at Dodger Stadium again. And, as Freeman noted after joining Hall of Famer Goose Goslin as the only players with multiple walkoff hits in the World Series — Freeman’s were homers, Goslin’s were singles — “our starting pitcher got on base nine times tonight.”
That’s right, Shohei Ohtani still is scheduled to start Game 4, even though Dodgers manager Dave Roberts acknowledged his designated hitter/right-hander was “spent” after another record-breaking performance. Ohtani’s nine times on base was three more than the previous postseason record. And his four extra-base hits matched Frank Isbell of the 1906 Chicago White Sox for the most in a World Series game.
The good news for Ohtani is that he might not need to run as much as he did Monday, when he hit two doubles and two homers in his first four at-bats. Blue Jays manager John Schneider said the four intentional walks and one non-intentional walk to Ohtani that followed might be pretty much standard operating procedure the rest of the Series.
The Dodgers, after using nine relievers behind Tyler Glasnow, seemingly have no one to turn to Tuesday but Ohtani. Their catcher, Will Smith, will not be exactly fresh as a daisy after receiving 312 pitches. But at least the Dodgers are upright. The same cannot necessarily be said of the Blue Jays.
Leadoff man George Springer left the game with right side discomfort after fouling off the first pitch of the seventh inning. He underwent an MRI, Schneider said, and the Jays did not immediately know the results. But it would be a surprise if Springer, who already was dealing with a banged-up wrist and knee, returned for Game 4.
Second baseman Bo Bichette, who drove in Vladimir Guerrero Jr. from first base with the go-ahead run in the seventh, also figures to be questionable. Schneider pinch-ran for Bichette after his single, mindful that his player is essentially in spring-training mode, building back up after missing nearly seven weeks with a sprained right knee. It might be too much to ask Bichette to start back-to-back days.
Thus, the Jays might field something of a “B” lineup against Ohtani. Their own starting pitcher, Shane Bieber, is also something of a wild card. He will be pitching on seven days rest, but is coming off Tommy John surgery and has failed to complete four innings in two of his three postseason starts.
Heaven knows what either bullpen will look like as well. Both ‘pens were much-maligned entering the Series. Both produced borderline heroic performances in Game 3. The Dodgers’ relievers combined for 13 1/3 scoreless innings, the Jays’ group allowed three runs in 12 2/3.
The Jays left-hander who allowed Freeman’s walkoff, Brendon Little, was pitching for the first time since giving up a game-tying homer by Seattle’s Cal Raleigh in Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
And, gulp, the Jays might need him again.
Freeman’s homer wasn’t as dramatic or exhilarating as his walkoff grand slam in Game 1 of last year’s World Series against the New York Yankees.
“This was relief,” said Freeman’s father, Fred, “just to get this game over.”
The outcome could have been determined sooner. It maybe would have been determined sooner, if the temperatures Monday night were as high as they are expected to be Tuesday, reaching 90 degrees. At least at the start of Game 4, the ball could be flying.
But as Game 3 went on, Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy noticed dew forming on the grass and moisture forming at the top of the dugout railing. After eight seasons with the Dodgers, Muncy knew what that meant. A marine layer had descended on Dodger Stadium, and good luck trying to hit the ball out.
“Night time here is really hard to hit,” Muncy said. “I’ve seen it so many times. Balls just die in the night.”
Freeman thought he possibly hit a homer in the 13th, but his 103.9-mph shot fell short of the 395-foot wall in center. He hit another ball to center 104.4 mph at a lower launch angle in the 15th, and got the same outcome.
Other Dodgers experienced similar frustration. Smith dropped his bat as if he hit a homer in the 14th, but his 101.5-mph drive got knocked down. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts thought Teoscar Hernández’s 101.4-mph blow had a chance in the 16th, but no, that one didn’t go out either.
Leading off the 18th, Freeman got another chance. And when Little left a 3-2 sinker in the heart of the plate, he connected again to center. This time, he hit the ball 107.4 mph at a 34-degree launch angle, the right combination to finally unlock a homer.
Did Freeman think it was gone?
“I was not sure,” he told me in his postgame interview on Fox. “Just because of the other couple. My swings were getting better and better as the game was going on. I’m just glad I was able to get the opportunity again.”
Watching the flight of the ball from the dugout, Hernández was not sure it was a homer, either.
“He hit it, and I said, ‘He got it this time,’” Hernández said. “But the ball barely got out. The last two at-bats before that one, he hit the ball 104 twice and the ball wasn’t even close to the wall. It makes you think, is this one going to go out?
“Thank God it did.”
In the end, Roberts was grateful, too, in more ways than one. Grateful Yamamoto volunteered to pitch in relief, enabling the Dodgers to abandon a horrifying idea Roberts was contemplating, the use of a position player to pitch in the World Series for the first time. And grateful Freeman hit his homer, knowing that if the Dodgers did not score in the 18th, Yamamoto was the next man up.
“He would have gone as long as we needed,” Roberts said. “He would have been the last guy.”
Imagine the embarrassment if the Dodgers, a team with a payroll nearing $400 million, ran out of pitching in a World Series game. But as inning after inning passed, the prospect became increasingly realistic for the Dodgers, as Roberts acknowledged in an off-camera interview with Fox’s Tom Verducci.
Blake Snell was unavailable after throwing a bullpen session earlier in the day. Two relievers earning a combined $85 million, Kirby Yates and Tanner Scott, did not make the World Series roster. Alex Vesia was expected to be included, but the Dodgers left him off because of a family emergency.
Ohtani wasn’t a realistic option, not after he experienced cramping in the 11th and was scheduled to start Game 4. Every Ohtani pitching appearance is carefully planned and considered. A sudden act of spontaneity wasn’t going to cut it.
So yes, the Dodgers looked like they might end up in quite a bind.
Infielder Miguel Rojas, who made four relief appearances during the regular season, said Roberts never mentioned to him that he might pitch. But Rojas mentally prepared himself for the possibility, unaware that around the 16th inning, Yamamoto told pitching coach Mark Prior he would take the ball.
Yamamoto might have entered in the 18th if Klein had not struck out Tyler Heineman to escape a second-and-third jam. But Klein capped off his 72-pitch outing, twice as long as his previous career-high, by getting Heineman to swing through a 3-2 curveball.
When the game ended, Ohtani ran to hug Yamamoto, his Japanese countryman. Afterward, one Dodger after another praised Yamamoto for his willingness to sacrifice for the team.
“I already think super highly of him,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. “It just shows the love that is in this locker room. Yoshi going out there is exactly what we have in here. Everybody’s willing to put everything on the line.”
The Blue Jays are much the same. Lefty Eric Lauer drew praise from Roberts for his scoreless 4 2/3-inning, 68-pitch outing. Schneider said of his team, “I love the way we played. I loved the way we fought. I think every single player had the right intentions on both sides tonight.”
No doubt, they all will have the right intentions again in Game 4. The question is whether they will be physically capable of acting on them.
Early Tuesday morning, in the postgame interview room, Roberts called Game 3 “one of the greatest World Series of all time,” saying it left him spent emotionally.
Then Roberts realized in a few hours, the teams would be at it again.
“Crazy,” he said.
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