As the old baseball saying goes, “Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher.” In a world where momentum exists and has a real, tangible impact on the series of baseball games, los angeles dodgers probably would have continued bop new york mets After opening this season's NLCS with a resounding 9-0 victory, Game 2 turned the entire team's performance on its head. Instead, the New York Mets (especially Francisco Lindor) quickly set out to prove that momentum was fiction.
Lindor's leadoff shot got the Mets on the right track, but it boded ill for the Dodgers on bullpen day. Ryan Brazier finished that first inning and made way for Landon Knack, but this is where the game really, really changed. Dodgers manager Brian Roberts made the completely rational decision to walk Lindor when the Mets had already extended their lead to two runs and had two outs with first base open.
But one of the things that is real and concrete in baseball is the little things. So when Mark Vientos realized that Francisco Lindor was given a walk to give the Dodgers and Landon Knack a chance, it was like Michael Jordan in The Last Dance saying, I felt like I could hear it. “I thought it was personal.” Instead of Vientos himself (he did it after the game). It may not have happened right away, it may have happened during those nine agonizingly long baseball playoffs, but eventually, Vientos seized his chance. To let the Dodgers know how personally he took that intentional walk call.
If there's any team I personally respect for intentional walks, it's the Dodgers. Ultimately, this led to one of the funniest moments of the 2022 season when the Dodgers were in Chicago to take on the Tony La Russa-led Chicago White Sox. In the early stages of the White Sox's disarray, La Russa made the incredibly mysterious decision to walk then-Dodgers shortstop Trey Turner on a count of 1-2. So Max Muncy was at bat, and things didn't end well for La Russa at all. Muncy after the game said IBB “gave me something” and sometimes you just need that little something.
Fast forward to Game 2 of the 2024 NLCS, and this time the Dodgers gave their opponents a little something to push them over the edge. Again, Dave Roberts didn't make a bad call by issuing an intentional walk in that situation. Also, the Dodgers certainly had a chance to turn the tide in this game, so this wasn't the be-all and end-all of this game. Max Muncy's own solo shot in the fifth inning made it 6-1 for the Dodgers, and he scored two runs in the next frame to get within three.
That being said, this was a real game-turning moment for the Dodgers, but even though Larry Snake could have defected from Arizona to join the Dodgers, he was unable to do so. In their dugout. Normally, starting an inning with no outs and bases loaded against a lineup like Los Angeles's is a recipe for disaster, especially if you're in the third order like Sean Manaea. It was up to Phil Mayton to find a way out of the precarious situation.
Sure enough, Mayton was able to get out of the situation by getting a scuffed Will Smith out and grounding Enrique Hernández into an inning-ending double play, ensuring the Mets remained in a three-run lead. . The smoke cleared. That's why the aforementioned “two runs” ended in such an overwhelming result. Los Angeles needed more at the time and couldn't get it.
From then on, the Mets held serve until the bullpen came in and held the lead. Ryne Stanek got the next four outs and Edwin Diaz got the final four outs, ensuring the series headed to New York tied at each game. Again, this game ultimately didn't come down to the decision to walk Francisco Lindor to face Mark Vientos. Baseball is a game of 27 outs, and one of the characteristics of postseason baseball is that each of those 27 outs is very difficult to get, and you simply watch a team advance to the finish line. This means that there are almost no They needed to get all 27 of those outs, and the Mets certainly accomplished that to even the series.
That being said, Mark Vientos hitting grand slams is part of what makes postseason baseball so fun to watch. Sometimes all they need is whatever spark is available to make something happen, and Vientos found the spark he needed to lead the Mets to victory. Good luck figuring out where the spark in the net is coming from, because given how this postseason has played out so far, it could come from anywhere.
