LOS ANGELES — Hopefully you’ve had a chance to digest what happened during the Dodgers’ win in a marathon Game 3 on Friday night (and Saturday’s wee hours).
And hopefully you’ve had a chance to read some of the great stories describing an unforgettable contest in World Series history.
Now, let’s look forward. Here are 18 questions we have after that 18-inning journey.
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1. OK, so let’s start here: What’s next?
Both pitching staffs should actually be OK for Game 4, believe it or not, as long as it doesn’t go another 18 innings.
Porcello and Eovaldi are out of the mix for the Red Sox, obviously, but none of their other hurlers threw more than 28 pitches. Closer Craig Kimbrel is likely limited to an inning (he threw the 28), but everyone else should be ready to go. Drew Pomeranz will certainly have to make his postseason debut, which will make Boston fans nervous.
“We'll map it out tomorrow,” manager Alex Cora said. “There are a few guys that are lining up in my office to start the game tomorrow. We'll decide what we'll do and we'll be fine.”
And the Dodgers, despite their cryptic late-night tweet about the identity of their Game 4 starter — it was slated to be Rich Hill — are just fine, too, unless Hill is completely out of the mix. He seemed just fine in the clubhouse after the game, and manager Dave Roberts even talked about him in his postgame presser: “We expect Richie to come out with some fire like he always has. Like I said, counting outs, looking at the pen, we're in good shape.”
We’ll find out in a few hours.
2. How important, really, was the outcome of that game?
It meant everything. It’s a completely new series, with Boston leading 2-1.
“If we don’t pull this out we might just be playing for fun,” Dodgers veteran David Freese said. “Down 3-0, that’s really tough. Holy cow. Just incredible. I’m really happy for these guys.”
Think about it this way: No team has EVER come back from being down 3-0 in the World Series. Ever. But three teams in the past five years have come back from a 2-1 deficit: the Cubs in 2016, the Giants in 2014 and the Red Sox in 2013.
Yep. Doesn’t matter how the Dodgers got to 2-1, it only matters that they’re there now.
And this is a completely new series.
MORE: 13 insane facts from the longest game in postseason history
3. OK, so it’s a new series. Gotcha. What does that mean?
Maybe not much, honestly. Just like being down 2-0 didn’t keep the Dodgers from climbing back into the series, winning Game 3 doesn’t mean they’ll win Game 4. You’ll read a lot about the Dodgers having “momentum” and things of that nature, and maybe they do have a pitching advantage in Game 4 if Drew Pomeranz is asked to throw multiple innings for the first time this month.
But the Dodgers have actually been in a similar situation in the World Series. On the other side. Remember the 1988 Fall Classic? Of course you do. The mighty Oakland A’s were heavily favored in that one, but the scrappy Dodgers won Games 1 and 2 (thanks to a Kirk Gibson home run you might remember).
Game 3 was tied, 1-1, entering the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Mark McGwire hit a walk-off home run off Jay Howell, giving the A’s their first W of the series. Finally, lots of folks figured, order had been restored. Win a game in that dramatic fashion and momentum will surely carry on into the next couple of contests, right?
Nope. The Dodgers won Games 4 and 5 in Oakland and claimed the World Series.
4. Has Nathan Eovaldi thrown his last World Series pitch?
The Red Sox sure hope so. After his Herculean 97-pitch effort in Game 3 — and relief appearances in Games 1 and 2, too — he won’t be available to pitch again in Los Angeles. Boston would love to win Games 4 and 5 at Dodger Stadium to wrap up the series and make Eovaldi’s next task hoisting the World Series trophy. If the series does shift back to the East Coast, the right-hander would be on three days rest for Game 6 and four for Game 7.
MORE: Nathan Eovaldi has a game for the ages, even as losing pitcher
5. Can we finally drop pitcher wins/losses as a statistic?
Seriously. Eovaldi was saddled with the loss. Alex Wood, who pitched the 18th for the Dodgers, was given the win because he was the pitcher of record when Muncy hit his home run. That’s, well, stupid.
6. Will Dave Roberts finally let his best players play?
Max Muncy, who led the Dodgers with 35 home runs, hit the Game 3-winning home run (and drew the walk in the 13th that led to the game-tying run). Joc Peterson, who tied for second on the team with 25 home runs and hit three in the 2017 World Series, hit the solo home run that gave the Dodgers a 1-0 lead in the third inning.
Neither of those guys started Games 1 or 2 in Boston, because they’re left-handed hitters and the Red Sox went with lefty starting pitchers. Peterson, at least, has traditionally struggled against lefties, so maybe his benching made sense. But Muncy? He had an .891 OPS against southpaws this season, and yet he still couldn’t crack the starting lineup.
At some point, your best players have to play. Muncy definitely should start every game going forward, and Peterson should be in the Game 4 lineup, regardless whether Boston starts lefty Drew Pomeranz or lefty Eduardo Rodriguez.
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7. Where have we seen this Buehler/Muncy combo before?
Well, not many of us saw this (I didn’t), but that pitching/hitting combo did team up for a win earlier this year, too. In Triple-A.
Walker Buehler's 2018 season began with a start on April 5 in an Oklahoma City at Iowa Triple-A game.
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) October 27, 2018
The Dodgers' farm team won 2-1. The deciding run? A 5th-inning Max Muncy solo HR.
8. Seriously, how amazing is this Max Muncy story?
It’s pretty damn incredible. Let go by the A’s after failing in extended big-league tryouts, back to the minors for the 2017 season and then 35 homers and a walk-off shot in the 18th inning of a World Series game?
“This whole year has been a surreal experience that it's hard to put into words. But just getting a chance to play in the World Series has kind of capped it off,” Muncy said. “And then getting a chance to hit a walk-off home run, obviously there's not many words I can use to describe that. The feeling was just pure joy and incredible excitement. That's about all I can think of because it's hard to describe how good a feeling it is.”
MORE: Dodgers' Max Muncy revels in 'pure joy' of walk-off homer
9. Can we talk about Eovaldi again?
Yes. Yes we can. Even the Dodgers knew something special was happening.
“Just an insane outing by him,” David Freese said. “You start thinking about Bumgarner. I know I did toward the back half of his outing. Just crazy. There are very few guys who can pull that off.”
Madison Bumgarner, of course, basically willed the Giants to the 2014 World Series all by himself. After his complete-game shutout in Game 5, the lefty came on in relief in Game 7 and threw five more shutout innings in a game San Francisco won, 3-2. Aside from one pitch to Muncy, Eovaldi was every bit as good.
“Once Eovaldi came in there, if kinda felt just like another game with another starter going,” Kershaw said. “He did an amazing job.”
His final line: 6+ innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 5 strikeouts.
“He's putting everything together. The pitch mix, good breaking balls, good cutters, good fastballs, you almost have to be perfect in that situation,” Cora said. “And actually he was perfect. We just didn't make one play and they put a good swing on it. But effort-wise, I don't know, World Series, that was one of the best performances probably in the history of the World Series.”
MORE: Ian Kinsler explains critical error that cost Red Sox Game 3
10. Is Walker Buehler now L.A.’s best pitcher?
Probably, yeah. And that’s not just about the seven shutout innings he turned in, though those were impressive. It’s about HOW he turned in those seven shutout innings.
Buehler, the 24-year-old rookie, was painting the corners with his 99-mph fastball. He was dropping nasty breaking pitches all over the edges of the zone. He had Boston hitters — remember, the Red Sox led the majors in runs scored — looking like Pawtucket hitters.
“You can’t say enough about Walker. Just a flat-out stud,” Freese said. “He’s had the ball in some very meaningful games this October, and we’re very happy about that.”
Some players embrace the stage more than others.
“I think that certain people can handle a moment like this and understand what was at stake tonight. And we needed his best effort,” Roberts said. “And we needed him to go deeper than their starter, log some innings. And some guys run from it. Some guys can't answer the bell. But this guy, he's got an overt confidence, a quiet confidence, a little combo. But he's got tremendous stuff. And he lives for moments like this. So it's good to have obviously him on our side. And the age is really something we don't concern ourselves about. It's kind of what's in between the head and the heart. He's got what it takes to be that top-of-the-rotation guy.”
He is that top-of-the-rotation guy. Right now.
11. Is Eduardo Nunez alive?
Nunez didn’t start Game 3, but he was beaten up by the end of it. Three times last night he wound up sprawled out on the field and needed a moment to compose himself.
I asked him after the game how he felt. “Sore. Sore,” he said with a grin. “But we’re fine. Don’t have a choice. We have two more games to go, and then we have three more months to recover.”
He entered the game in the 10th.
“After the dirt ball, when the catcher ran over him, he felt he was in bad shape,” Cora said. “But like I told him, he's like, ‘I'm not coming out.’ I said, ‘Well, you can't come out. We have no more players.’”
12. Is Jackie Bradley Jr. the best two-out hitter ever?
Only seems like that.
The defensive whiz tied the game with two outs in the eighth inning, with his long home run off L.A. closer Kenley Jansen. It was his 10th two-out RBI of the postseason, with at least two games remaining. Sandy Alomar Jr. holds the record, with 14 in the 1997 postseason.
13. What numbers from Game 3 will stand out, historically?
Take your pick, really. The game lasted 7 hours and 20 minutes, almost a full hour longer than any other postseason game. It went 18 innings, four innings longer than any other World Series game.
But here’s the one that stands out to me: The teams combined to throw 561 pitches in Game 3 (283 for Boston, 278 for L.A.), smashing the previous World Series record. The old record was 482, set by the White Sox and Astros in Game 3 of the 2005 World Series, a 14-inning contest won by Chicago.
14. Does Ian Kinsler have a second career as a pinch-runner ahead of him?
Uh, no. The 36-year-old’s trip around the bases was, well, embarrassing. Immediately after he entered the game as a pinch runner for J.D. Martinez in the 10th, he was almost picked off at first base before a pitch was even thrown. Then, he slid past third base and was almost tagged out. And then, he was thrown out at the plate trying to score on a would-be sacrifice fly.
That last part wasn’t his fault, though. The ball wasn’t hit very deep and Cody Bellinger made a strong throw from center field and Kinsler didn’t have much of a chance.
But maybe the Red Sox save Brock Holt for pinch-running duties going forward.
15. Speaking of Kinsler, if things go south for Boston is he the new Buckner?
It’s possible. Boston fans can hold onto grievances, y’know? And Kinsler had a nightmarish game. We mentioned the base running, but that’s not the worst part.
With two outs in the 13th inning, Kinsler fielded a ball hit sharply by Yasiel Puig. If he makes the throw to first base for the last hour, the Red Sox win and go up, 3-0, in the series. But Kinsler stumbled and rushed the throw, missing first base by 20-something feet.
That awful throw allowed Muncy to score all the way from second base, tying the game and sending us to the 14th inning. “I lost my footing a little bit," Kinsler said, via Yahoo Sports. "I was trying to keep the ball in with a guy on second base, try not to let that ball go up the middle. I overran it a little bit, and then when I planted to turn to throw, the turf kind of gave way in the act of throwing and I just sailed it wide. I just had the last out in my glove and couldn’t get it over there. It was tough to swallow.”
ARE. YOU. SERIOUS.
— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) October 27, 2018
Puig puts the ball in play, Kinsler misses the throw to 1st and Max Muncy scores to tie the game in the bottom of the 13th!!! pic.twitter.com/nS49fvMo0I
16. Did Mookie Betts or Xander Bogaerts get any sleep?
Doubtful, unless they were somehow able to block out the memory of combining to go 0-for-15 as the Nos. 1 and 2 hitters in the Boston lineup.
17. Will this be the signature game of the 2018 World Series?
Well, that’s impossible to know. Last year, we all figured — myself included — that there was no way we’d see anything more crazy than Houston’s win in Game 2. As you’ll recall, the Astros scored single runs in the eighth and ninth to send the game to extra innings, and then scored twice in the 10th to seemingly put the game away.
Nah. The Dodgers scored two of their own to force an 11th inning. The Astros responded with two more in the 11th, and just barely held on for the win despite a Charlie Culberson solo home run with two outs that trimmed Houston’s lead to a single run.
And then Game 5 happened. In this one, the Dodgers forced extra innings with three runs in the ninth to tie the game, 12-12. With two outs in the bottom of the 10th, Brian McCann was hit by a pitch and George Springer walked (and McCann was replaced by pinch-runner Derek Fisher). Alex Bregman delivered the game-winning single. That contest featured seven home runs — five by the Astros — six half-innings with at least three runs scored and only three full innings without any runs scored. Crazy.
So don’t Sharpie Game 3 quite yet.
18. Is October baseball just the best?
Yes. Yes it is.
