The slider from Alex Reyes hung and hung, long enough for Chris Taylor to identify it, load up, and smash his struggles from the last three months with one swing.
When the line drive landed, and it landed quickly, over the left-field wall, Dodger Stadium was already deafening. His teammates were already spilling out of the dugout. Cody Bellinger, halfway between second and third base, had already thrown his hands in the air.
Taylor was dashing around the bases behind him. A mob at home plate waited to rip his jersey off in delirium, completing a 3-1 comeback victory for the Dodgers over the St. Louis Cardinals in Wednesday’s wild-card game to stay alive in their quest to become Major League Baseball’s first repeat World Series champions in two decades, and the first back-to-back champs in the franchise’s 138-year history.
The swing ensured that the Dodgers’ franchise-record-tying 106 regular-season wins wouldn’t be erased with one forgettable night when their hired gun stumbled and the bats were silenced by the Cardinals’ devil magic. Instead, they’ll face the San Francisco Giants in the postseason for the first time in the storied rivalry’s history in a five-game National League Division Series. Game 1 is Friday at Oracle Park.
Taylor, hampered by a neck injury in recent weeks, entered the playoffs seven for 64 with 26 strikeouts in his previous 25 games. An All-Star in the first half, the dreadful second half left him on the bench to start the night. He ended it in the middle of a champagne shower in the home clubhouse.
Wednesday’s elimination game was the Dodgers’ first postseason contest in front of a human crowd -- not cardboard duplicates – at home since Game 5 of the 2019 NLDS. The Washington Nationals won that night, stunning and abruptly eliminating the 106-win Dodgers from the playoffs without a championship for the seventh straight season on their way to winning the World Series.
Max Scherzer and Trea Turner were on the other side spraying champagne and chugging beer in the visitors’ clubhouse when the upset was over. On Wednesday, they were on the field for the home team in starring roles. Turner, the team’s best position player, started at second base and batted third. Scherzer was on the mound.
Two fans from their days in Washington occupied seats in the front row behind home plate: Nationals star outfielder Juan Soto and Nationals hitting coach Kevin Long. Soto wore sunglasses and a Nationals jersey with “Turner” on the back. Long sported a Nationals Scherzer jersey. Erica Scherzer, Max’s wife, shot photos with them in the white jerseys before her husband threw the game’s first pitch. She sat in a home Dodgers Scherzer jersey a row behind.
Scherzer emerged from the Dodgers’ dugout at 4:32 p.m. to cheers from the swelling crowd. He played catch in left field and was in the bullpen warming up while the teams were introduced. He took the mound out of sorts, resembling the pitcher who stumbled in his final two regular-season starts over the dominant hurler from his first nine outings as a Dodger.
Tommy Edman led the game off with a flare single to right field. He stole second base before Paul Goldschmidt worked a walk, took third base on Tyler O’Neill’s flyout to right field and scored on a wild pitch. Scherzer, after a two-out error from Corey Seager extended the inning, needed 18 pitches for the first three outs. It was ugly. And yet the Cardinals scored just once.
Scherzer went to three-ball counts on five of the first 11 batters he faced, ballooning his pitch count to 43 through two innings. He continued scuffling over the next three innings. He yanked his fastball and curveball. He didn’t finish his changeup. His mechanics were askew.
The beginning of his end resembled the beginning of the game: Edman singled and Goldschmidt walked to start the fifth inning. O’Neill then struck out on Scherzer’s 94th pitch, but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had made his decision: Scherzer was coming out of the game.
Scherzer didn’t want to give up the ball, not that early. He was acquired during the summer to pitch deep into these autumn nights, to absorb the stressful workloads as advertised.
But Roberts had seen enough so he walked out to take the ball from his peeved pitcher. He stuck his right hand out for it. Scherzer shook the hand instead. Roberts then grabbed the ball from Scherzer’s glove and Scherzer lumbered off the field angry.
Roberts summoned Joe Kelly to face Nolan Arenado, who hit into a force out at third base for the inning’s second out. Kelly then fell behind 3-0 to Dylan Carlson, a left-handed hitter, before Carlson was given the green light and fouled off the fourth pitch. Carlson swung through the next pitch — a curveball in the dirt — and fouled off another curveball to stay alive. Kelly finished him with another curveball, getting him swinging.
Adam Wainwright, the elder statesman in the duel between aces defying time, didn’t last much longer. The soft-throwing 40-year-old dotter was relieved with one out in the sixth inning. His only blip was Justin Turner’s solo home run in the fourth. He was replaced after 95 pitches with a runner on first base and one out.
It was on Luis García to escape unscathed. The hard-throwing right-hander succeeded, working around a walk to Will Smith to keep the score tied.
From there, Roberts and Cardinals manager Mike Shildt took turns making the right bullpen moves, extending the tie every half inning as the temperature dropped and the tension heightened.
The Dodgers nearly took the lead in the eighth inning against Giovanni Gallegos, the Cardinals’ closer, when Will Smith cracked a line drive with Trea Turner at first base. The liner, according to Baseball Savant, had an expected batting average of .830. Turner, a speedster, surely would’ve scored. But Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong, positioned perfectly, leaped to snag the catch
Kenley Jansen was the final reliever Roberts called on. The longtime closer and impending free agent entered knowing it could’ve been his last outing in a Dodgers uniform. He began by getting DeJong to strike out swinging at a cutter. Edman followed with his third single and occupied Jansen’s attention at first base before stealing second.
But Jansen locked it back in. Goldschmidt struck out swinging at a slider and O’Neill whiffed on a cutter to strand Edman. Dodger Stadium erupted. Jansen pounded his chest five times as the Cardinals finished 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position. Soon, Dodger Stadium was shaking, reminiscent of so many nights of Octobers past, with one swing.
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