The 2020 MLB playoffs were a weird one, what with all the bubbles and stuff. So here we have an unusual moment: NCLS, Game7, last-chance at bat for the Atlanta Braves ... who are down one run against the Los Angeles Dodgers ... in Texas. Also the game has already contained all sorts of weird plays AND the center fielder's shoulder was recently dislocated. We should probably rewind.
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00:00It's October 18th, 2020.
00:03Game seven of the NLCS
00:05between the Atlanta Braves and L.A. Dodgers.
00:08The Braves are down 4-3 with two outs
00:11and nobody on in the top of the ninth.
00:13They need offense right now
00:15to keep their World Series hopes alive.
00:17One more out would mean the Dodgers get to celebrate
00:20yet another NL pennant.
00:22Let's recall all the weird stuff
00:24that makes this moment unique, including the location.
00:28We need to rewind.
00:29This episode of Rewinder is presented by T-Mobile,
00:31America's largest 5G network.
00:34This moment, hell, this whole game
00:36might not be happening if not for the man
00:39currently prowling right field, Mookie Betts.
00:47Betts is the guy who broke out as 2018 AL MVP
00:51with the Boston Red Sox.
00:52He's the guy who helped the Red Sox
00:54defeat these very Dodgers in that season's World Series.
00:58And thus, he's the guy who the Red Sox decided
01:01would be too costly to keep around.
01:03Boston's heartbreaking decision to move on from Betts
01:06became the Dodgers' game.
01:08L.A. traded for Mookie earlier this season,
01:10then signed him to the biggest contract extension
01:13in franchise history.
01:15Oh, and they got David Price.
01:16You know, just a little pitching help.
01:18These 2020 Dodgers have been an exercise
01:21in the rich getting even richer.
01:23If you wanna know how rich,
01:25I will simply point at the fact
01:27that Price opted to sit out this whole season
01:30and L.A. still kicked ass.
01:32Betts, meanwhile, is yet another mighty bat
01:34in an already mighty lineup.
01:37But right now, all the praise goes to Mookie's golden glove.
01:41Atlanta could have ended this series in five games,
01:45but Mookie's full sprint, last-inch catch,
01:47and eventual double play snuffed a potential runaway inning.
01:52That safe call at the plate got overturned.
01:54L.A. came back from an early deficit,
01:57and then some, to push the series to game six.
01:59Atlanta could have ended this series in six,
02:02but Mookie's play right at the wall
02:04erased another promising inning.
02:06The celebration's almost as good as the catch.
02:09L.A. maintained their early lead
02:11and pushed the series to game seven.
02:13And, well, Atlanta might be leading this game seven
02:16if Betts didn't make his most dramatic catch yet.
02:20Atlanta's Freddie Freeman did enough for a solo homer here.
02:23This ball was headed well over the wall,
02:25and Betts seemed to lose it in the lights
02:28until he found it again.
02:29Mookie putting his stamp all over the NLCS defensively.
02:34That is a real robbery.
02:36And, hey, it's still a one-run game,
02:38so that catch is the difference right now.
02:41If you've got an eagle eye for these things,
02:43you might have noticed something else
02:44about that outfield wall Betts keeps climbing.
02:47It's not the Dodger Stadium right field wall,
02:49and not even the wall in whatever the Braves
02:51are calling their ballpark these days.
02:53A so-called Dodgers home game is taking place
02:57at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
03:00This is MLB's first postseason of the COVID pandemic,
03:04and the logistics here are worth hashing out
03:07because they're pretty wacky.
03:09So, for starters, this MLB regular season was shortened.
03:13To make up for that much smaller sample,
03:15MLB expanded its postseason to include 16 teams
03:19and added a wildcard round of three-game series
03:22to narrow the field from 16 to eight.
03:24Those wildcard games were all played at the home stadiums
03:28of the higher-seeded team,
03:29even if it didn't always feel like home.
03:31All the games since then have been played
03:34at neutral sites, bubbles, kinda like the NBA.
03:37One bubble is in Southern California.
03:39There has been baseball at Dodgers Stadium this month,
03:42but not for the Dodgers.
03:44While the American League playoff rounds
03:46took place in LA and San Diego,
03:49our National League teams have been parked
03:51in the state of Texas, which is particularly odd
03:54because in one NLDS, the Dodgers beat the Padres
03:58three games to zero.
03:59So that first-ever playoff matchup between the teams
04:02from LA and San Diego happened in Arlington, Texas,
04:06all while American League teams played in LA and San Diego,
04:10and one of those AL teams is from Texas.
04:12It's all very confusing, but you do what you gotta do
04:15to play baseball games during a pandemic.
04:18Globe Lay Field, where the Dodgers have been planted
04:20for over two weeks, is brand new.
04:23This was the Texas Rangers' first year playing here,
04:25but nobody got to come watch them play.
04:28Actually, this NLCS marks the first time fans
04:31were allowed to attend a game in this building.
04:33These seats were christened by the warm butts
04:35of Dodgers and Braves fans who made the trip.
04:38That's quite a schlep if you're coming from LA or Atlanta,
04:41but I especially get it for Braves fans.
04:44Atlantans did not expect a moment like this,
04:47not this season, and not given their history.
04:50The Braves' last NLCS appearance was,
04:54keep rewinding, keep rewinding, 2001, almost 20 years ago.
04:59That's not really what hurts.
05:01What hurts is that the Braves have been making post-seasons
05:04throughout a lot of that drought, and well before it, too.
05:07They've just crumbled upon arrival.
05:09It's been a parade of good regular season teams
05:12floundering in autumn, one indignity after another,
05:15with last season being perhaps the grimmest defeat.
05:19Atlanta came a couple innings away
05:21from eliminating the Cardinals in game four
05:23of their 2019 NLDS, only to blow a late lead
05:27and lose on an extra innings walk-off.
05:30That pushed the series to a decisive game five
05:33in which St. Louis rattled off a record-setting 10 runs
05:37in the first inning and never looked back.
05:40You couldn't blame a Braves fan for simply wanting
05:42to sit out the post-season this year,
05:44and it seemed for a bit like that hypothetical Braves fan
05:47might get their wish.
05:49Between injuries and COVID concerns,
05:51Atlanta's projected starting rotation was stripped bare
05:55almost from the outset.
05:57They had no choice but to elevate a gaggle
06:00of younger, less-proven pitchers.
06:02But those young pitchers have been remarkably solid,
06:05breakout ace Max Fried chief among them.
06:09Solid is all Atlanta needs from the pitching
06:11because their offense is world-class.
06:14With league MVP Freddie Freeman leading the way,
06:17the 2020 Braves led the majors in hits, RBIs, and OPS,
06:21and finished second in several other categories.
06:24Atlanta commanded the NL East,
06:26dominated that novel wildcard round,
06:29then finally won a division series,
06:31sweeping the Marlins en route
06:33to their second NLCS of this century.
06:37They went up three games to one on the Dodgers,
06:39reaching the doorstep of their first World Series
06:42since several of tonight's starters were toddlers.
06:45I'm not gonna name names, but I feel pretty sure
06:47some of you guys were not toilet-trained in 1999.
06:51One of those youngsters, 23-year-old Austin Riley,
06:54squandered a chance to help put this Game 7 away
06:57earlier tonight.
06:58Back in the fourth inning, Riley hit an RBI single
07:01to put the Braves up 3-2.
07:03Blake Trinan took the mound and quickly threw a wild pitch,
07:06so Atlanta had no outs with men on second and third,
07:09the perfect opportunity to build an insurmountable lead.
07:13But this sharp grounder created
07:16a tough base-running predicament,
07:18and this indecision from Riley
07:21allowed for a devastating double play.
07:24The threat was neutralized,
07:26and the Braves haven't scored since.
07:28That was the best chance for Atlanta
07:30to keep this long-awaited run alive, but it slipped away.
07:33Now their last chance to resurrect it lays in the hands of,
07:38oh, hey, this is Austin Riley.
07:40Well, Austin, if you want people to forget about
07:43that boner on the base paths,
07:45one really big swing here would help.
07:47That's a decent cut, and it's dead center,
07:49so Mookie Betts can't rob it, and, oh, as a matter of fact,
07:53we need to talk about the guy covering center field.
07:56Cody Bellinger is the reason L.A. leads right now,
07:59but for that very same reason,
08:01he might not be 100% equipped to field this ball.
08:05We've talked about how adding Betts
08:07made the Rich Dodgers offense even richer.
08:10Indeed, in 2020, as in 2019,
08:14L.A. swung some of baseball's biggest bats,
08:16right up with or even above the Braves
08:18in several major offensive categories.
08:21What makes that even more amazing
08:23is that it was kind of a down year
08:25for their slugger-in-chief.
08:26Cody Bellinger has been a hotshot since day one,
08:292017 Rookie of the Year,
08:31multiple All-Star selections before age 24,
08:34and MVP of the National League last season.
08:37If there has been any demerit on the young Bellinger's record
08:40and it's a big one,
08:42it is some haunting postseason performances.
08:44He had a dreadful showing in the 2017 World Series,
08:48recording a record 17 strikeouts,
08:51including three in game seven.
08:53He was NLCS MVP in 2018, not taking that away,
08:57but then he slumped so hard in that World Series
09:00that he got benched a few times,
09:01including the decisive game five.
09:03And last year's shocking NLDS defeat against the Nationals
09:07might have gone differently
09:09if Cody batted better than four of 19.
09:12And this time, playoff stink lingered
09:14into the regular season.
09:16Bellinger is certainly not alone
09:18among players hitting worse in this COVID-wrecked season
09:21of weird cramped schedules and weird empty venues,
09:25but it's still hard to ignore that 2020
09:27was the worst season of his career by a long shot,
09:30or that it followed news that he messed with his swing.
09:34Thankfully, LA's lineup is more than stacked enough
09:37to make up for that.
09:38Betts and Corey Seager both earned themselves
09:41some MVP votes.
09:42And thankfully, Cody's woken up for the postseason.
09:46Bellinger maintained a hitting streak
09:48through the Wild Card Series
09:49and the NLDS victory over the Padres.
09:52Hardly any of those games were close,
09:54and the one that was, game two against the Padres,
09:56Cody saved in the field
09:58with this unbelievable robbery of Fernando Tatis.
10:01Might have put a dent in that wall.
10:04But entering tonight,
10:05Cody hadn't left that much of an imprint on the NLCS.
10:09If anything, the Dodgers' series comeback
10:11continued the theme of offensive success
10:14without much hitting from Bellinger.
10:16Cody's best performance to date was in game three,
10:19and the Dodgers did not need it.
10:21They rattled off a record-breaking 11 runs
10:24in the first inning and never looked back.
10:26Yes, this is after the Braves gave up
10:28a 10-run first inning in last year's playoffs.
10:31And that was before the Dodgers won back-to-back games
10:35to tie this series.
10:36Hug the nearest Braves fan.
10:37Anyway, the point is that this has been
10:39Bellinger's best postseason
10:41following a few stinkers in a row
10:43and following his worst regular season.
10:45But this particular series
10:47didn't have all that much Bellinger.
10:49Until tonight.
10:50Here in game seven, in the bottom of the seventh inning,
10:53against Atlanta's Chris Martin,
10:55facing a 2-2 count, Cody Bellinger had his moment.
10:58The announcers set him up perfectly.
11:01A great regular season player
11:02that has struggled in the postseason throughout his career.
11:06Then Cody absolutely smoked one.
11:09This was the home run trot of an MVP-caliber player,
11:13eclipsing some sub-MVP performances.
11:16But the most important part of the celebration
11:18for our purposes happened right here.
11:22Now, it is important to note that Cody Bellinger
11:25has kind of a penchant for dislocating his shoulder.
11:28It's happened at least twice before,
11:30and he's gotten pretty good at playing
11:31after popping it back in.
11:33Well, if you know what to look for,
11:35you'd notice Cody arm-bumping with teammate Enrique Hernandez
11:38then kind of holding that arm limp
11:40for the rest of the celebration.
11:42The shoulder came out again.
11:44It's back in place for now, but it still can't feel good.
11:47This is relevant because look where the ball is heading.
11:50Austin Miley and the Braves need this ball to do something
11:54if they want to keep a miracle season alive
11:56and avoid the dreaded 3-1 collapse.
11:58Atlanta probably wouldn't be facing down that possibility
12:01if not for the repeated outfield heroics of Mookie Betts.
12:05And L.A. wouldn't be here
12:07without the long-awaited postseason heroics
12:09of Cody Bellinger, who's about to try to make the final out
12:12with a glove arm that was hanging limp out of the socket
12:15just minutes ago.
12:16Let's see if the Braves can keep this going
12:19or if the Dodgers can clinch a trip to the World Series.
12:22Welcome to a moment in history.
12:25Towering fly ball.
12:27The Dodgers come from behind in this series.
12:29They come from behind in game seven
12:32and they win the National League pennant.
12:55And earlier cool stuff than the rest of you.
12:58And I appreciate it.