Dodgers and Giants in decisive game
The Major League Baseball postseason always provides special moments among the teams that manage to reach it. The best of an entire season come together for the chance to reach the World Series and be called champions, so each game has a sense of urgency that makes it unforgettable.
One way the stories surrounding each team advancing to the postseason is when they meet their arch rivals in the crossovers during the Division and Championship Series. In 2021 we had a wonderful Wild Card game in the American League, which saw the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, one of the most storied rivalries in Major League Baseball, face off for a chance to continue advancing and the result was simply, a classic, emotionally charged game.
The National League Divisional Series promises to end in the same fashion, pitting another of MLB’s great rivalries in a deciding game for a chance to advance to the Championship Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants will meet for the final time this year, with the future of their seasons on the line. The two winningest teams of 2021 will try to write another chapter in their classic history.
What is unique about this series is that it has repeatedly been noted that this is the first time Dodgers and Giants will meet in a Divisional Series. In fact, it is the first time in MLB history that two NL West sides have met in the postseason under the current scheme. However, this is not the first time the two squads have met in pivotal games.
The Dodgers and Giants rivalry dates back to the late 1800s and has brought two episodes where the two squared off in games that could end their seasons.
The first occasion on which this occurred was on October 3, 1951. Dodgers and Giants faced each other in a best-of-three game series, looking to break a tie to define the winner of the National League Pennant. The Giants prevailed in a dramatic game that ended five runs to four.
The special thing about this series is that, by mid-August, the Dodgers had a 13-game lead over the Giants, who ended up winning 37 of their last 44 games to force the tie that would lead them to fight to represent the “Old Circuit”.
It was in this series where the famous “The shot heard ’round the World” was born, when Bobby Thompson hit a beastly home run in the ninth inning against Dodger pitcher Ralph Blanca to seal the fate of the series.
The second decisive meeting between the two teams took place on October 3, 1962, in a situation similar to that of 1951. Both teams had moved cities by this date. Come August, the Dodgers had a five and a half game lead over the Giants, but lost ten of their last thirteen games to force the tiebreaker for the National League Pennant.
As in 1951, the Dodgers came within three outs of the win, but a four-run rally in the ninth inning, led by the legendary Willie Mays gave the Giants the win.
On several occasions, the two teams have come close to meeting again in decisive games, where the difference between them at the end of the regular series never exceeded four games, indicating that this is a rivalry full of exciting moments and that this game five will add another page to one of the most exciting stories in Major League Baseball.
