How the Los Angeles Dodgers reached the World Series for the third time in six years
USA TODAY Sports’ Gabe Lux explains how the Dodgers dominated the Brewers en route to a World Series appearance.
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The majesty and misery of baseball are almost always intertwined. And they became inseparable for an incredible eighth inning in an unforgettable Game 5 of the American League Championship Series.
For several minutes at T-Mobile Park, the fates of the Toronto Blue Jays and Seattle Mariners rested first on a critical decision by their managers, then when Cal Lowry’s pop fly sailed into the left field stands, and finally when Eugenio Suarez’s grand slam settled into the right field stands, hanging in the air for a few fretful seconds.
A momentary commotion flipped the game from the Blue Jays’ victory column to the Mariners, who won 6-2 and pushed the Blue Jays to the brink they had never seen before. The team is one win away from winning the World Series for the first time in its nearly 50-year history.
And we brought the colorful characters front and center. Games 6 and 7 in Toronto could feature new stories and different heroes and goats. But this intense night was theirs.
Eugenio Suarez: Nice guy finishes in 1st place
He played for four franchises and was so beloved in Seattle that the Mariners had to bring him back this year, but that year felt more special than others, and adding a trade deadline punch to the club’s perennially popular lineup was certainly worth it.
And when Suarez opened the scoring in the second inning with a home run and ended it with Seranthony Dominguez’s 98 mph heater hitting the right-field seats, joy could be shared from Seattle to Arizona, Cincinnati to Detroit.
After Game 5, Mariners manager Dan Wilson expressed his gratitude to reporters, saying, “Geno is a good player, but even more than that, he’s a good person. I think that’s where Geno shines.” “You don’t know if he’s in a slump, you don’t know what he’s going through, because he’s always encouraging other players. He’s just a selfless player, and that’s why everyone in the clubhouse cheers so hard on Geno, because he just doesn’t think about himself for a second.
“I was able to hug Geno after the game and know how good what he did today made him feel. He’s a really great human being, a great leader, and a great ballplayer.”
A player who hit 49 home runs between Seattle and Arizona this season. Three franchises reached the postseason, but none made it to the World Series.
Considering he’s now virtually canonized in the Pacific Northwest, it would be appropriate for him and the Mariners to cross that threshold together.
“For me, it’s very special. Emotions are always high,” Suarez said after the match. “The crowd keeps us on the field and keeps us in the fight. They want us to do something good all day long. And I’ve been waiting for a game like this all my career. We got it today.”
“Today I did it in front of a crowd, in front of my family, my two daughters, my wife. This moment is so special. My emotions are so high right now. I’m so grateful.”
Cal Lowry: Big Game Damper
The MVP votes have already been counted, and we’ll find out next month whether Lowry beats Aaron Judge at the ballot box. Postseason performance is not taken into account, instead, legacy is burnished or diminished.
And Rory is on track to reach the platform in October, climbing further up the ranks.
The Seattles won three games in the ALCS, and the Lowries homered in two of those games, the first of which was the game-tying home run by Blue Jays ace Kevin Guzman in Game 1.
Second?
“It felt like Cal’s ball was in the air for about an hour,” Wilson said of Lowry’s ball in the air in the bottom of the eighth inning, when the Mariners were leading 2-1 and would have been just six outs from a sweep in Seattle and would not have been able to overcome the challenge of winning the pennant.
When the game ended, the score was tied 2-2 and the chaotic bottom of the eighth inning was just beginning, with Lowry further proving his greatness on a bigger stage.
No, he’s not just a guy with a funny nickname who somehow managed to hit 60 home runs from the catcher position and as a switch hitter. He has added a total of four bombs in 10 playoff games and is more consistently impactful than anyone in Seattle’s lineup.
Even if it was just a numbing consistency with no flash.
“I was there patiently waiting for my pitch, trying to make good contact when the game came and understanding that I didn’t need a home run, I didn’t need to try to hit the ball 500 feet,” Lowry told reporters in Seattle, with his usual matter-of-fact tone. “When you do something good, you usually get a rush of adrenaline at that moment.”
John Schneider: A little problem.
The Toronto Blue Jays manager’s steely spirit and steady demeanor helped him earn and hold onto his post through four seasons of great playoff success and disappointing underachievement.
But in the end you always end up pressing a button. Life was easy when the Blue Jays won Games 3 and 4 with 29 hits, but the losses in Games 1 and 5 were due to a player named Brendon Little carrying the ball.
He’s a decent left-handed reliever, a little better than you, who moves depending on the situation, but he’s also not the type to blow the doors off. This guy had 30 holds and a 3.03 ERA. He also walked nearly six batters per nine innings.
About that…
Manager Schneider thought that forcing the big dumper to bat right-handed for the first time in the series might serve as kryptonite, so he asked Little to protect a 2-1 lead in the eighth inning when Lowry came to bat.
He flew 348 feet in one swing, tying the score.
Ah, but Little had to face two more batters. As befits his season-long accomplishments, he gave up walks on both occasions.
Little threw 15 pitches. Ten of them were balls, and one went into the front row of the left field seats.
This brought Seranthony Dominguez into the game, trying to clear up the chaos with two on and no outs, and Seattle was on the verge of exploding. He hit Randy Arozarena with a pitch to load the bases, but Suarez was there and there was no place to put him.
Sure, the players executed, but Schneider’s machinations set the case in motion.
“Okay, dude,” he said in the postgame press conference. “Then you have to stay calm and throw strikes as well. That’s tough. No one feels worse than Little right now, and no one feels worse than (Dominguez).”
“Or me.”
