They spent the most, they won the most and the Los Angeles Dodgers are now headed to the World Series for the first time in 29 years.
The Dodgers, who racked up an MLB-best 104 wins in the regular season, advanced to the Fall Classic with a decisive 11-1 win over the Chicago Cubs in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series on Thursday night at Wrigley Field.
After failing to punch through in each of the past four playoffs, Los Angeles has made the 2017 World Series in just eight games, having swept the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League Division Series before dismissing the defending-champion Cubs in a rematch of the 2016 NLCS.
No MLB team invested more money in its roster than the Dodgers and Thursday night’s game was yet another example of how Los Angeles is getting contributions from all over the diamond. Here are some highlights from the fifth and final contest of the NLCS.
Hernandez the hero
After not starting the previous two games and being dropped from the clean-up spot to the six-hole, Kike Hernandez had the game of his life. The left-fielder crushed three homers, tying an MLB record for the most round-trippers in a championship series game and setting a new mark with seven runs batted in. His first two bombs — both off Cubs starter Jose Quintana — came on the opening pitch of the at-bat. The second dinger was a third-inning grand slam that broke the game open, providing Los Angeles with a 7-0 lead.
Hernandez has played every position except pitcher and catcher this season.
Corey who?
When news broke that shortstop Corey Seager would be left off the Dodgers NLCS roster due to a bad back, concerned quickly spread around Southern California. Seager’s replacements, however, were magnificent. In Game 5, Charlie Culberson got the start at short and came through with three hits. He also made a magnificent play in the second inning of what was still a close game, stabbing a Willson Contreras drive and throwing out the Cubs catcher from his knees.
Chris Taylor has played both shortstop and centre field in the series and he set the tone for the entire night on Thursday for Los Angeles, leading of the game with a walk, then scoring all the way from first base to open the scoring on a double by Cody Bellinger.
Taylor was named co-MVP of the series along with Game 2 hero Justin Turner.
Lockdown bullpen
The final out didn’t just secure a spot in the World Series for the Dodgers, it established a new post-season record for consecutive scoreless innings by a bullpen at 23. After Clayton Kershaw gave up one run over six innings, Kenta Maeda, former Toronto Blue Jay Brandon Morrow and closer Kenley Jansen combined to suffocate the Cubs, offering just the latest example of the weapons L.A. has at its disposal.
As for Kershaw, his solid outing was smudged a little by the fact he gave up another home run, extending a perplexing storyline whereby the Dodger ace has had all kinds of trouble with the long ball in the playoffs. The round-tripper Kris Bryant hit in the fourth inning was the sixth home run Kershaw has surrendered this October. He entered Game 5 giving up a whopping 7.6 home runs per nine innings in his playoff career compared with 0.6 in the regular season.
Lower the W
The Cubs’ World Series drought is now at one year. The Chicago bats never did find their groove, scoring a total of just eight runs in the series. The Cubs were far too reliant on the long ball to produce offence against a stingy Dodgers staff. Still, advancing to three straight National League Championship Series is well worth a tip of the cap.
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