Revisiting the Game 7s of Dodgers past

 

The last time the Dodgers were in a Game 7 of the playoffs was in the 2017 World Series. It is the game Dodger fans wanted to run Yu Darvish out of town. It is the series that added to Clayton Kershaw’s embarrassing playoff legacy. And it is the series that exposed the lying cheating Astros as, well, liars and cheaters.

The Dodgers are in another Game 7 against the Atlanta Braves on Sunday. A trip to the World Series is on the line. It would be the Dodgers third trip in four years. It would give Dodger fans another chance to celebrate one of the greatest Dodger teams ever assembled. It would give Dodger nation a chance at redemption and revenge.

The Dodgers history in Game 7s isn’t great though. It’s not horrible. It’s really a 50-50 proposition historically for the Dodgers in Game 7s. Dodger fans old enough to remember can find comfort in Game 7 against the New York Mets in the 1988 National League Championship Series. It took a shutout from Orel Hershiser and a three-hit, two-RBI game from Steve Sax to finally dispose of those pesky Mets. The Dodgers won that game 6-0 to advance to the World Series against the Oakland A’s. Dodger fans everywhere know how that World Series ended, how Game 1 of that World Series ended and how Kirk Gibson became one of the most beloved athletes in L.A. sports history.

Fast forward to the 2017 World Series. The Dodgers played the Astros. The Dodgers had Cody Bellinger, the National League Rookie of the Year, and Kershaw, a three-time Cy Young award winner. The Astros had, as it turned out, a bunch of cheaters who figured out how to tip each other off about what pitches Kershaw and Darvish and Kenley Jansen were throwing. It’s been three years since that fateful Game 7 and the bitter taste in the mouths of Dodger fans hasn’t gone away. They try to spit it out but it lingers like a jalapeno that’s been sitting on a pile of nachos for three innings.

Darvish started that Game 7 against the Astros. The game was over before the late arriving fans to Dodger Stadium were able to find their seats. The Astros scored two runs in the first inning, three more in the second inning, and Darvish was out of the game trailing 5-0.

That was all the offense the Astros needed. They used five pitchers and cruised to a Game 7 lying, cheating win, 5-1.

As the Dodgers prepare for another Game 7, and another step in the direction of baseball greatness, let’s hope they channel the spirits of the 1988 Dodgers and can put the ghosts of 2017 to rest.

Let’s go Dodgers.