The Dodgers need some Game 6 magic

 

The Dodgers play the Atlanta Braves in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series today. A lot is riding on the game for the Dodgers. If they lose, they are out of the playoffs and end another disappointing season that started out with such promise and confidence.

If the Dodgers win, they force a Game 7. The winner of that game goes to the World Series. But the Dodgers have to win Game 6 before they can start thinking about the World Series.

The last time a Game 6 in the playoffs turned out well for the Dodgers was in 1959. It was the first time the Los Angeles Dodgers were in the World Series. Dodger Stadium wasn’t even built yet. The Dodgers were playing in the Los Angeles Coliseum. Expectations were not very high for the Dodgers in 1959 either. They moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958 and most thought it would take some time before the Dodgers were a force in the National League again.

The Dodgers were up 3-2 against the Chicago White Sox in the 1959 World Series. In a bit of a role reversal compared to the 2020 National League Championship Series, the Dodgers had the advantage, one win away from winning the series. The White Sox were fighting to stay alive, winning Ga
me 5 and trying to extend the World Series to seven games.

Johnny Podres started for the Dodgers against Early Wynn for the White Sox. But it was reliever Larry Sherry who was the hero in Game 6 of the World Series.

The Dodgers scored six runs in the fourth inning to take a commanding 8-0 lead in the game. Wally Moon hit a two-run home run in the fourth. It looked like Podres could cruise the rest of the game.

But Podres ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth inning. The White Sox scored three runs on his and Podres was pulled. Sherry came in the game in relief and pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings. The Dodgers won the game 9-3 and the World Series in six games.

The Dodgers need some of that 1959 Game 6 World Series magic today. Let’s go Dodgers.