[Sundance]

NL Wild Card

New York Mets at San Diego Padres
Jacob DeGrom (14-12) vs Blake Snell (13-10)

Both pitchers started off strong, but it was the Mets who struck first. After striking out the first two batters in the top of the 3rd, Snell walked 3B J.D. Davis. SS Francisco Lindor stepped up to the plate next and hit an RBI double.

We finally broke through ourselves in the bottom of the 5th. Ha-Seong Kim kicked off the inning with a lead off walk. He would advance to second on a fielder’s choice by Corey Dickerson. Austin Nola would follow up with an RBI single, advancing to second on the throw. Snell helped himself out with an RBI single of his own, also advancing to second on the throw. Back to back walks to Tatis Jr. and Alex Verdugo loaded up the bases, and Jose Abreu would knock in Snell with an RBI sac fly. The score would hold as we took the game 3-1

Final Score: Padres 3 - Mets 1
Player of the Game: SP Blake Snell - 6.1 IP, 1 R, 3 BB, 7 K

NL Division Series

Game 1
Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Diego Padres
Walker Buehler (22-5) vs James Paxton (18-7)

The downside of having such a young team is that sometimes the moment becomes too big for them. That seemed to be the case in Game 1 as we uncharacteristically committed three costly errors. A lead off double and an 0-2 single gave the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead to start the game. A lead off single to start the bottom of the 5th was followed by a 2-run homer by 1B Max Muncy to extend L.A.’s lead.

We would work at chipping away that lead and scored a run in each of the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings to tie the game up at 3. To extra innings we go!

Top of the 11th, 1 out. Ha-Seong Kim gets things started with a single. The next batter, Corey Dickerson strikes out. Austin Nola steps up to the plate and knocks a 2-out single. Runners on the corner. We go to the bench and call in Luis Campusano to pinch hit. The backup catcher wallops a 3-run homer to take the lead!
In the bottom of the 11th, Keone Kela took the mound for us. He got into trouble early, giving up a lead off walk, a first pitch single, and then a first pitch 3-run homer to RF Mookie Betts. Will Vest took over pitching during and soon found himself in trouble as well. With the bases loaded and 1 out, pinch hitter C Keibert Ruiz hit a flyball to left field. The Dodgers sent CF Cody Bellinger home on the tag up to try and win the game, but he was promptly thrown out at the plate by Cody Dickerson to end the inning.

The game remained tied until the 14th. With 2 outs and runners on the corners, Mookie Betts hit a routine ground ball to our pitcher, Mackenzie Gore. Remember how I mentioned that due to our youth, sometimes moments get too big for our players? Well, this was one of those moments. Gore’s throw to first sailed high and wide, and instead of ending the inning, his error allowed the Dodgers to walk off.

After the game we found out that we’ll be losing CL Drew Pomeranz (Sore Shoulder) and RP Emilio Pagan (Elbow Inflammation) for the rest of the playoffs. The baseball gods are just rubbing salt in our wounds.

Final Score: Padres 6 - Dodgers 7
Player of the Game: SP Walker Buehler - 6.2 IP, 1 R, 2 BB, 4 K

Game 2
Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Diego Padres
Clayton Kershaw (13-9) vs Chris Paddack (15-9)

It’s never easy to win when you give up the lead first. The Dodgers struck early with a pair of solo home runs in the bottom of the first (Bellinger and Betts). The Dodgers would add runs in the 3rd and 7th innings, and that’s about it. There’s honestly not a lot to say about this game. Kershaw was great and they held us to 3 hits. We gave up 7 hits, but unfortunately for us, 3 of them left the yard.

Final Score: Padres 0 - Dodgers 4
Player of the Game: SP Clayton Kershaw - 7.2 IP, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K

Game 3
Los Angeles Dodgers at San Diego Padres
Julio Urias (15-0) vs Blake Snell (13-10)

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before - We give up the lead and then aren’t able to mount a comeback. Oh, you’ve heard that every single game this postseason? Yea, well it’s hard to find ways to win when you’re constantly playing from behind. Snell started off strong, but a lead off walk in the top of the 4th would come back to haunt him. We went to the pen early, which would prove to be a mistake as Mychal Givens would give up another two runs in the 6th. And that’s all it took to take us down. Our offense was nonexistent these past two games, as we mustered just 8 hits over the pair of them.

We knew the road through L.A. was going to be a difficult one. They were the best team in the league and it definitely showed this series. Their pitching staff just completely shut us down and we couldn’t keep the ball inside the fences. It’s a shame to see one of the club's all-time great seasons end this way, but this was just a case of the better team winning.

Final Score: Padres 0 - Dodgers 3
Player of the Game: SP Julio Urias - 7.2 IP, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K

NL Championship Series
Los Angeles Dodgers 4 - Milwaukee Brewers 0

AL Championship Series
Chicago White Sox 4 - Minnesota Twins 0

World Series
Los Angeles Dodgers 4 - Chicago White Sox 0