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NLCS Game 1 — October 16, 1938
Miami Marlins at San Francisco Giants
Giants win 11–10 — Lead series 1–0
🎙️ Mike Francesa (measured, authoritative — but impressed)
Alright. Let’s settle down and unpack this because this was an absolute circus.
Seventeen hits for Miami. Ten runs. They led 7–1. They led 9–6. They led 10–6 in the eighth inning.
And they lost.
That’s very hard to do in October.
The Giants got punched early. Kawazu knocks in a run in the first. Davila hits a 441-foot homer in the fifth. Tyler Adams goes deep in the sixth. Miami just kept scoring. Parker didn’t have it. Childress didn’t have it. Benton’s just trying to hold the line.
And then the sixth inning happens.
David Fuentes — three-run homer. Suddenly it’s 7–4. Steve Taylor triples. And Travis Campbell — two-run homer. Just like that, it’s 7–6 and Oracle Park is alive.
Campbell wasn’t done. He hits another two-run homer in the eighth. Eight total bases. Four RBIs. That’s why he’s been doing this for 12 years.
But here’s the play of the game: bottom of the ninth.
Down 10–8.
Snapp reaches on an error. Jeremy Dick singles. O’Brien — pinch hitting — doubles. Two runs score. Tie game.
And then Steve Taylor, who already had three hits, lines the walk-off single.
Ballgame.
You give up 11 runs on 10 hits, you usually win that game. Miami had their chances. But you cannot give extra outs to this lineup.
You just can’t.
🎙️ Chris “Mad Dog” Russo (joyful, almost giddy)
MIKE! THIS is why October baseball is the BEST THING IN SPORTS!
Seven to one! Seven to one in the sixth! I’m sittin’ there thinkin’, “Uh oh! Marlins are stealin’ Game One on the road!”
Davila’s hittin’ lasers! Holte’s everywhere! Grissett drivin’ in runs! They had SEVENTEEN hits!
And then the Giants just say, “Nah. Not today.”
Fuentes — BOOM! Three-run homer!
Taylor triples — the guy’s flyin’ around the bases!
Campbell hits one! Then he hits ANOTHER one! Two homers in an NLCS game!
You wanna talk big-time players? That’s a big-time player!
And the ninth inning?! Oh, forget it!
Snapp reaches — thank you very much, left fielder!
Dick singles!
O’Brien off the bench — ropes a double! Tie game!
And then the balk! A BALK in the ninth inning of an NLCS game! You can’t make it up!
And then Taylor — base hit to center! Ballgame! Crowd goin’ bananas! Forty-four thousand people losin’ their minds!
That’s championship DNA, Mike! That’s what teams that have won in ’35 and ’36 do!
🎙️ Francesa (leaning forward)
Here’s the bottom line.
Miami can hit. They proved it. Ten runs, seventeen hits — on the road — in Game One of a League Championship Series. That’s not small.
But San Francisco’s lineup is relentless.
Nine walks. Timely homers. Clutch at-bats with two outs. And when you combine power with patience? That’s dangerous.
Campbell was the Player of the Game — and deservedly so. But don’t overlook Taylor: three hits, three runs, walk-off single.
That’s leadership.
🎙️ Russo (beaming)
And now the Marlins gotta wake up tomorrow knowin’ they HAD this game!
You don’t wanna give the Giants oxygen. You just don’t! They breathe October air better than anybody!
Series 1–0. Oracle Park rockin’. Giants smell another pennant run.
And if Game One’s like this?
Buckle up.
This one’s gonna be wild.
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