Traded at the Deadline for pennies. NLCS MVP. What a three months for Eddie Rosario.
What Happened
Atlanta 4, Los Angeles 2
With the game knotted at one and two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Travis d’Arnaud walked. It was a small thing at the time—a two-out walk from Walker Buehler, pitching well at that point on three days of rest. It made a big, big difference. After Ehire Adrianza doubled, putting runners on second and third, Eddie Rosario, facing Buehler for the third time, took the righty deep, igniting the crowd in Atlanta as it gave the home team a three-run lead.
From there, it was all about the bullpens. The Dodgers navigated four scoreless innings, Blake Treinen notching a crucial strikeout of Austin Riley after Alex Vesia walked three straight with two outs in the sixth. Atlanta allowed just one run, as A.J. Minter threw two scoreless (4 K, 0 BB, 0 H), Tyler Matzek threw two scoreless (4 K, 0 BB, 0 H) and escaped a second-and-third jam he inherited with no outs and one already in, and Will Smith closed it out with a scoreless frame of his own (2 K, 0 BB, 0 H). The Dodgers mounted their rally in the seventh, but Matzek shut it down. Atlanta has won the pennant.
The Heroes
Win Probability Added leaders, from FanGraphs:
- Matzek (0.38)
- Rosario (0.28)
- A.J. Pollock (0.18)
- Cody Bellinger (0.15)
What It Means
The Astros enter the World Series as favorites, with FanGraphs and the market in agreement that the number’s somewhere around 58%. Atlanta will have Charlie Morton lined up to start the opener, having dodged a Game 7 that would have likely sidelined him through Games 1 and 2.
Other Notes
- Chris Taylor, Bellinger, and Pollock keyed the seventh-inning rally, with Taylor striking a leadoff double, Bellinger walking, and Pollock doubling Taylor home. Both Pollock and Bellinger were on base twice for the Dodgers.
- Freddie Freeman walked four times.
- Rosario had a single and a walk in addition to the home run.
- Austin Riley, Ozzie Albies, and d’Arnaud were all on base twice, with back-to-back doubles from Albies and Riley the source of the first Atlanta run.
- Between Adrianza and Jorge Soler, Atlanta pinch-hitters had two doubles on the evening.
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Game 1 on Tuesday. We’ll look to have some notes up tomorrow. Maybe look at the playoffs’ WPA leaders so far.
