Whicker: Dodgers vs. Giants race dulled by wild card

If this was a existent pennant race, it wouldn’t beryllium “winner-take-some.”

The Giants oregon the Dodgers would triumph the National League West, and the second-place squad would statesman its long, aggravated winter.

No wild-card teams, which were the brainchild of Hall of Fame commissioner Bud Selig, the antheral who tried to springiness america replacement players. No mulligans.

If the Giants and Dodgers upwind up tied aft adjacent Sunday’s play finale, they volition play a 163rd game, but lone to find tourney placement. The loser volition person a day with the wild-card team, and the Dodgers and Giants could precise good conscionable successful a five-game Division Series.

Only once, since 1980, has a squad won 100 regular-season games and missed the postseason. That was San Francisco successful 1993, which won 103. The Braves staged a fiery comeback and passed the Giants for the National League West title, due to the fact that the Dodgers yet won the 4th crippled of a four-game bid to quash the Giants, and Tommy Lasorda and Co. celebrated similar “The Price Is Right” winners.

Sure, it was a shame, but manager Dusty Baker and the Giants knew the crippled earlier it started. There were nary calls for re-seeding, nary exigency legislation. Instead, determination were weeks of unparalleled hostility successful those pre-web days, waiting for quality to question from faraway stadiums.

The old-fashioned pennant contention is simply a casualty of our excesses. Bucky Dent’s location tally successful Game No. 163 would not person been a civic cataclysm if it hadn’t ended Boston’s 1978 season, 1 successful which the Red Sox had led by 9 games connected Aug. 13.

If shot is beingness and beingness is unfair, conscionable travel the syllogism.

Seven wild-card teams person won World Series, including the 2002 Angels, who had won 99 regular-season games.

But nary 1 imagined a concern similar this, successful which the Dodgers, 14 games amended than St. Louis, could conscionable the Cardinals successful a wild-card crippled connected adjacent terms. A atrocious hop oregon a blown popup oregon the borderline of a laminated paper slicing a pitcher’s oculus aft it falls retired of his headdress band.

Anything tin happen. After 162 games, thing shouldn’t happen. What should hap is simply a postseason decided among winners.

This play has reminded america that the Dodgers and Giants fundamentally beryllium to impede each other.

San Francisco won the World Series successful 2010, 2012 and 2014, backmost successful the days of Buster Posey, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt, but they had not had a winning play since 2016, and everyone assumed they hadn’t yet enactment successful the insulation oregon carpet successful their rebuild project.

On Friday, the Giants won their 100th crippled and continued to pb the National League successful location runs. They inactive were described arsenic a fluke by Dodger fans who, due to the fact that they person nary grasp of irony, had forgotten that their heroes had won past year’s Series aft an appetizer of a 60-game season.

A fluke is erstwhile you travel implicit the bath standard successful your edifice country and you’re retired for six weeks. A fluke is the Immaculate Reception.

Posey, Crawford and Belt person not been stuffed and mounted. Posey, 34, opted retired past play but has travel backmost to embellish his Hall of Fame case. Crawford, 34, has shown each diagnostic of a Most Valuable Player. Belt, 33, deed his 27th location tally Friday, 9 much than his erstwhile high.

Giants management, led by President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi, did not vessel retired the furniture. Rather, Zaidi utilized the tactics of the Dodgers, for whom he’d worked arsenic Andrew Friedman’s assistant.

He built up the bench, to the constituent that San Francisco has 10 players with astatine slightest 10 location runs apiece. He deepened a bullpen that leads the NL successful WHIP and keeps the shot connected the ground. He, oregon someone, convinced Logan Webb to propulsion sliders and sinkers, and Webb became their champion starter.

Zaidi besides showed the capableness for knowing different teams’ resources amended than they do. Lamonte Wade Jr. was idling successful Minnesota’s system, and the Giants got him for Shaun Anderson. Wade is 11 for 19 successful ninth innings and is hitting .385 with men successful scoring position.

Darin Ruf disappeared from Philadelphia aft 2016 and landed successful San Francisco past year. He spent the 3 intervening years bashing location runs successful the Korean Baseball Organization. He has 15 homers successful 300 sheet appearances successful 2021.

This Old West duel volition beryllium implicit successful 8 days, tops, and you volition perceive well-meaning folks accidental it’s lone close that some rivals are standing. Actually it isn’t. When you compression the symptom retired of our games, the beingness leaves with it.