Cody Snavely
NLCS Game 6, 10/20/2024: Dodgers 10, Mets 5
CHAVEZ RAVINE, CA — The 2024 National League Championship Series returns home to Dodger Stadium for Game Six, with the Los Angeles Dodgers needing just one more win to clinch their first World Series berth since the 2020 season.
After three games in Queens, New York, two of which saw the Dodgers victorious, the team entered game five with a commanding 3-1 series lead and would send righty Jack Flaherty to finish the killing blow on the Miracle Mets 2024 season.
However, the plan would backfire, as Flaherty would allow a season-high eight runs in just three innings, putting the game too far out of reach for even the Dodgers’ offense, which is averaging around seven runs per game this October.
With the New York Mets’ win in game five, this series would go on to another game as both teams traveled back West. The Mets would look to force a winner-take-all game seven, and the Dodgers would look to end it tonight.
The Dodgers will be deploying a bullpen game for the third time this postseason and the second game this series after burning their starters in New York.
For the Dodgers, it is the closest they’ve come to a World Series appearance since the 2020 season after losing in six games in the NLCS to the Atlanta Braves in 2021 and back-to-back NLDS exits in 2022 and 2023. However, entering today, just one game separates them from a Fall Classic with the New York Yankees, who punched their ticket to the World Series with yesterday’s win.
Kicking off the bullpen game for the Dodgers would be high-leverage arm Michael Kopech, who in this NLCS has only made one appearance where the flamethrowing righty pitched one inning while throwing twelve pitches in game three.
It is Kopech’s first start since September 20th, 2023. The righty was strictly a relief pitcher for the 2024 season, a role that the Dodgers kept him in once they acquired him from the Chicago White Sox.
Taking the mound for the Mets would be revolutionized left-handed starter Sean Manaea, who dominated the Dodgers in game two of this series, going five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on two hits while walking four and striking out seven.
With the lefty on the mound, the Dodgers would opt to sit not only left-handed hitting second baseman Gavin Lux (17 wRC+ versus LHP) but also would be sitting the injured Freddie Freeman, who was a rare 0-for-5 in game five in Queens.
It was not the best start of the game for the Dodgers bullpen. Kopech struggled with his command early, walking Mets leadoff hitter Francisco Lindor on four pitches and advancing to second on a wild pitch.
Lindor would wind up on third with two down and Mets slugger Pete Alonso up, who would chop an infield single to Chris Taylor at second base. Taylor would sail the throw wide, scoring Lindor. However, Kopech would limit the damage to just one.
But not so fast, said the Dodgers bats, who were left speechless against Sean Manaea in game two. Shohei Ohtani would set the tone with a leadoff single for the Dodgers, and after a long single by Teoscar Hernández, runners were at first and third with one away.
Tommy Edman would continue his NLCS tear clutching up with a two-strike double, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 lead and the first lead change of this NLCS.
For Edman, it was his ninth RBI in this series, and the trade of Miguel Vargas in July just seems like more of a steal.
Up next for the Dodgers in their bullpen game was rookie right-handed pitcher Ben Casparius, who will fill the void of “high-leverage innings eater” that was held by Alex Vesia.
The Dodgers, now pitching with a lead, would have traffic in the second inning after a walk and Lindor single, but Casparius would not allow anything else to happen.
After an infield single to Pete Alonso, Casparius’s night would be done as Dave Roberts would hand the keys to left-handed pitcher Anthony Banda.
Banda walked lefty Jesse Winker, putting runners at first and second with Starling Marte up to bat. Marte, who went 4-for-5 in game five of this NLCS, hit an infield popup; however, Banda hit Mets centerfielder Tyrone Taylor to load the bases.
The game would find Jeff McNeil, who was just activated off the 10-day injured list prior to the start of this NLCS. McNeil would be aggressive and strike out swinging, leaving the bases loaded, which would be a huge missed opportunity for the Mets offense: three innings down, six to go for the Dodgers bullpen.
The Dodgers, in a tight game, looked to add on in the bottom of the third inning, and they would after a two-run home run by none other than utilityman Tommy Edman. For Edman, it is his eleventh RBI this series, tying former shortstop Corey Seager (2020 NLCS) for the most in a single postseason series.
However, the Dodgers’ home run party was not over, as after a Max Muncy walk, Dodgers catcher Will Smith blasted a two-run home run of his own, pushing the Dodgers’ lead to four.
However, they don’t call them the Miracle Mets for nothing, as even down 6-1, you cannot count this team out. Ryan Brasier, who entered the game after Banda, would serve up a middle-middle slider that Mets third baseman Mark Vientos would deposit to left-center field, bringing the Mets within three runs.
After Brasier, the Dodgers turned to righty Evan Phillips, who hadn’t pitched since game four of this series. Phillips immediately allowed a leadoff single to Francisco Alvarez, who was 2-for-2 tonight until this point.
Phillips would then walk Vientos to bring up Pete Alonso as the tying run with two outs in the sixth inning, but he wouldn’t need to swing the bat after four straight balls to load the bases. Jesse Winker, who had games three and four off, looked to get the Mets closer but would fly out to left field to end the Mets’ threat.
The Dodgers would try to increase their lead after a leadoff walk by Will Smith and an infield bunt hit on Pete Alonso’s costly throwing mistake, trying to get the least runner at second.
With no outs and runners on first and second, Ohtani would hit a jammed single, scoring Smith, pushing the Dodgers lead to four, scoring their seventh run of the game. For Ohtani, the $700 million man is now 18-for-his-last-23 with RISP and has reached a base for the sixteenth time this series, a Dodgers postseason franchise record.
The Dodgers, running low on arms in their bullpen, finally got the bridge to righty Blake Treinen, who enters in the eighth inning, perhaps for a six-out save to send the Dodgers to the World Series; however, Walker Buehler lurks in the bullpen if things get hairy.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Dodgers would continue to add on feasting off Mets right-handed pitcher Kodai Senga, pushing the score to 10-4
However, in a year with over twenty players placed on the injured list and two key starters, Tyler Glasnow and Gavin Stone, missing all of October, the Dodgers still found a way to navigate through the National League and win the pennant.
The Dodgers return to the World Series for the first time since the 2020 season and will face the New York Yankees in the Fall Classic for the first time since the 1981 season—Game One Friday Night at Dodger Stadium.
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