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NLCS: There’s no clinch like home

October 21, 2024 by Dodger Insider

Blake Treinen and Will Smith celebrate winning the NL championship on Sunday. (Katie Chin/Los Angeles Dodgers)

by Mark Langill

Avoiding the drama of a potential Game 7, the Dodgers wrapped up their 25th pennant since joining the National League on Sunday with a 10–5 victory over the New York Mets at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers will meet the New York Yankees in the World Series beginning on Friday in Los Angeles.

This was the Dodgers’ fifth pennant clinch at “home” since MLB began the League Championship Series in 1969 — three previous games at Dodger Stadium and one in their “home white” uniforms while playing at a neutral site in Arlington, Texas.

Here are the previous home Dodger pennant clinchers:

1974

The first pennant for a new generation of Dodger players. Only three players on the roster had previous postseason experience — outfielder Willie Crawford, pitchers Jim Brewer and Al Downing.

It was the first full season for a Dodger infield that would spend a record 8 1/2 seasons together — first baseman Steve Garvey, second baseman Davey Lopes, shortstop Bill Russell and third baseman Ron Cey.

Garvey, who made the All-Star team as a write-in candidate, won league MVP honors, slashing .312/.342/.469/.811 in 156 games with 21 home runs and 111 RBI. Right-hander Mike Marshall became the first reliever to win Cy Young Award honors with a 15–12 record and 2.42 ERA and 21 saves in 106 games and 208.1 innings.

The Dodgers, 0–6 in Pittsburgh during the regular season, won the first two games of the NLCS at Three Rivers Stadium by scores of 3–0 and 5–2. After the Pirates won Game 3 at Dodger Stadium, 7–0, the Dodgers won the pennant in a 12–1 rout.

Don Sutton scattered one run on three hits in eight innings. Garvey went 4-for-4 with two home runs. The Dodgers chased Pittsburgh starter Jerry Reuss in the third inning and had a 7–0 lead by the sixth inning. In his first postseason series, Sutton went 2–0 against Pittsburgh with a 0.53 ERA in 17 innings.

1978

Tommy Lasorda became the first National League manager since Gabby Street of the 1930–31 St. Louis Cardinals to win pennants in his first two seasons. Dispatching the Philadelphia Phillies with a 4–3 victory in Game 4, the Dodgers looked forward to a World Series rematch against the New York Yankees.

The game was headed for extra innings, tied 3–3 with two out and nobody on base. After reliever Tug McGraw walked Ron Cey, Dusty Baker hit a line drive to Garry Maddox, who won eight Gold Glove Awards during his career. The ball bounced off Maddux’s glove for an error. Bill Russell’s single to center punched LA’s World Series ticket.

1988

Right-hander Orel Hershiser ended the regular season with an MLB record streak of 59 scoreless innings. The right-hander still felt he needed to prove himself in the postseason against the Mets, who went 100–60 during the regular season and beat the Dodgers in 10 of 11 games during the regular season.

LA needed a classic comeback in Game 4 — fueled by Mike Scioscia’s game-tying two-run home run off Dwight Gooden in the ninth inning, at New York’s Shea Stadium, the Dodgers eventually returned to Los Angeles with a 3–2 series lead. But the Mets won Game 6, 5–1, to force the first Game 7 in Dodger Stadium postseason history.

The Dodgers blew the game open with six runs (four earned) off New York starter Ron Darling in the first two innings. Hershiser scattered five hits with five strikeouts and two walks in a 6–0 victory. Hershiser joined Johnny Podres (1955) and Sandy Koufax (1965) as the only Dodger pitchers to pitch a shutout in a postseason Game 7.

Hershiser went 1–0 with a 1.09 ERA and one save in 24 2/3 innings against New York to win NLCS MVP honors.

Orel Hershiser salutes the home crowd at Dodger Stadium after his 6–0 victory in Game 7 of the 1988 NLCS against the New York Mets. (Los Angeles Dodgers)

2020

The Dodgers went 43–17 during a regular season abbreviated by the pandemic. Although the Dodgers would eventually win the World Series, fans at Dodger Stadium were represented by cardboard cutouts as their team played its postseason games at Globe Life Field in Arlington, home of the Texas Rangers.

The Dodgers beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 2–0, in the Wild Card Series, and San Diego Padres, 3–0, in the Division Series.

After trailing 3–1 in the NLCS against the Atlanta Braves, the Dodgers roared back and posted three consecutive victories, including a 4–3 decision in Game 7. It was the first time the Dodgers had overcome a 3–1 series deficit.

In Game 7, the Dodgers used five pitchers, who allowed only three hits.

The key defensive play for the Dodgers occurred in the fourth inning. The Braves scored a run, but the rally was limited when Justin Turner turned a fielder’s choice into a double play.

Kiké Hernández homered as a pinch-hitter in the sixth off A.J. Minter and Cody Bellinger broke the tie in the seventh inning with a home run off reliever Chris Martin.

Kiké Hernández and manager Dave Roberts celebrate the Dodgers’ 4–3 victory in Game 7 of the 2020 NLCS at Globe Life Field. The Dodgers were wearing their “home white” uniforms. (Jon SooHoo/Los Angeles Dodgers)

Before Sunday’s Game 6 against the Mets, Hernández was asked about the potential of finally winning a pennant at home. He was the hero of the Dodgers’ 11–1 pennant clincher in 2017 with three home runs at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.

“In 2020, we were wearing white when we clinched the pennant,” Hernández said. “But we weren’t at home, we were in Texas. We just need to come in ready and do whatever it takes to win.”


NLCS: There’s no clinch like home was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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