by Mark Langill
After his unheralded trade from the Seattle Mariners in 2016, the low-key Chris Taylor quietly blended into the Dodger Stadium landscape.
Taylor, originally selected by Seattle in the fifth round of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft after a collegiate career at the University of Virginia, didn’t mind being surrounded by the more famous names in the Dodger lineup.
And the 6-foot-1, 196-pound Taylor, acquired in exchange for Minor League pitcher Zach Lee, embraced the role of utility player. He alternated between the infield and outfield without missing a beat.
Such performers become the glue to any contending club.
Taylor’s entire Dodger career always stretched into October. He appeared in eight consecutive postseasons with the Dodgers from 2017 to 2024, earning a pair of World Series championship rings.
Taylor also had a knack for clutch moments on the biggest stage. He was the co-MVP of the 2017 NL Championship Series with teammate Justin Turner when the Dodgers defeated the Chicago Cubs in five games to clinch their first World Series berth since 1988.
The next season, his running, sliding catch in the fifth inning of Game 7 of the 2018 NLCS in Milwaukee preserved a lead and helped vault the Dodgers to the World Series.
When the Dodgers won 106 regular-season games in 2021 and finished one game behind San Francisco in an epic race, Taylor bailed out Los Angeles in the winner-take-all Wild Card game against St. Louis. His walk-off, two-run home run beat the Cardinals and gave Los Angeles a chance for another crack at the Giants. Los Angeles won the Division Series, escaping with a 2–1 decision in Game 5 at San Francisco.
In the 2021 NLCS against Atlanta, Taylor batted .476 (10-for-21), including three home runs in the Dodgers’ 11–2 victory at home in Game 5.
Away from the field, Taylor and his wife Mary started the CT3 Foundation, which raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for children with life-altering conditions and those vulnerable in Los Angeles and his hometown of Virginia Beach.
Taylor-made Dodger leaves winning legacy was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.