Oct 19

NLCS Game Three & ALCS Game Four, 2023

Philadelphia at Arizona, 2:07 PM PDT, TBS. The Phillies are up two games to none in the series.

LHP Ranger Suárez for the Phillies and RHP Brandon Pfaadt for the Diamondbacks.

Houston at Texas, 5:03 PM PDT, TV: FS1. The Rangers are up two games to one in the series.

RHP José Urquidy goes for the Astros and LHP Andrew Heaney pitches for the Rangers.

Today in baseball history:

  • 1949 In one of their best trades in franchise history, the White Sox obtain future Hall of Famer Nellie Fox from the A’s in exchange for catcher Joe Tipton. The hard-nosed second baseman will lead the league in hits four times, winning the 1959 American League MVP during his 14-year tenure with the team.
  • 1969 Three days after capturing the world championship, the Mets appear on The Ed Sullivan Show and sing “You Gotta Have Heart,” an inspiring song from the Broadway play Damn Yankees. The show’s host, concerned that some of the ball players imbibed too many mai tais following rehearsals at a nearby Chinese restaurant, brings in a choir to back up the performers, out of sight from the audience.

  • 1981 Dodger outfielder Rick Monday dashes the first Canadian pennant hopes with a ninth-inning two-out dramatic home run to beat the Expos, 2-1, in the NLCS’s deciding game. The series marks the first and last time in franchise history Montreal makes it into the postseason until 2012, when the Washington Nationals, the team’s new name and home for the past seven seasons, finishes first in the National League East Division.
  • 1993 The Dodgers trade future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez to the Expos for second baseman Delino DeShields, who will hit .241 during his three seasons with Los Angeles. The 21-year-old Dominican right-hander will win 55 of 88 decisions in his four-year tenure with Montreal before being dealt to Boston before the 1998 campaign.
  • 2006 For a new generation, the term “the Catch” may conjure up memories of Endy Chavez’s NLCS Game 7 leaping catch when he grabs a ball with his outstretched glove destined to be a Scott Rolen two-run home run and starting an unbelievable double play. The Shea Stadium heroics are overshadowed in the ninth inning when Yadier Molina hits a two-run homer and Carlos Beltran, with the best HR ratio (11/81) in postseason history, looks at a third strike with the bases loaded with Mets, giving the Cardinals a 3-1 victory and the pennant.
Oct 19

NLCS Game Five, 2017

Dodgers at Cubs, 5:00 PM PT, TV: TBS

The Dodgers try to close out the series again today with LHP Clayton Kershaw (18-4, 2.31 ERA) pitching against the Cubs’ LHP Jose Quintana (11-11, 4.15 ERA). It’s a rematch of last Saturday’s Game One pitchers.

Kershaw went five innings in that game and got no decision. Quintana also went five innings and got no decision, giving up the tying runs and watching his bullpen and offense fail him.

Today in Dodgers’ history:

  • 1981 The first Canadian pennant hopes are dashed when Dodger Rick Monday’s ninth inning two-out dramatic home run beats the Expos, 2-1, in the deciding game of the NLCS. It will be the first and last time in franchise history the team makes it into the postseason until 2012, when the Washington Nationals, the team’s new name and home for the past seven seasons, finishes first in the National League East Division.

In other baseball history, in 2004 in an ALCS game which features two reversed calls by the umpires, the Red Sox become the first team in baseball history to force a Game 7 after trailing the series 0-3. Boston, which was three outs from being swept in Game 4, gets an outstanding pitching performance from Curt Schilling to beat the Yankees at Yankee Stadium 4-2. Schilling played with a dislocated ankle tendon, thus this game was called “the bloody sock” game. Also, in the NLCS Game 7 in 2006 Endy Chavez made a leaping catch at Shea’s left field fence, grabbing a ball seemingly destined to be a Scott Rolen two-run home run and starting an unbelievable double play. The heroics are overshadowed in the ninth inning as Yadier Molina hits a two-run homer and Carlos Beltran, who has the best HR ratio (11/81) in postseason history, looks at a third strike with the bases loaded with Mets, giving the Cardinals a 3-1 victory and the pennant.

Lineup when available.