NLCS Game One, 2016

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Dodgers at Cubs, 5:00PM PT, TV: FS1

I’m pretty sure when RHP Kenta Maeda (16-11, 3.48 ERA) signed with the Dodgers last off-season he didn’t expect to be starting Game One of the NLCS. Nonetheless, that’s what he’s doing. He’ll face LHP Jon Lester (19-5, 2.44 ERA) of the Cubs. Yes, another lefty. Maeda started Game Three against the Nats in the NLDS and gave up four runs on five hits in three innings. Lester started Game One of the other NLDS against the Giants and threw eight shutout innings to pick up the win.

We all know the history here: the Dodgers haven’t won a World Series since 1988, but that pales in comparison to the Cubs, who haven’t made it to a Series since 1945 and haven’t won one since 1908. What more needs to be said?

In case you missed it, yesterday Orel Hershiser posted this:

I don’t know why Twitter isn’t posting those in normal format. Click the Pic link to see the Dodgers’ roster for the NLCS.

Someone post the lineup when it’s up; I’ll be dining out at game time (what was the committee thinking)?

203 thoughts on “NLCS Game One, 2016”

  2. This gem from Jon describing Dre’s HR:

    “It rose, it arced, it ordered drinks and a caprese sandwich from the food cart and settled in for a movie, and then it landed beyond the ivy.”

    And talk about an unconventional DR move working out. Historically bad-vs-lefties Dre coming thru. Maybe some luck with wind and such, but then isn’t luck involved with a lot of baseball?

  3. Hi all. Taking a break between acts. Neil Young made this loss a lot easier. But let’s get them tomorrow. I’ll catch you later.

  5. Many bright spots tonight in a very tough loss, including Ethier, Baez, Toles and Gonzalez.

  7. No major winning comeback on this Oct. 15 . . .
    So let’s make Oct. 16 a date to remember . . .
    Go, Dodgers!

  8. In a game in which we had so many hard hit outs, it is not surprising that it ended this way.

  9. Tho I missed most of the game, I think there are a lot of positives to be taken from this and I’m confident Dave will be able to play them up.
    The score definitely didn’t reflect how tough they played it.

    • I agree.
      It’s funny. Before the game began I was feeling some sympathy for the Cubs’ century-plus of frustration and that losing the series to them would not be the worst of all worlds. That feeling is GONE! Need Kershaw to be the catalyst in tying it up tomorrow.

        • With you on that. When you’ve waited 107 seasons, one more would be less than a one percent increase.

  14. See now if it was still tied we would all be pretty jazzed with Joc getting on there.

  17. Two consecutive games where the offense came up big but the bullpen couldn’t shut them down.

          • To be honest, not with Kenley in the 9th, but completely understandable.
            What I was trying to say is when you score, you need to shut them down in the immediate half-inning. They did not do that Thursday nor tonight.

    • But not in the way expected, I bet.
      When I saw Cubs were up 3-0, I feared the same, then was pleased to see while the offense wasn’t doing anything, they weren’t giving up anything. Then, as Dave said, they were definitely into the game.

  21. The hanging ball would probably be hit hard by anyone.
    Planning can be perfect but you still need execution.

  22. Well, we got a real good look at this game. Final score may not look good, but we were right there.

  34. AGon, again!
    Was occupied with an event and followed on Gameday to a certain extent, got to my car and heard his clutch hit . . . Let’s go, Dodgers!

    • Big swingers for sure, but big payoffs tonight in Wrigley if they can loft the ball.

  63. Lester has a shutout but the Dodgers are hitting the ball hard. Here we go. It starts now.

  68. Good 3rd inning by Maeda, but he still has given up 11 earned runs in his last 9 2/3 innings.

    • Dodger line drives hang long enough to be caught, Cubs pop ups find a place to land. Things will change. Okay, after Seager slams a ball into a glove.

  77. Well, I wasn’t expecting this one, but I would like it not to be a rout. See y’all on the other side.

  82. Two outs and Agon steps back toward second and then runs to third. Maybe there is a more descriptive word than run.

  85. I would be tempted not to stand up for that particular rendition, but to turn and run away.

  86. I feel quite relaxed about today’s game. If we win it, I wonder if Kershaw’s start would be pushed back to Tuesday.

  87. Here’s the lineup. I shall be watching on Gameday at the Oldchella Desert Concert in Indio. Sensory Overload time!

    Los Angeles Dodgers
    LF Howie Kendrick
    3B Justin Turner
    SS Corey Seager
    RF Yasiel Puig
    1B Adrian Gonzalez
    C Carlos Ruiz
    2B Enrique Hernandez
    CF Joc Pederson
    RHP Kenta Maeda

    • Sometimes sensory overload is good for the distraction.
      As I said about Thursday, I missed the frustrating flailing at the ball and came back to the game with the tension-filled bottom of the 7th thru the 9th. I was wreck with that, can only imagine what I would’ve been had I listened to the non-hitting innings.

  88. Anyone here with experience with Sling TV? I have run out of other options for seeing the game live.

  89. For the NLCS roster, the Dodgers added Wood and Hernandez and dropped Culberson and Barnes.

      • I’d like to think that their roster and lineup decisions are a bit more involved than that and based at the very least on how he generally has looked at the plate. Quique has more potential power and is capable of turning on one if he guesses right, notwithstanding Culberson’s heroics.

        • When I was a kid he was a favorite of mine. Classic 4-A
          player. In 10 seasons in the majors, only two of which he played in at
          least 100 games, he hit 76 homers and batted .249. In 13 minor league
          seasons he hit 313 homers and batted .312. Big weight problem. He was 6 feet 1, and supposedly weighed between 230 and 240, but he looked much bigger. The L.A. Times once ran this headline: “Not even Mrs.Bilko knows his weight.”

          • I recall Bilko because I followed the Seattle Rainiers – though I never attended a Rainiers’ game, we saw them on TV because we lived in Tacoma. I can’t recall anything specific about him, though. In 1960, the Tacoma Giants joined the league, and I went to many games, but I remained a Dodgers fan on the major league level. I did see future Dodger Manny Mota play in Tacoma, and had a program with his autograph, but it’s sadly lost.

          • Might Steve Bilko have made more money playing for the minor league Angels than the MLB Reds?

      • Fun article. Agree. My dad used to take me to see the Los Angeles Angels of the Pacific Coast League play there. We lived in Boyle Heights, so it was a long drive. Gilmore Stadium — home of the Hollywood Stars — was closer. Saw many games at both parks. “Home Run Derby” was filmed at Wrigley Field several decades ago. It is fun to watch. You won’t believe how small the monetary prizes were, but everything is relative. If you want to read a good book about baseball in California, go for “The Golden Game: The Story of California Baseball,” by Kevin Nelson. It was published in 2004.

  91. The Dodgers are an underdog in this series, and that’s OK – so they were throughout 1988, and this year has been a success no matter this week’s results.

    Still, the opposing team should embrace its inner Cubbiness, and continue an admirable tradition of futility.

    • Liked the first sentence.
      But if LA wasn’t playing them, I would really be pulling hard for the Cubs. If the Dodgers win, I hope it is truly an LA victory and not a Cubs loss, in the same way Vin prayed there were not goats in the Series (no Chicago reference intended).