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NL Wild Card Recap – Wednesday, 10/6

The Wild Card games are done. On to the Division Series.

Sean O'Leary
Best MLB Moments 10/7/2021

The Wild Card Game saw the Dodgers play the Cardinals in the playoffs for the first time since 2014, where the Cardinals beat the Dodgers in four in the NLDS. The Cardinals were able to win the series with the help of Jon Jay and Matt Carpenter at the plate and Jon Lackey and Lance Lynn on the mound.

The Dodgers got their payback on Wednesday, winning a tight game courtesy of a Chris Taylor walk-off home run.

 

Dodgers 3, Cardinals 1

 

Well, how about we start with the thing that ended it all. Chris Taylor. 

There is a phrase going around to describe this play. I’m not going to say it because, well, it’s been overplayed in the short time since this homer. However, what a moment for Chris Taylor. It was his second at-bat of the game, and probably the most important in the entire Dodgers season thus far.

There was a feeling that Albert Pujols, who had a pinch-hit AB to lead the inning off would be the one to do it. However, Cody Bellinger singled and stole a bag to put a runner in scoring position for Los Angeles. Ultimately, it didn’t matter thanks to Chris Taylor.

After the win, there’s bound to be a celebration. The best ones of the night came from Max Scherzer.

Juan Soto, wearing a Trea Turner Nationals jersey, and Kevin Long, wearing a Max Scherzer Nationals jersey, were in attendance at the Wild Card game. In the front row. We’ll get to Soto later, but for now, we’ll focus on Scherzer. After the walk-off, Scherzer immediately went to Soto and Long.

He gave the two a double high five and was smiling the whole time. He then pointed to them and ran off. Clearly, Scherzer was pumped up. More evidence of that will be coming soon. But he knew they were there and wanted to go celebrate with two guys he was teammates with in July.

He won a World Series with them. He just wanted to celebrate one last time.

However, that wasn’t even the best of the right-hander’s celebration.

Despite not having his best stuff on Wednesday, Scherzer celebrated his teammates for picking him up. And, clearly, he was having a good time. Presumably, his shirt got too wet, from champagne, water, Gatorade, or all of them. Either way, for Scherzer to do this on national television shows how pumped he was for his team and fellow teammates.

Now, back to Soto. Instead of being one of, if not the best hitters on the planet, he was just a fan of the game. And he tweeted like one, too! He’s one of us.

Of course, he was there to support his old teammates, which he tweeted about.

Despite being beaten out for the National League batting title, Soto was still rooting for Turner.

Look at one of the best players in the game fanboying, even taking a low-quality picture of a player on deck. It’s glorious if you ask me. But it gets better.

Look at Soto’s low-key flexing while also discovering something new. This man was having so much fun at the game and tweeting through it, like the rest of us.

Oh, and apparently he’s a first base coach

And, to end the night, he had a message for us.

Back to the game. Justin Turner, being Justin Turner, decided to tie the game at one. And the Dodgers bullpen was pretty excited.

In a one-game playoff game, the emotions run high. And when there’s a ball hit off of the bat that you know is going very, very far, you celebrate. In this case, even before the ball lands! They were clearly pumped up. These kind of things are what makes playoff baseball so fun.

The other things that make playoff baseball so fun are the great plays you see. The Cardinals, despite losing, had a few plays in the field that got everyone pumped up. The best, of course, was Adam Wainwright defending his position.

The ability to make this play shows his great reflexes. Even for an… older man, such as Wainwright. He didn’t try to get out of the way, he stayed in there and made a clutch play. And they say pitchers aren’t athletes.

While Edmundo Sosa had some trouble in the field at the start of the game, he picked it up. Ultimately, he got pulled for Paul DeJong.

DeJong might have saved a run with this play. Smith hit an absolute rocket, and that might probably would have gone to the wall. In a tight game, that’s a play that you jump out of your seat for.

And finally, Paul Goldschmidt.

The way he got his arm out of the way for this play, so quickly, is impressive. Great awareness from the Cards’ first baseman.

Finally, to cap it off, it wouldn’t be a baseball game, or a playoff game, without a notable fan shot.

Honestly, I don’t know what’s going on here. Why this fan brought this in, why he wanted to wear it in the front row. I have questions.

The Wild Card games are over. It’s NLDS time. Tomorrow begins the American League, with White Sox vs. Astros and Red Sox vs. Rays. The fun will continue.

 

Photo by Brian Rothmueller / Icon Sportswire | Adapted by Justin Paradis (@JustParaDesigns on Twitter)

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