Though current Los Angeles and Boston sports franchises have met in previous baseball and football final series/games, only in basketball, had/have the cities met in final round play until this World Series between Boston (Red Sox) and Los Angeles (Dodgers).
Eleven times, the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have met for the NBA crown, Boston winning eight, including the first seven. Los Angeles won three of the last four.
The Celtics also defeated the Minneapolis Lakers in the 1959 NBA final series.
As cited yesterday the Red Sox defeated the Dodgers franchise, then in Brooklyn in the 1916 World Series.
Meanwhile the Patriots defeated the once and now again Los Angeles Rams, but then located in St. Louis in the 2001 season Super Bowl, the first of five crowns for Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, respectively the Patriots’ quarterback and coach, still there and as are the current Rams, a viable Super Bowl threat.
Altogether Boston franchises are (11-3) vs current Los Angeles franchises, (8-3) vs just in Los Angeles.
Also tonight for the ninth time in 12 Boston/Los Angeles final series and the 11th in 13 “current franchises” final series, the Boston team opens the series at home.
The 1969 Celtics and 1985 Lakers are the only teams in this history, to open on the road and win the title.
The Red Sox and Dodgers are meeting for just the second time in World Series play, the previous clash in 1916.
Boston won that series in 5 games with #’s 1,2 and 5 played in Boston, but not at Fenway Park.
Yes, it was at the larger Braves Field, that Boston clinched a second straight title and fourth in 14 possibilities, behind Ernie Shore’s pitching in game 5.
Once, Shore replaced a pitcher, whom I believe walked the first batter, argued with the umpire and was ejected from the game.
Shore then retired all 27 batters he faced, hurling a perfect game.
The pitcher that was ejected was Babe Ruth.
Babe hurled 13 straight shutout innings, starting his famed streak of 29 scoreless innings in World Series play, after allowing a first inning run to Brooklyn in game 2 of the 1916 World Series.
He got the win, hurling all 14 innings, still tied with two other games as the longest in W.S. history.
Boston (9-3) in previous W.S. openers went up (2-0) with that 14 inning game 2 win.
The White Sox rode Geoff Blum’s 14th inning home run in game 3 at Houston to a (3-0) World Series lead en route to a 4 game sweep and their first title in 88 years and their only one now in 101 years.
Kansas City (Royals) got a game tying home run, B9 of game 1 2015 W.S. from Alex Gordon and won the other 14 inning W.S. tilt, en route to a 5 game triumph vs the New York Mets, in the 2015 World Series.
The Los Angeles Dodgers won the franchise’s 20th pennant with a subsequent World Series, half the number of the Yankees, the only team with more, (the Giants also have 20 W.S. appearances), winning #7NLCS (5-1) in Milwaukee, in just the second Saturday night decisive game in major league baseball annals. (The first was last season when the Houston Astros won at home on a Saturday night/Fox tilt vs the Yankees before beating the Dodgers in 7 games to claim the first title in their 56 season history).
Cody Bellinger and Yasiel Puig, the latter a 3 run, smacked home runs while Chris Taylor made the game’s big defensive play, making a diving catch in left field and rekindling memories and creating an historic redux that would make George Santayana (“those who do not learn from history……”) proud.
It is the fifth time the Dodgers have won consecutive pennants (’52,’53, ’55,’56 ’65,’66 ’77,’78 and 2017,2018) and now they are just roughly 6 to 5 underdogs vs the 108 wins Red Sox in the World Series, which begins in Boston Tuesday night.
Click below to view the then Brooklyn Dodgers’ Sandy Amoros’ catch in game 7 of the 1955 World Series in a W.S. film narrated by Lew Fonseca.
The catch took place on a rare ball hit to the opposite field by the great period and especially so in the clutch, Yogi Berra of the vaunted New York Yankees.
Amoros had just been inserted into left field, replacing Jim Gilliam, who moved to second base. The move by manager Walter Alston came after George Shuba had batted for Don Zimmer in the top of the inning (6th).
John Podres went the route in a (2-0) Brooklyn win, giving them their only title.
Last night L.A. used 7 pitchers and manager Dave Roberts put Enrique Hernandez in to bat bat for Joc Pederson T3, then B3, moved Chris Taylor from second to left (the opposite of Gilliam’s position change 63 years and 16 days earlier) where B5, he robbed likely N.L. MVP, Christian Yelich of a game tying extra base hit with a diving catch.
Tonight there will be a decisive seventh game in the NLCS with the Los Angeles Dodgers facing the Milwaukee Brewers, in Milwaukee.
Again Fox gets a seventh game in an LCS or World Series, this a fourth straight and I believe fourth in five possibilities for the Joe Buck/ John Smoltz broadcast team.
In 12 “head to head” years (2007-2018), Fox LCS have gone a total of 74 games for an average of 6.16 games (7, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 6, 5, 6, 6, 7, 7) while TBS has just 61 games for a 5.08 average. (4, 7, 5, 6, 6, 4, 6, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5).
Additionally the Fox/ Joe Buck series winner is (10-1) in the subsequent World Series vs the TBS winner as only Buck’s favorite team, the Cardinals in ’11 won the World Series after winning a TBS LCS.
This will be the Dodgers’ first road 7th game in an LCS. The Brewers will be at home for the first time in what will be just their second game 7.
On a late Saturday afternoon in 1972 an L.A. team, the Lakers clinched a “semi” en route to their first L.A. based crown at Milwaukee vs the Bucks.
Tonight will be just the second home game 7 in Milwaukee sports, the other resulted in a Yankees World Series win vs the Braves in 1958. The year before the Braves won game 7 and the title at Yankee Stadium vs the Yankees as the great Ed Mathews stepped on third base for a force play to end it.
The Boston Red Sox won their 14th American League Pennant (13th with a subsequent World Series, they are (8-4) in previous W.S.–winning their first 5, 3 with Babe Ruth on their team. They lost their next 4, all in the maximum 7 games, two to 108 win teams, a lofty total the ‘2018 Red Sox achieved, during an 86 year title drought. They have won their last 3 W.S.) last night winning (4-1) at Houston eliminating the defending champion Astros.
Jackie Bradley Jr. was named ALCS MVP while David Price, whose stellar relief effort stymied the defending World champion Red Sox in game 7 of the 2008 ALCS, gained his first post-season victory as a starting pitcher.
The game 5 winner in a Red Sox LCS is (7-1) in the series, losing only in 2008.
Meanwhile the Astros (1-5) in game 5 of an LCS have never won both game 5 and said LCS.
It was a good follow up, 103 win season and “div series” sweep for the Astros while the Red Sox need 4 W.S. wins vs the Dodgers or Brewers (likely the former which leads (3-2), to complete a truly fabulous, even historic season.
There was no World Series in 1904, the year the franchise then known as the Boston Americans won their second A.L. crown.
Before both the Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers won LCS games on Tuesday, they had played 9 times on the same day in LCS play, without both teams winning.
Now here are those numbers 9 and 11, as for two straight days both the Bo Sox and Dodgers won on the same day in LCS play and it is now likely, but far from certain, that the teams will meet in the World Series for the first time in 102 years.
Jackie Bradley Jr. has delivered big two out hits in all 3 Red Sox wins (games 2-4) vs Houston (Astros) and despite another “Mitch Williams type–walk people,” poor effort from Kimbrel, the Red Sox are on the precipice of their 4th World Series appearance in 15 seasons, in which they hope to emerge with a 4th title.
A tremendous play by Boston left fielder Andrew Benintendi on a “bid” by the tremendous Astros’ player Alex Bregman, saved Boston, but Kimbrel’s “arsonist by walking people not with matches act, “angers” another AB, this one me.
Meanwhile I do not call for an “overthrow” of Kimbrel and I did burn this morning’s coffee.
L.A. (do I hear Boston/L.A.– down the not too distant road perhaps Pats/Rams and past and maybe future Celtics/Lakers–Bruins/Kings anyone?) won game 4 when Cody Bellinger delivered the winning hit in the bottom of the 13th.
The last time the Dodgers won it all in ’88, they won a late, late #4 NLCS at New York, vs the Mets and a quick turn around day tilt in #5, before winning that LCS in #7, beating a very ineffective Ron Darling.
The Dodgers did the same in a quick turnaround #5 yesterday, with Clayton Kershaw winning the game.
The great Babe Ruth pitched great vs the Dodgers franchise, then in Brooklyn in the aforementioned 1916 World Series.
Few if any athletes were as great and celebrated as Joe DiMaggio.
He played with class, never without great effort. After all as he said, “someone might be watching me play for the first time.
Enjoy the great “Yankee Clipper” on a 1955 episode of the iconic television show, “What’s My Line.”
Click below to view Mr. DiMaggio on that 1955 episode of “What’s My Line.”
Left to right Dominic and Joe DiMaggio.
For the second straight night, the teams from the city/area with an LCS and NFL game being played virtually simultaneously, both won, in each case the football team “no covering” in a 3 point win.
In LCS play last night, the substantial Milwaukee Brewers went up 2 games to 1 with a game 3 victory for the first time ever in a post-season series, winning (4-0) in L.A. vs the Dodgers.
Meanwhile the Green Bay Packers, the Milwaukee area football team won (33-30) vs the S.F. 49ers, going off as 9 point favorites.
The night before, the 6 to 5 home underdog Boston Red Sox won #2 to get even vs the defending champion Astros while the New England Patriots also won “(3-0)” an even higher in the “basketball on turf NFL” (43-40), failing to cover the 3 plus points spread vs the now (5-1) Kansas City Chiefs.
For the first time since 2010, both LCS are tied at a game apiece after both L.A. (Dodgers on the road riding Justin Turner’s last scoring 2 run homer T8) and Boston (at home) won game 2. Houston (Astros) goes home vs Boston for games 3 through 5 while Milwaukee (Brewers) sojourns to L.A. (doubt on a “westbound 747” cue Albert Hammond) also for (3-5).
In a 20 year span (1998-2017), both LCS were tied at one game apiece just three times and this is just the twelfth time in 49 possibilities (’73,’77,’78, ’83, ’86,’91, ’96, ’97, ’03,’05,’10 and ’18) both LCS are deadlocked at one game apiece.
The Dodgers are (10-3) in game 2 of the NLCS, winning on the road in (’74, ’78, ’16 and ’18) and at home in (’77, ’83, ’85, ’88, ’09, and ’17), the last of which ended on a Justin Turner home run.
Four times in previous ALCS, Boston lost game 1 at home. In ’88 and ’90 vs Oakland A’s teams, that would lose as nice sized favorites in the subsequent World Series, the Red Sox were swept out in 4 games.
Twice they won game 2 and the series.
In 1986, dramatically vs the Angels only to lose in excruciating fashion to the New York Mets in the World Series and in ’13 when the great David Ortiz made Tigers’ manager Jim Leyland pay for not bringing in a left handed pitcher to face him. (see Joe Maddon doing so in #5, ’08 ALCS).
Boston went on to win the 2013 World Series.
Click below to view Albert Hammond perform “It Never Rains In Southern California.”
Albert Hammond – It Never Rains In Southern California (1973) HD 0815007
Jim Taylor, a true great on four of the five Vince Lombardi coached Green Bay Packers’ title teams and the only other player to win a rushing title during Jim Brown’s 9 year NFL career, died yesterday, at the age of 83.
His 1,474 yards gained rushing that 1962 season gave Taylor his lone rushing title and more important it was Taylor that led the Green Bay offense (along with 3 field goals by Jerry Kramer, the latter finally allowed in the NFL Hall of Fame this year, after he was disgracefully kept out so long) that frigid day at New York’s Yankee Stadium, when the Pack prevailed (16-7) defeating the New York Giants for the second straight season, in the NFL Title game.
Two more regarding Mr.Taylor, who teamed with greats Paul Hornung and Bart Starr in the Green Bay backfield.
It was the second game of the 1966 season, “G.B.” is at Cleveland, the team they beat in the ’65 Title game.
The Packers are facing a 4th and goal at the 9, a win or lose play and Taylor avoids 4 potential tacklers and scores the winning touchdown.
It is an all time great clutch play, in an eventual title season, by a relatively unsung all time player.
The other story involves the all-time runner, if not player, Jim Brown and Jim Taylor winning a made for television bowling competition resulting in Mr. Brown’s high praise for all that is/was Jim Taylor.
Now this determined man moves on, his work, drive and greatness a reminder of what could be done, as we must move forward.
Left to right, Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor
Andy B Sports 