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Unexpected figure may be the reason behind epic Dodgers-Blue Jays Game 3
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- Unexpected figure may be the reason behind epic Dodgers-Blue Jays Game 3
The post Unexpected figure may be the reason behind epic Dodgers-Blue Jays Game 3 appeared first on ClutchPoints .
Perhaps we should have known that Game 3 of the World Series would take us into early Tuesday morning.
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Yes, the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays played a back-and-forth game from the start, but astute MLB fans could have had an inkling before a pitch was thrown.
When Brad Paisley sang the national anthem — the fourth time he has fulfilled the honor in a World Series game at Dodger Stadium — it served as an omen. As MLB pointed out via X, each of the three times before , the game has gone into extra innings. Monday was no different, as Freddie Freeman mercifully sent fans home after 18 innings with a walk-off home run to give the Dodgers a 2-1 series lead.
The first example of this odd trend came in 2017 when the Houston Astros outlasted the Dodgers, 7-6, in 11 innings. Current Blue Jay George Springer was the hero for Houston that night, hitting a two-run home run in the top of the 11th to win the game. The Astros went on to win their first World Series, 4-3.
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Paisley also performed before another 18-inning World Series marathon in 2018, when the Dodgers beat the Boston Red Sox , 2-1. Max Muncy , who is still with the Dodgers, hit a walk-off home run off Nathan Eovaldi in the only game that Los Angeles won that series.
The third time came just last year when Paisley opened Game 1 of the World Series before Freeman hit a walk-off homer in the 10th inning to beat the New York Yankees . So, to take it a step further, Freeman has hit a walk-off home run after half of Paisley's Dodger Stadium World Series national anthem performances.
But it was the fourth game that provided more dramatics than any of the first three. After a back-and-forth game that had everything from puzzling blunders to big home runs and the next day's starting pitcher reaching base nine times, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called it "one of the greatest World Series games of all time," per MLB.com.
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Related: Longest World Series games ever after Dodgers vs. Blue Jays 18-inning clash
