LOS ANGELES – After spending all season as one of the best teams in baseball, accumulating 106 wins and acquiring stars like a European soccer club, the Dodgers tussled with the late-starting Cardinals through nine innings waiting to show they could also be better in the moment.
Chris Taylor, an All-Star left out of the starting lineup, hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to tear apart a tense, 1-1 tie and end the Cardinals’ historic run.
Taylor’s bolt into the left-field seats sent the Dodgers to a 3-1 victory and a meeting with their rivals, the San Francisco Giants, in the playoffs for the first time. The Cardinals, still coasting from their 17-game winning streak and blitz upon October, took an early lead in the first inning and held on for a riveting, compelling game that was as much as test of bullpens as it was a clash of managerial philosophies.
