SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Giants. Dodgers. Friday Night. The signifier is acceptable for baseball’s 2 hottest teams successful a best-of-five NL Division Series. Game 1 is successful the Bay Area.
San Francisco edged the defending World Series champions by a azygous crippled for archetypal spot successful the NL West, 107 victories to 106 — a full of 213 wins betwixt them.
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Mookie Betts is acceptable to propulsion retired each the wins his Dodgers and the rival Giants piled up connected the mode to a frenetic regular-season finish.
“I deliberation each the 106 games are retired the model now. It didn’t assistance america triumph the division, truthful it’s truly irrelevant,” Betts said aft the Dodgers earned a 3-1 chaotic paper triumph implicit the Cardinals to acceptable up this instant NLDS classic. “We’re successful the spot we are now. We’ve got to play the manus we’re dealt. … Obviously, usage what you learned successful 106 wins. You conscionable effort and use it to now. Other than that, those 106 are irrelevant.”
And nary uncertainty you tin instrumentality this rivalry up a notch oregon 2 earlier the archetypal transportation is adjacent thrown, due to the fact that the Dodgers and Giants are gathering connected the large October signifier for the archetypal time.
“This bid is going to beryllium a madhouse astatine some places,” Giants 3rd baseman Evan Longoria said Thursday.
The storied franchises spell way, mode backmost to their memorable New York days.
In 1951 and ’62 the clubs faced disconnected successful a best-of-three NL tiebreaker, with the Giants winning some times.
“These are 2 historical organizations successful the game,” Dodgers person Kenley Jansen said. “It’s amusive playing the rivalry, and time we’ll beryllium acceptable for it.”
They were astir arsenic adjacent arsenic you tin get gathering head-to-head this year: The Giants won the play bid 10-9, portion the Dodgers outscored San Francisco 80-78.
Los Angeles had won the erstwhile 8 part titles.
“For maine it benignant of felt similar this was however it was going to extremity up anyway,” Giants outfielder Mike Yastrzemski said. “I felt similar I didn’t adjacent person to ticker the (wild-card) crippled to fig retired who we were going to play.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts realizes this is the playoff matchup everybody longed to spot aft each these teams did to get here.
“There’s a batch of familiarity, which makes it fun, adjacent much challenging,” Roberts said. “It’s going to beryllium a fantastic series.”
PONDERING THE FORMAT
Longoria wishes these teams could play a spot deeper successful October and not look an aboriginal exit.
“I consciousness similar this whitethorn besides beryllium a bid oregon a infinitesimal wherever shot whitethorn person to deliberation astir restructuring the mode that the playoffs hap — 106 and 107 wins doesn’t consciousness similar a DS matchup,” Longoria said. “Especially due to the fact that the play is truthful long, for 2 teams to triumph that galore games and past 1 of them to person to spell location this early.”
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Told of his player’s take, manager Gabe Kapler stayed straight.
“We privation to beryllium bully with immoderate the rules are,” Kapler said.
WEBB’S PREP
Right-hander Logan Webb takes the shot successful Game 1 for the Giants successful his postseason debut, though Kapler considered his gem during Sunday’s division-clinching 11-4 triumph against the Padres the equivalent of a playoff crippled and atmosphere.
Webb went 10-0 since a May 5 nonaccomplishment astatine Colorado.
“Honestly, it’s brainsick to maine that this is the archetypal clip that we’ve played each different successful the playoffs,” helium said. “So to beryllium a part, adjacent a portion of that is beauteous chill for me.”
Los Angeles volition antagonistic successful Game 1 with right-hander Walker Buehler, a 16-game victor implicit 33 starts.
Buehler went 3-1 against San Francisco this twelvemonth but mislaid Sept. 5 successful the play bid finale aft helium had gone 7-0 with a 1.83 ERA implicit his archetypal 12 outings and 10 starts against the Giants.
PUJOLS’ CHANCE
Dodgers slugger Albert Pujols gets his accidental connected the postseason signifier erstwhile much astatine property 41. Before Los Angeles worked out, Pujols spent a fewer minutes against the dugout railing taking successful the scene.
This volition beryllium the slugger’s archetypal playoffs since the 2014 ALDS with the Angels, who designated him for duty successful May earlier helium landed with the different Los Angeles squad aboriginal that month.
“It ne'er gets old,” Pujols said. “This is what you play for, this is what you enactment hard for. Thank God for giving maine different accidental to unfastened the doorway with the Dodgers and to beryllium capable to beryllium successful the postseason erstwhile again.”
CONNECTIONS GALORE
Roberts played his last 2 large league seasons for the Giants from 2007-08. He and Kapler were teammates astatine Double-A Jacksonville successful 1998 and again connected the 2004 Red Sox.
“Saw him bargain 1 of the biggest bases successful the past of shot to immoderate degree, but decidedly successful the past of the Red Sox,” Kapler said.
Farhan Zaidi, Giants president of shot operations, was hired distant from the Dodgers aft the 2018 season, past helium brought successful ex-Dodgers workplace manager Kapler arsenic manager successful November 2019 pursuing his firing by the Phillies aft 2 losing seasons.
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“We’re trying to triumph a bid and they’re successful our way,” Roberts said.