Amid the ongoing wait for the 2020 Major League Baseball season to begin, SportsNet LA has taken to regularly airing classic Los Angeles Dodgers games from multiple decades. Their “Timeless Dodgers” programming recently honored Vin Scully, and beginning Friday morning are replays of memorable National League West-clinching games.
The Dodgers’ current streak of seven consecutive NL West titles has often been referenced over recent years, and while it is featured in SportsNet LA’s programming, it begins with the team’s improbable comeback and walk-off win against the San Francisco Giants in 2004.
Trailing 3-0 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, the Dodgers rallied for seven runs. It was punctuated by a walk-off grand slam from Steve Finley, who was acquired from the Arizona Diamondbacks at the trade deadline that season.
The comeback win was the Dodgers’ NL-leading 53rd of the season, setting a franchise record that was previously held by the 1953 Brooklyn team (52), and it put them in the postseason for the first time since making it as a Wild Card in 1996. The Dodgers won the NL West the year prior.
At 9:30 a.m., SportsNet LA will air the Dodgers’ NL West-clinching win over the Colorado Rockies from 2009. Though not quite as dramatic as five years prior, the Dodgers again needed a late-season victory to wrap up the division. A five-run seventh inning snapped a five-game losing streak.
Next on Friday’s programming schedule is the start of the current NL West reign, which of course begins with the splash heard ’round the world. After defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field, the Dodgers celebrated on the field, then clubhouse before making their way to the pool.
SportsNet LA continues its “Timeless Dodgers” broadcasts with wins over the Giants (2014 and 2015), and Rockies (2016). The late-night replay concludes with Charlie Culberson’s walk-off home run in what was Scully’s final game at Dodger Stadium.
SportsNet LA filling Friday’s schedule with thrilling victories comes on the heels of the network reaching a carriage agreement with AT&T and its subsidiaries, most notably DirecTV.
SportsNet LA schedule (all times PT)
6:00 a.m.: San Francisco Giants @ Los Angeles Dodgers, 2004
9:30 a.m.: Colorado Rockies @ Los Angeles Dodgers, 2009
12:30 p.m.: Los Angeles Dodgers @ Arizona Diamondbacks, 2013
3:30 p.m.: San Francisco Giants @ Los Angeles Dodgers, 2014
8:00 p.m.: Los Angeles Dodgers @ San Francisco Giants, 2015
11:00 p.m.: Colorado Rockies @ Los Angeles Dodgers, 2016
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