Though their chances of advancing looked bleak prior to the eighth inning, the Washington Nationals overcame a late two-run deficit to defeat the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Wild Card Game — punching their ticket for another postseason showdown against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
When the two clubs meet on Thursday for Game 1 of the NL Division Series at Dodger Stadium, it’ll mark the start of just the third such matchup in MLB postseason history.
The first meeting dates back to the 1981 NL Championship Series when the Dodgers squared off against the Montreal Expos. Both teams enjoyed substantial success during the strike-shortened regular season and were coming off respective NL Division Series wins over the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies.
Games 1 and 2 of the 1981 NLCS took place at Dodger Stadium, where the Dodgers secured a victory in the opener behind solid pitching and timely hitting. Burt Hooton threw 7.1 scoreless innings and was backed by Bob Welch and Steve Howe.
Ron Cey’s RBI double and Bill Russell’s sacrifice bunt gave the Dodgers an early 2-0 lead in the first inning. Later on, Pedro Guerrero and Mike Scioscia combined for back-to-back home runs in the eighth to cement a 5-1 victory in the series opener.
The Expos would bounce back with a 3-0 win in Game 2, receiving offensive contributions from Warren Cromartie, Gary Carter and Tim Raines. With the NLCS all evened up at one win apiece, the venue shifted north of the border to Stade Olympique.
After again falling short in Game 3, the Dodgers found themselves on the brink of elimination. With their backs against the wall, L.A. pulled out a 7-1 win in Game 4 behind Dusty Baker’s tie-breaking RBI double in the third inning.
Game 5 saw Rick Monday deliver the iconic, go-ahead solo home run in the ninth inning. He hit it off Steve Rogers, who entered in relief and had been 3-0 in the postseason.
The Dodgers bested the Expos in five games and advanced to the 1981 World Series, where they’d go on to defeat the New York Yankees in six. L.A.’s next postseason matchup against the Expos/Nationals organization would come to fruition over three decades later in the 2016 NLDS.
The Nationals boasted home-field advantage over the Dodgers after finishing with the second-best record in the NL that season.
It was L.A., however, that pulled out a 4-3 win in Game 1. Clayton Kershaw allowed three runs in five innings of work, while the combination of Joe Blanton, Grant Dayton, Pedro Baez and Kenley Jansen held Washington in check with four scoreless frames.
Corey Seager additionally gave the Dodgers an early lead with a solo home run in the first inning off Max Scherzer, who was just two batters into his start.
The Nationals turned the tables in Game 2, as their bullpen would hold the Dodgers scoreless from the fifth inning and on. Jose Lobaton provided the dagger with a two-out, three-run home run against Rich Hill in the fourth.
The NLDS shifted to Dodger Stadium for Games 3 and 4, where the Dodgers and Nationals would each come away with a victory. L.A. avoided elimination in the latter when Chase Utley delivered a go-ahead single in the eighth inning to force a winner-take-all Game 5.
Runs were hard to come by in the elimination contest, as the Dodgers trailed, 1-0, heading into the seventh. Scherzer was in cruise control until Joc Pederson tied the score with a solo home run in the top half of the frame.
It was the first of four runs scored by L.A. in the inning, as they would later add some insurance courtesy of Carlos Ruiz’s RBI single and Justin Turner’s two-run triple.
Chris Heisey helped the Nationals chip away at the deficit with a pinch-hit, two-run home run in the eighth, but the duo of Kenley Jansen and Kershaw successfully recorded the final nine outs of the game, sending L.A. to their first NLCS since 1988.
