On Oct. 27, 2018, Max Muncy sent the Los Angeles Dodgers home winners with a walk-off home run against the Boston Red Sox in the 18th inning of Game 3 of the 2018 World Series. Muncy’s home run capped off the longest game in World Series history, both by time (7 hours, 20 minutes) and number of innings played (18).
Thus, the marathon affair technically spanned over parts of two separate days as Game 3 began at Dodger Stadium on Oct. 26. Muncy’s walk-off home run was selected by the Los Angeles Sports Council’s Media Panel as one of the nominations for the greatest moment of 2018.
The walk-off homer was only the second in Dodgers history in the World Series, with the other of course being Kirk Gibson’s in Game 1 in 1988.
Well before Muncy sent Dodger Stadium into a frenzy, the Dodgers took an early lead on Joc Pederson’s solo home run in the second inning. Their 1-0 edge remained intact until Jackie Bradley Jr. tied the game with a home run of his own in the eighth inning.
A celebration 18 innings in the making. #WorldSeries pic.twitter.com/6uaOShLx8u
— MLB (@MLB) October 27, 2018
A leadoff walk and throwing error on an infield single gave the Red Sox a lead in the 13th inning and had the Dodgers three outs from staring at a 3-0 series deficit. However, the Red Sox endured a disastrous inning of their own, resulting in Yasiel Puig’s infield single tying the game.
Muncy nearly ended the game in the 15th by hitting a ball that was home run distance, only for it to just a few feet foul. Nathan Eovaldi proceeded to strike Muncy out. Three innings later Muncy got just enough of a fastball to clear the fence in left-center field.
“He had really good stuff all night long and he wasn’t missing a spot,” Muncy said of facing Eovaldi. “Next at-bat he tried to go backdoor cutter again, but he left this one a little over the plate, and thankfully for me he did that, because I was able to get my bat to it.
“It’s been a dream. This whole year has been a surreal experience that it’s hard to put into words,” he said. “But just getting a chance to play in the World Series has kind of capped it off.
“And then getting a chance to hit a walk-off home run, obviously there’s not many words I can use to describe that. The feeling was just pure joy and incredible excitement. That’s about all I can think of because it’s hard to describe how good a feeling it is.”