Prior to the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants facing off for Game 5 of the National League Division Series, Vin Scully called it the “most important game in the history of their rivalry.”
The two teams have been rivals for 131 years and it includes relocating from New York to California in the same year. There have been many big games between the two, however, the 2021 NLDS marked the first time the Dodgers and Giants ever met in the postseason.
It certainly didn’t disappoint as the NLDS went the distance, with the Dodgers clawing out a dramatic Game 5 victory at Oracle Park.
In Scully’s estimation, what truly made the NLDS remarkable is how great each team had to be to get to that point, via Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times:
“The struggle was immense to get where they got last night,” Scully said Friday. “When you realize how many games they had to win just to stay even with each other, to me, that made it truly remarkable. It was not a come-from-behind season, as it was for, say, the New York Giants.”
“This,” Scully said, “was a constant ‘first me, then you.’ They kept building and building, and winning and winning. They never stopped. To win 100 games was always a big deal, and here were two teams — and in the same division — winning over 100.
“The Dodgers stayed right on the heels of the Giants. The Giants, all year, coming up with remarkable victories. And then they had to [play Game 5] — just the thought that 109 wins was not enough made that game, in my mind, the biggest game that they had ever played.”
While the Giants snapped the Dodgers’ NL West division title streak at eight with a 107-win season, L.A. certainly got the final laugh.
Both teams won 109 games to get to that point, which is the most between two clubs meeting in a postseason elimination game in MLB history.
Roberts, Turner agree with Scully
When relayed what Scully shared on social media, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts agreed with the retired broadcaster. “Now I feel pressure. Gosh darn it, Vin,” Roberts initially joked.
“I mean, yeah, to kind of take my manager’s cap off, it’s a great day, it’s a big game. For Vin to say that, no one knows this rivalry better than he does, so it just gives you the gravity of what it means.
“And it’s bigger than just one game and that’s what’s beautiful about this rivalry, sports in general. So we’re going to enjoy it, it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
The afternoon after the Dodgers advanced to the NL Championship Series, Justin Turner added, “I read Vin’s tweet and I think it was, per usual, as Vin always is, was right on the pulse of it. And I think what was special, even more special, a Game 5 elimination game with these two great rivalries, first time meeting, was it was the only game of the day on and I feel like that’s how it should have been, right?
“I don’t know what the ratings were. I’m sure someone posted them somewhere, but I would like to think that there was a lot of people in the country tuned in to watch that one. And, I mean, it wasn’t obviously an offensive display by any means, but I’m pretty sure everyone who was watching it was on the edge of their seats.”
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