What’s Happening in Baseball Today

The First Pitch: October 15, 2024

The Mets even up the NLCS and end the Dodgers’ postseason record-tying streak of 33 consecutive innings when the game’s very first batter—New York postseason hero-thus-far Francisco Lindor—smokes his second playoff homer off Dodgers ‘opener’ Ryan Brasier. But it’s Landon Knack, the second Los Angeles pitcher, who really gets rattled by the Mets, allowing five runs—the last four on Mark Vientos’ third-inning grand slam after an intentional walk to Lindor loads the bases—puts New York well ahead in a game they’ll win, 7-3. 

Sean Manaea gets the win for the Mets, starting strong before two walks followed by a Jose Iglesias error to begin the sixth knocks him out of the game. The Dodgers score twice in the inning to close the gap to three runs, but never get any closer after that. 

Vientos’ slam is the second hit by the Mets this October. The only MLB team with three slams in a postseason is the 2021 Boston Red Sox. 

The Yankees take ALCS Game One with a little help—actually, a lot of help—from their opponents, the Cleveland Guardians. After Juan Soto’s solo jolt to give New York a 1-0 lead in the third, Cleveland starter Alex Cobb walks the bases loaded, leading to his dismissal. His replacement, Joey Cantillo, is even worse; he uncorks two wild pitches that score two more runs for the Yankees, then picks up where he left off with another pair of walks and wild throws each in the fourth to net the Yankees an additional run. In the seventh, Giancarlo Stanton’s 439-foot blast will cap the scoring for New York in a 5-2 victory. 

Carlos Rodon is every bit as sharp as Cobb and Cantillo is sloppy, striking out nine while walking none over six strong innings to pick up the win. 

Cantillo’s four wild pitches does not set a playoff record; that still belongs to Rick Ankiel, who in a 2000 NLDS game for St. Louis chucked five wild pitches while walking six in 2.2 innings of work. The Cardinals would still win that game, 7-5 over the Braves.

It Was Whatever-Something Years Ago Today

1892: Cincinnati’s Bumpus Jones becomes the first and only pitcher to date to throw a no-hitter in his major league debut. He does it in a 7-1 victory over the Pirates, ruining the shutout with a combination of walks and his own throwing error. 

1946: The Cardinals wrap up a seven-game World Series triumph over the Boston Red Sox as Enos Slaughter ignites on the basepaths in the eighth inning, his “mad dash” from first to home on a Harry Walker single giving St. Louis a 4-3 lead to stay. Whether Boston infielder Johnny Pesky hesitated on his relay throw home, apparently startled that Slaughter was attempting to score, is still a source of great debate. 

1988: Roy Hobbs, er, Kirk Gibson, hobbles up to the plate and wrings out a two-run, limp-off homer off of top Oakland closer Dennis Eckersley to give the Dodgers an improbable 5-4 win over the highly-favored A’s in Game One of the World Series. It will be Gibson’s only at-bat of the series, but the A’s will be so emotionally devastated by his memorable blast that they’ll never recover and lose meekly in five games. 

2007: The Colorado Rockies win their first and only pennant to date, finishing off a four-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NLCS with a 6-4 home win. They’ll go on to be swept in the World Series by the Red Sox.

You Say It’s Your Birthday

Dodgers pitcher Gavin Stone is 26; Arizona pitcher Brandon Pfaadt is 26; Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty is 29; Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez is 32; Mets reliever Huascar Brazoban is 35; Hall-of-Fame ace Jim Palmer is 79. Born on this date is 20-year Cleveland pitcher Mel Harder (1909), 1930s AL outfielder Mule Haas (1903), 111-game winner Sam Gray (1897) and Deadball Era hurler Bob Harmon (1887).

Shameless Link of the Day

Can the two New York teams meet each other in the World Series? The last time it happened was in 2000, featuring Roger Clemens and Mike Piazza.

This Great Game in Print

Baseball Cards at the Edge of War is the new book from author Todd Marcum that focuses on baseball’s legendary 1941 season and the “three bubble gum titans” that took on one another in an attempt to rule the burgeoning baseball card market. Marcum provides an introductory orientation with content from our 1941 Yearly Reader page, which is why you’ll find the names of TGG creators Eric Gouldsberry and Ed Attanasio on the book’s cover as co-authors. The core of the book that follows is devoted to the players and their baseball cards who graced the 1941 season. Baseball Cards at the Edge of War is now available on Amazon.

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