LOS ANGELES — The killer characteristic of a pitcher like Sean Manaea, circa October 2024, is the capability to deceive. As has been documented at size, Manaea modified his arm angle midseason, dropping down from 28 levels in April to fifteen levels by September. That transfer paid speedy dividends; Manaea dominated for the New York Mets down the stretch and excelled within the postseason. As a result of Manaea now throws from an arm angle so low to the bottom, his excessive fastballs are available at an especially flat vertical strategy angle. A flat VAA distorts the hitter’s notion, creating the phantasm of “rise.”
Squaring up a excessive fastball thrown from that angle with a flat swing requires unimaginable precision. If the bat is a number of millimeters excessive, the hitter will drive the ball into the bottom; a number of millimeters low, and also you’ve obtained a innocent popup.
Regardless of for Tommy Edman. Within the third inning of Recreation 6 of the Nationwide League Championship Sequence, Manaea whipped a four-seamer with a -3.78 diploma VAA to the tippy prime of the zone; Edman ripped it into the left area bleachers for a two-run house run, successfully knocking Manaea out of the sport. Edman racked up 4 RBI on Sunday, powering the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 10-5 victory and sending them to face the New York Yankees within the World Sequence.
The “familiarity impact” is well-known and has loomed over important moments on this postseason, most lately in Hunter Gaddis‘ third encounter with Juan Soto. For a pitcher like Manaea who depends on a misleading look, the familiarity impact should be much more devastating. It stands to cause that a number of encounters with the identical pitcher over the course of every week will disproportionately influence one who owes a lot of their success to an uncommon look.
“It’s only a totally different look, that the extra acquainted you get with it, the higher you’ve gotten an opportunity,” stated Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts previous to Recreation 6.
Roberts, not for the primary time on this sequence, anticipated the occasions to come back. Manaea was in hassle from the get-go; the tall lefty allowed six hits, two walks, and 5 runs throughout two innings, placing the Mets in a gap they couldn’t climb out of.
In the meantime, the Dodgers bullpen, deployed in lieu of a starter to care for all 9 innings, did simply sufficient. The Mets continuously threatened, placing 16 runners on base. However their massive breakthrough by no means got here, and resident sweeper wizard Blake Treinen shut the door, recording the final six outs to ship the Dodgers to the Fall Basic.
From the beginning, Recreation 6 mirrored Recreation 2, when the Mets began Manaea and the Dodgers countered with a bullpen sport. The Dodgers didn’t get pleasure from their preliminary encounter with Manaea; earlier than operating out of steam within the sixth, he held them scoreless for 5 dominant innings, putting out seven. Notably, he dominated Shohei Ohtani, flustering the titanic left-hander with a gradual weight-reduction plan of sinkers in on his fingers. Ohtani’s swing regarded unsure, tentative, like he couldn’t get a very good take a look at the place the ball could be coming from. In the meantime, the Dodgers’ bullpen effort blew up nearly instantly; Roberts opted to go to Landon Knack within the second inning, and Knack proceeded to surrender 5 runs and successfully put the sport out of attain.
No such experimental managing was on deck for Recreation 6. Roberts stored issues easy, opting to start out issues off with flamethrower Michael Kopech, acquired in a deadline take care of the White Sox. Kopech was obtainable for a comparatively low-cost value due to his command points. Whereas these improved in Los Angeles, they returned with a vengeance within the prime of the primary. Kopech walked Francisco Lindor on 4 pitches, none significantly near the zone. With Brandon Nimmo in an 0-1 depend, Kopech sailed a fastball to the backstop, permitting Lindor to advance to second. After Nimmo pushed Lindor to 3rd on a groundball to second base, Kopech practically clocked Mark Vientos within the head with one other wild miss on the heater. The group was eerily quiet, visibly nervous.
Kopech buckled down, jamming Vientos on a 3-1 fastball for a foul ball after which putting him out with a gutsy 3-2 slider, his first breaking ball of the sport. He obtained to 0-2 on Pete Alonso and in the end gained the at-bat, however the BABIP gods had been merciless: Alonso obtained tremendous jammed on a 100-mph fastball in on his fingers, producing a weird, floating infield blooper that the official scorer decided was a single; it had a 40.8-mph exit velocity and a 43 diploma launch angle. It landed simply in entrance of the shortstop Edman, who tried to barehand it and sling it throughout the diamond. The throw had Alonso beat, however first baseman Max Muncy couldn’t fairly corral it, and Lindor walked house for the primary run, giving the Mets an early edge.
The Dodgers struck again instantly. Within the extremely anticipated Manaea-Ohtani rematch in Recreation 6, Ohtani got here out on prime. Whether or not it was as a result of some reps on the Trajekt machine or just familiarity from their final confrontation, Ohtani regarded rather more snug this time round. He ripped two foul balls on monstrous swings; in a two-strike gap, he flexed his hit software, ready on a sinker and rolling it by means of the opening between the center infielders. Two batters later, Teoscar Hernández crushed a middle-middle sinker to heart area. Evidently, Hernández thought the ball was gone — he did a gradual trot off the bat, however it bounced off the fence 404 toes away. Hernández settled for a single; Ohtani moved from first to 3rd.
The baserunning mistake was quickly forgotten. On a 1-2 depend, Edman reached out and hooked a sweeper down the left area line. Nimmo, not shifting effectively in left area as a result of plantar fasciitis, struggled to dig it out of the nook. Hernández, certainly motivated to rectify his oopsie, hoofed it across the bases, giving the Dodgers a 2-1 lead. The moribund Dodgers crowd, tasting a World Sequence, was as loud because it had been on this championship sequence.
After Enrique Hernández labored an eight-pitch stroll, pitching coach Jeremy Hefner got here out for a fast chat. At 28 pitches and with solely two outs recorded, Manaea didn’t seem lengthy for the sport. Phil Maton began throwing within the Mets bullpen, able to take over in a do-or-die sport. However Alonso bailed Manaea and the Mets out, acrobatically snagging a foul pop with a nifty over-the-shoulder seize.
One inning was it for Kopech. Ben Casparius, the younger reliever summoned from Oklahoma Metropolis within the waning days of September, was introduced in to carry the lead within the second. It was a tense begin — Tyrone Taylor labored a full depend and pulled a fly ball on the eighth pitch, however it settled harmlessly in Teoscar Hernández’s glove. Casparius retired McNeil, however then walked Francisco Alvarez, bringing Lindor to the plate.
Right here was the primary clench second for Roberts: The younger and untested Casparius in opposition to the famous person in a high-leverage spot. Lindor casually lined a 1-0 fastball to proper area, citing Nimmo with two on and two out. Casparius landed a first-pitch curveball: strike one. One other curveball floated arm facet: ball one. On 1-1, Casparius challenged the left-hander, throwing his fastball by means of the center of the zone. The problem was a hit: Nimmo skied a popup, and the gang audibly exhaled, cheering even earlier than the ball plopped into Edman’s glove.
After escaping the jam within the first, Mets supervisor Carlos Mendoza appeared to momentarily regain his religion in Manaea. Maton sat down, and Manaea navigated round a Chris Taylor single to throw up a zero within the second.
Casparius, considerably surprisingly, stayed on the mound to tackle Vientos and Alonso within the prime of the third. He obtained Vientos to roll over to quick on an 0-1 curveball. He additionally stored Alonso on the bottom, however Alonso’s groundball had eyes, discovering a gap between Edman and Enrique Hernández and placing the lumbering first baseman on first base with one other flukey single. That was the tip of Casparius’s outing; Anthony Banda got here on to take care of the lefty Jesse Winker.
It was a impolite introduction. Banda, with the platoon benefit, missed badly together with his first two sliders, getting in a 2-0 gap whereas permitting the affected person Winker to eradicate the slider from his psychological guidelines of potential pitches. Three pitches later, Winker walked, establishing a showdown with Starling Marte with runners on first and second with one out.
Banda’s slider command got here and went. He threw a magnificence for a first-pitch swing-and-miss to Marte; Marte popped up an 0-2 slider to carry the Mets to 2 outs. However he plunked Tyrone Taylor on a 2-2 depend with a literal back-foot breaker, loading the bases for McNeil.
McNeil swung by means of the primary pitch, a excessive four-seam fastball on the prime of the zone. Banda went again up there once more on 0-1 and McNeil may solely foul it off. On 0-2, McNeil flailed at a slider off the surface nook, ending the risk.
Teoscar Hernández welcomed Manaea again to the mound within the backside of the third with an opposite-field frozen rope single, citing Edman, who has (maybe surprisingly) slugged over .500 in opposition to lefties in his profession. Edman met Manaea’s flat fastball with a good flatter swing; the ball backspun all the way in which into the left-center area bleachers, giving the Dodgers a 4-1 lead. A subsequent stroll of Muncy was all Mendoza may take; maybe two innings too late, the supervisor yanked his lefty, bringing in Maton for some cleanup work.
No such cleanup was in retailer. After his first pitch swept away from the catcher Alvarez and rolled to the backstop, Maton recorded two fast outs. However he couldn’t fairly pull off the escape: Will Smith punished a poorly positioned 89 mph sinker, blasting it into heart area and lending the Dodgers a snug 6-1 lead alongside a 93.1% win likelihood.
Banda held it down in opposition to the Mets’ heavy hitters within the fourth, permitting a leadoff single to Alvarez earlier than retiring Lindor and putting out Nimmo. Roberts supplied an affectionate hug; Banda strutted off and gave solution to Ryan Brasier, who had the platoon benefit in opposition to Vientos. That didn’t matter; Vientos continued his scorching postseason, drilling a Brasier fastball over the middle area wall simply out of the attain of Andy Pages, driving house Alvarez and bringing the Mets inside three.
Mendoza, reacting to the stakes, uncorked an unorthodox transfer, bringing in Edwin Díaz to tackle the Dodgers’ massive bats to start out off the fourth inning. The transfer paid off: Díaz labored round a Betts stroll and steal to retire Ohtani, Teoscar Hernández, and Edman. After Brasier put up a zero within the fifth, Díaz logged one other scoreless inning to maintain the sport inside putting distance.
It wasn’t the smoothest of paths to the vacation spot, however as Alvarez stepped into the field to start out the highest of the sixth inning, with the sport within the fingers of Evan Phillips and a three-run lead, Roberts will need to have been pleased with the state of affairs. However issues didn’t work out as precisely as deliberate. Phillips sandwiched two outs between an Alvarez single and a Vientos stroll, bringing the highly effective Alonso to the plate because the tying run. Phillips walked him on 4 pitches, refusing to problem him with something within the zone. The group grew stressed, anxious. Mark Prior strolled to the mound.
Up got here Winker. Phillips began him off with a ball earlier than lastly discovering the zone with a fastball painted on the nook. Emboldened, Phillips challenged Winker with one other heater, this time a foul ball again behind the backstop. Now on the entrance foot, he backdoored a sweeper; Winker was late, lifting a weak fly ball to Teoscar Hernández in left area to dodge one more jam.
The Dodgers threatened to place the sport away for good in opposition to Ryne Stanek within the backside of the sixth. After a leadoff stroll to Smith, Chris Taylor squared to bunt. Maybe on tilt because of the shifting fortunes of his crew, Alonso fielded and spun towards second to nab the lead runner. From my vantage, the play was by no means there; Smith slid in safely, placing runners on first and second with no outs and the mighty Ohtani coming to bat.
Nothing mighty occurred, however one thing productive did: Ohtani hit a single into heart, bringing Smith house to increase the Dodgers result in 4. Stanek was changed by Reed Garrett.
The Mets made a pair nice defensive performs to maintain the sport shut. First, Vientos smothered a Betts liner, slinging it to second base to file the primary out. Lindor backed that up with a candy catch of a Teoscar Hernández liner up the center. After Edman tapped weakly to McNeil at second, the lead was locked at 4. 9 outs remained.
Previous to the sport, Roberts intimated that Phillips and Treinen would possibly take this all the way in which house. Requested how keen he was to push a few of his pitchers for a number of innings, Roberts replied, “That’s one thing that we’re all going to have to attend and see how the sport performs out, and that may dictate that. However that’s one thing that definitely needs to be in my thoughts as effectively, for positive.”
However the rocky center interrupted these plans. Daniel Hudson entered to tackle the underside of the lineup within the seventh, and as soon as once more the Dodgers bullpen bumped into hassle. Two runners reached; Alvarez lifted a sac fly to the warning observe to make the rating 7-4. Instantly, Lindor was on the plate in a three-run sport, with the Mets threatening to tighten issues up. However Hudson obtained Lindor to whiff on a nasty slider, and any main harm was averted.
Kodai Senga, final seen exiting early in Recreation 1, emerged to pitch the underside of the seventh. He coasted by means of, taking good care of the underside of the order.
For the ultimate six outs, Roberts turned to Treinen; he struck out Nimmo, Vientos, and Alonso within the eighth.
The Dodgers tacked on some insurance coverage runs for good measure within the backside of the eighth. Chris Taylor obtained issues began with a leadoff single; Ohtani walked, and Betts drove a Senga cutter to the bottom of the left area wall to drive in Taylor. Teoscar Hernández drove house Ohtani on a sacrifice fly to proper area. As Tommy Edman got here to the plate, the gang chanted “MVP”; he reached on a fielder’s selection. Enrique Hernández tacked on the final run with a single to proper area, extending the Dodgers’ result in six.
Treinen stayed on for the ultimate three outs. He struck out Winker and induced a comebacker from Marte. Two outs. The followers pulled out their telephones, pressed file on the digicam app. Tyrone Taylor looped a single to heart. The group moaned. The telephones stayed out. McNeil got here to the plate; Treinen poured in strike one. McNeil pulled a liner into proper. Taylor scurried house. There was a mound convention; Treinen stayed within the sport. Alvarez got here up, and tapped the primary pitch to second base. The stadium shook, actually shook. Fireworks blasted and the lights went out. A dozen dudes pushed a podium onto the grime of the infield.
The Dodgers are going to the World Sequence.
