It’s official: Game 3 of the 2018 World Series will go down in history as the longest postseason game to date. Following Jackie Bradley, Jr.'s game-tying home run in the eighth, the Dodgers and Red Sox battled through a scoreless ninth inning, then took the game all the way to the 17th to surpass the six-hour, 23-minute mark that was set in an 18-inning Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS.
Both teams had an opportunity to get ahead in the 13th. Scott Alexander issued a leadoff walk to Brock Holt in the top of the inning, then allowed a stolen base as Austin Barnes went scrambling after a pitch in the dirt. Eduardo Nuñez tried to get out of Barnes’ way, but was flipped onto his back and appeared to be injured as he stood to resume his at-bat. He grabbed onto a 1-0 slider and returned it to second base, where Alexander tossed it wide of first base and inadvertently allowed Holt to score the go-ahead run.
That is, it would have been the go-ahead run had it not been for Nuñez’s antics in the bottom of the inning. With Max Muncy standing on first, the third baseman chased after a foul pop-up and fell backwards into the stands. Muncy advanced to second, then came home to score as Yasiel Puig chopped a base hit up the middle and second baseman Ian Kinsler hurled it well past the bag. After some discussion over the legitimacy of the run scored -- the Red Sox argued the ball was out of play after it ended up in the camera well -- the initial call was upheld and the game was tied once more, 2-2.
Despite Muncy’s jaw-dropping fly ball that landed just foul of a walk-off home run, Game 3 is still tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 17th. And now there’s so much more at stake than the outcome of the World Series:
Teams are discouraged from making major announcements during the World Series. If this game never ends, the Mets can't hire a new GM.
— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) October 27, 2018
Won’t someone think of the Mets?