They held a marathon in Los Angeles last night.
Inside Dodger Stadium.
For those who missed it, last night’s Game 3 of the World Series was a 7 hour and 20 minute battle of attrition. In the end Walter Mitty – no Max Muncy – blasted a walk-off homer leading off the bottom of the 18th inning to give the Dodgers a 3-2 win in what was the longest game in World Series history.
Seven hours and twenty minutes.
My wife has had labor and deliver that was shorter. And perhaps less painful.
“I don’t really know what to say,” Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger said after the game. “I’m just glad Muncy hit the home run so we can go home and get some sleep.
Seven hours and twenty minutes. There have been entire World Series that were shorter.
It’s true.
In the 1939 series, the New York Yankees swept the Cincinnati Reds in four games that totaled 7 hours and 5 minutes.
Of the 50 players on the combined rosters, only four did not see action – two pitchers from each team. The Dodgers used pitcher Clayton Kershaw to pinch hit in the 17th inning. The Red Sox used catcher Christian Vasquez at first base, a position he had never played before.
That Muncy was the hero is a story all in itself. After hitting .195 over parts of two seasons, the former Baylor Bear was released by the Oakland A’s at the end of spring training in 2017. He was picked up by the Dodgers and spent all of ’17 in the minor leagues. After reworking his swing in the off-season, Muncy made the opening day roster this season only because Justin Turner was on the disabled list with a broken wrist. He ended up leading the Dodgers in home runs with 35 and now is a part of World Series lore for putting an end to last night’s historic marathon.
It was not the only relief he provided for his teammates.
Said Bellinger, “I had to [pee] since the seventh inning.”
Sums it up, doesn’t it? As former Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella once said, “You have to be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.”
Can’t wait to see what happens in Game 4.
*Find more fun facts like these in my new book, The Average Joe's Super Sports Almanac.