Off to the NLCS!!!!

The Dodgers have beat the Nationals 4-3 in the deciding game 5 of the National League Division Series (NLDS). Dodger closer Kenley Jansen came in to start the 7th inning, and pitched 2 and a third innings (and made the most pitches he had ever thrown in a Major League game).

And with one out and men on first and second, Clayton Kershaw came into the game for his first relief appearance since 2009. I had noticed Kershaw tossing a ball a bit in the dugout in the middle of the game and figured he would be available for something like this.) Kershaw started off by getting last year's nemesis Daniel Murphy to pop up. He then got the third and final out to beat the Nationals and win the NLDS.

And so we're off to the NLCS!!!! (And we're going to be facing a very, very tough Cubs team. The Cubs are a juggernaut, and we are most certainly the underdogs.)

Today was the longest 9-inning postseason game in Major League Baseball history. This series saw a Major League record for number of pitching changes in a Division Series, and it also saw a Major League record number of batters hit in a postseason series. (It was a really tough series. The Nationals are a strong team.)

Regardless of how things turned out, we had to go with our best. (None of this Showalter don't-use-your-best-pitcher nonsense from their do-or-die game against the Blue Jays.)

Go Dodgers!!