Fastball

Los Angeles Dodgers Making History as Offense Explodes and Pitching Heats Up

The Los Angeles Dodgers are out to a 1-0 lead in the NLCS thanks to another day of timely hitting and great pitching.

Brady Farkas

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty (0) throws a pitch against the New York Mets in the seventh inning during game one of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium on Oct 13.
Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Jack Flaherty (0) throws a pitch against the New York Mets in the seventh inning during game one of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB Playoffs at Dodger Stadium on Oct 13. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the New York Mets 9-0 on Sunday night to take a 1-0 series lead in the NationL League Championship Series.

The best-of-seven series will continue on Monday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.

In the Game 1 win, the Dodgers got contributions from everywhere. Jack Flaherty and two other relievers combined to throw a three-hit shutout - the third consecutive shutout in these playofs for LA. Offensively, the Dodgers had nine hits, including two from Shohei Ohtani. Mookie Betts also provided three RBI.

The combination of great pitching and big offense has also put the Dodgers in a historic category, according to Sarah Langs of MLB.com:

The Dodgers have scored 23 runs since allowing their last run

there have been just 2 other streaks of 20+ straight runs scored without allowing a run in a single postseason:

1996 Braves: 25
1981 Yankees: 21

h/t @EliasSports

The Dodgers, who earned the No. 1 seed in the National League playoffs, are seeking to get back to the World Series for the first time since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. That is also the year of their last win.

If the Dodgers are able to get to the World Series, it would be a rather special accomplishment considering that Tyler Glasnow, Tony Gonsolin, Emmett Sheehan, Gavin Stone, Dustin May, Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw have all been injured for a significant portion of the year - or all of it in the case of Gonsolin, May and Ohtani.

Game 2 will begin at 4:08 p.m. ET on Monday.. Sean Manaea will start for the Mets while the Dodgers haven't announced a starter as of this posting.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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