There’s a pretty good chance that if you were to poll Dodger fans as to who they consider the hero of the just-concluded 15-game 2017 postseason, of which the Dodgers won 10 of the 15 games they played, the top vote getters would probably include Justin Turner for his dramatic three-run walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth off of Chicago Cubs right-hander John Lackey in game-2 of the National League Championship Series, or perhaps even Kiké Hernandez for his MLB record-tying three-home-run game against those same Cubs in game-5.

It might even be Dodgers second baseman Logan Forsythe, who went 9-for-11 (.297) with two doubles and six RBIs in the 14 postseason games in which he appeared.

And who can forget the absolutely stellar pitching performance by Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw in game-1 of the World Series in which he allowed only one run on three hits while striking out 11 and walking none in his seven innings of work; a game that took only two hours and 28 minutes to play.

But as we reflect back on the Dodgers historic 2017 regular season that saw them win an MLB-best 104 games, followed by a postseason that saw them win 10 of the 15 games they played only to come up one win short of their ultimate goal, there is one guy who not only helped the Dodgers win many of those 104 regular season games, but also played a key role during the postseason. He also did his part to help his team win game-7 of the World Series. Unfortunately, he was pretty much the only guy who did so in the eventual 5-1 loss to the now World Series Champion Houston Astros.

I am, of course, speaking about 27-year-old utility infielder / outfielder Chris Taylor, who had a knack for coming up with key hits throughout the regular season and especially during the postseason.

Need a brief refresher?

On the very first pitch of the bottom of the first inning of game-1 of the World Series, Taylor absolutely crushed an 88-mph fastball off of Astros left-hander Dallas Keuchel sending it a remarkable 447 feet into the Left Field Pavilion of Dodger Stadium to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead. The extremely quiet 6′-1″ / 195-pound Virginia Beach, Virginia native had also slugged two solo home runs during the NLCS against the Cubs. And even though that would be Taylor’s only home run of the seven-game Fall Classic, he also collected two doubles and drove in three runs during the seven game series.

Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor lit up an already electrified Dodger Stadium crowd when he crushed Dallas Keuchel’s very first pitch in game-1 of the 2017 World Series for a monster 447-foot solo home run to give the Dodgers an early 1-0 lead. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that Taylor’s leadoff double in the home half of the first inning of game-7 would be the only extra base hit that the Dodgers would have on the night; this after Dodgers ill-fated right-hander Yu Darvish had already staked (through the heart) the hot-hitting Astros to a 5-0 lead after only 1.2 innings pitched, a lead from which the Dodgers would never recover.

Although no one knew it at the time, Taylor’s first-inning double would be the only extra base hit the Dodgers would have in game-7 of the 2017 World Series. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Obviously there is no MVP award given to the losing team of the World Series. In fact, it won’t be long before non-Dodger fans forget who the Astros even played in the series. That being said, it’s hard to argue that Taylor and Dodgers left fielder Joc Pederson were not the key reasons why the 2017 Fall Classic went a full seven games.

Pederson ‘s solo home run in game-6 of the World Series was his team-leading third of the series. Unfortunately, he went 1-for-4 with a single in game-7. He did, however, score the one and only run in the Dodgers final game of the year … so there’s that. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But alas, it doesn’t matter if Chris Taylor hit .297 or .997 in the 2017 World Series, or if Joc Pederson hit three home runs or 10. The bottom line is that the Houston Astros deservedly won the World Championship and the Dodgers did not. And while the Dodgers can brag about being the 2017 National League Champions (although you can bet that they won’t), Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw summed it up best:

“There’s only one team that can succeed. There’s only one team that wins the last game, so that’s tough. I think once the dust settles and we go home, we can realize that we had a pretty amazing season and we finished in second place, which nobody cares about or remembers.”