Since it’s premiere back on May 25, 1977, the date May 4th has been considered ‘Star Wars Day’ because of the popular quote from the movie “May the Force be with you.” Somewhere along the way and with a slight twist of words, the phrase “May the Fourth be with you” was born; hence that ‘Star Wars Day’ thing.

It is used – ad nauseam – every year – to the point where even baseball games, especially on the minor league level, actually celebrate Star Wars Days, with people dressed up as Darth Vader, Chewbacca, Imperial Storm Troopers, and even Princess Leia. Heck, even the Dodgers have a Kenley Jansen Bobblehead Night scheduled for June 15 that will feature the popular Dodger closer dressed as Lando Calrissian, a character from the second installment of the Star Wars trilogy ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ which was released in 1980.

Yesterday was May the Fourth – Star Wars Day – and it was indeed special.

Allow me to digress.

There isn’t a Dodger fan on the planet (no pun intended) who isn’t painfully aware of how bad the Dodgers played during the first month of the season, which actually began on March 29. In fact, during their first 29 games (through May 1), the Dodgers went a horrible 12-17 (.414), that included their ace Clayton Kershaw posting an un-Kershaw-like 1-4 record with two no-decisions in his first seven starts.

Horrible indeed.

However, on Wednesday, May 2, just two days after losing his All-Star shortstop Corey Seager to Tommy John surgery, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts made an incredibly bold proclamation, especially for a team that was already 9.0 games behind the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks and sitting in third place in the four-team National League West.

“Tonight is the night it turns,” Roberts told reporters.

It did.

Since then, the Dodgers have not lost; including two games against those same Diamondbacks at less-than-friendly Chase Field and one against the last place San Diego Padres on Friday night at Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey (Monterrey Baseball Stadium) in Monterrey, Mexico.

But wait, there’s more!

Not only did the Dodgers shutout the Padres 4-0 in front of 21,536 very excited fans, many of whom traveled from Los Angeles to watch their beloved team, they did so with the first combined no-hitter in the 135-year history of the franchise and only the 11th in MLB history.

By every indication, Friday night’s game between the Dodgers and Padres at Estadio de Béisbol in Monterrey, Mexico appeared as though it would be postponed due to heavy rain. Instead, as if by some Star Wars-like Force, the rain stopped and the Dodgers, led by young right-hander Walker Buehler, pitched a combined no-hitter; the first in franchise history. (Photo credit – Orlando Ramirez)

The four pitchers who have forever etched their names in Dodgers (and baseball) lore were 23-year-old right-hander Walker Buehler (in only his third major league start), 27-year-old right-hander Yimi Garcia (in only his second relief appearance since returning from Tommy John surgery on October 25, 2016), 28-year-old left-hander Tony Cingrani, and 30-year-old left-hander Adam Liberatore did so as follows:

But wait, there’s more!

Shortly after the game began and having followed young Walker Buehler closely since he was selected by the Dodgers in the first round of the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft out of Vanderbilt University, I posted this on Twitter:

Although my tweet was intended to mean history in the making over his coming career, it most certainly fit the bill for Friday night’s historic game as well.

Were Dave Roberts and yours truly clairvoyant or psychic with our bold proclamations and predictions?

Probably not.

…but the Force is definitely strong with these two, as Darth Vader would say.

Go Dodgers!