During the first three innings of Game-5 of the 2020 National League Championship Series between the Atlantia Braves and Los Angeles Dodgers at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on Friday night, it appeared that the Dodgers had given up all hope and had thrown in the towel on the game that would have ended their entire season.

The Dodgers looked flat and had yet to put a run on the board, while the Braves had already done so twice. The Braves clearly had the momentum going their way, and why wouldn’t they? They were 18 outs away from advancing to the 2020 World Series against either the Tampa Bay Rays, or the hated Houston Astros.

Enter Mookie Betts.

With one out in the bottom of the fourth inning and runners on second and third, Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson hit a fly ball to short right field that appeared as though it would drop in front of the hard-charging Dodgers right fielder.

It did not.

As he should do, 29-year old Braves designated hitter Marcell Ozuna returned to third base preparing to tag-up in the unlikely event that Betts was somehow able to make the catch.

Not only did the four-time Gold Glove outfielder race 64 feet to make a spectacular – if not impossible – catch mere inches off the turf, he then fired off one of his signature ‘Mookie Betts darts’ to Dodgers catcher Will Smith, hoping for a rare (except for Betts) 9-2 double play.

Unfortunately, Ozuna was able to get his hand in just under Smith’s tag and was ruled safe by home plate umpire Dan Iassogna for the Braves’ third run of the game.

…or so he thought.

It turns out that, upon video review, Ozuna had left third base before Betts’ impossible catch. The safe call was overturned and the inning-ending double play recorded.

Betts had made a very calculated decision during his remarkable catch – he did not dive for the ball. Instead, he “ran through” the ball, grabbed it, and threw it to home. His decision not to dive for the ball allowed him to have an advantage over the runner. As they say, ‘timing is everything.’

“I just knew I needed to stay on my feet in order to have a chance to throw him out at home,” Betts said during his postgame interview. “It was kind of instinctual, I guess. I can’t really explain what was going on in my head. I had a plan, and I did it.”

So impressive was Betts’ decision, catch, and throw, that within minutes, Colorado Rockies coach Jerry Weinstein posted this on Twitter:

The energy in the Dodgers dugout had changed dramatically after Betts’ catch and the successful challenge, and the momentum changed immediately.

That momentum increased even more in the top of the fourth inning when 26-year-old Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager launched a high fastball off of Braves left-hander Tyler Matzek 415 feet to straightaway center for a solo home run to cut the Dodgers deficit in half.

The Dodgers bats had awakened.

Seager would hit his second home run of the night with two outs in the seventh inning, when he turned on a first-pitch / 95-mph fastball right down the middle off of Braves right-hander Jacob Webb, launching it 413 feet to right-center to make it 7-2 for the Dodgers … but not before Dodgers catcher Will Smith hit a three-run home run the inning before off of (wait for it…) Braves left-handed pitcher Will Smith.

“He’s healthy, he’s been healthy, he’s had a tremendous year, the experience he’s had in the postseason, all of it is lining up right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Seager. “For me, there’s no better player.”

That’s some pretty high praise, wouldn’t you say?

“I didn’t know much before I came over,” Betts, the Dodgers’ now-permanent leadoff hitter, said of Seager. “I just knew he was a good shortstop who could swing it a little bit. And getting to see him day in and day out is definitely a blessing. I have really one job: to get on base and stay there until he hits me in, which doesn’t take too long.”

But without question, it was Mookie’s catch in right field that woke up the Dodgers’ bats and clearly shifted the momentum the Dodgers’ way. Without that incredible play, there is zero doubt the outcome of Friday’s game would have been much different.

Let’s play ball!

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