There is no one, absolutely no one, who condones what Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado did in Game-4 of the National League Championship Series last Tuesday when he intentionally kicked the foot of stretched out Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Jesus Aguilar during a routine ground out, causing both dugouts and bullpens to erupt into a near brawl.

The potential for serious injury to Aguilar did not go unnoticed by Major League Baseball. In fact, it took MLB chief baseball officer Joe Torre less than two days to impose an undisclosed (but undoubtedly significant) fine on the 26-year-old Hialeah, Florida native.

But despite that incident now being water under the bridge for Machado and Aguilar, who are actually close friends, Brewers fans weren’t about to let the pro tem Dodgers shortstop off the hook that easily. In fact, they were verbally hostile towards him at every given opportunity during games six and seven of the NLCS at Miller Park in Milwaukee; so much so that there is no doubt whatsoever that it affected Machado, who went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts in Game-6 on Saturday.

But in the end, it was Machado who got the last laugh in Game-7, which the Dodgers won by a score of 5-1 to win their second consecutive National League Championship and advance to the World Series against the highly favored Boston Red Sox beginning on Tuesday at Fenway Park.

In an absolutely gutsy move which many longtime baseball people have never seen or even heard of before, Machado, a well established power hitter who finished the 2018 regular season with a combined 37 home runs (13 with the Dodgers), led off the top of the second inning with a perfect bunt – on a 3-2 count – for an infield single. We’re not just talking outside of the box thinking here, we’re talking sheer brilliance … or perhaps sheer insanity.

“I know it was a little [gutsy], but anything to win,” a champagne-soaked Machado said after the game. “It came out perfectly because Belly [Cody Bellinger] came up next and hit that big, big homer to put us up top.”

There isn’t a baseball fan on the planet who wasn’t surprised when Machado laid down a perfect bunt on a 3-2 count in the second inning of Game-7 of the NLCS on Saturday night. (Video capture courtesy of Fox Sports)

Machado admitted that the only reason he tried such a risky move was because Brewers right-hander Jhoulys Chacín had quick-pitched him. When asked who had taught him to even think of such a move, Machado declined to answer.

“I can’t say what I really want to say,” he told reporters.

During the Fox Sports postgame show, former Red Sox great and future Hall of Famer David Ortiz gave Machado credit where credit was due.

“He start[ed] the engine for the team right there with that bunt,” Big Papi said.

Although Brewers fans continued to let Machado know exactly what they thought of his bunt, their incessant boos fell quiet a few moments later when Bellinger launched a monster 425-foot home run deep into the right-center field seats to cash in Machado’s bunt and give the Dodgers a 2-1 lead; a lead that would prove insurmountable for Craig Counsell’s team.

“All postseason, I felt fairly good, I wasn’t seeing any results,” Bellinger said. “And luckily for me, I’ve got a lot of veterans on this team. They said, ‘Stick with the process and the results will come.’ And that’s exactly what I did, and it showed.”

Prior to his game and pennant-winning home run, Bellinger had gone a less-than-stellar 4-for-21 (,190) in the NLCS with only two RBI. That all changed with one swing of the bat off of Chacín on Saturday night with his two run shot.

“The ball sunk down and he put it out,” Chacín said after the game.

Bellinger’s home run to deep right-center field was a no-doubter and gave the Dodgers an early 2-1 lead, which the did not relinquish in their eventual 5-1 NLCS Game-7 win.
(Video capture courtesy of Fox Sports).

For his efforts, Bellinger was named the 2018 NLCS MVP, this in spite of finishing the seven game series with a .200 batting average (5-for-25). And even though Dodgers right fielder Yasiel sealed the deal with a huge 440-foot three-run home run in the top of the sixth inning to give the Dodgers a comfortable 5-1 lead and final score, it was Belly’s blast that proved to be the game-winner.

It would be criminal not to mention an absolutely incredible – if not impossible – over-the-shoulder catch made by Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor off the bat of soon-to-be NL MVP Christian Yelich for the third out in the bottom of the fifth inning with the (then) tying run on second base. Somehow Taylor managed to reach around awkwardly while on a dead run to rob Yelich of what easily would have been an RBI double. It was a catch that we will undoubtedly be seeing on highlight reels for many years to come.

How Taylor managed to make this run-saving catch is anyone’s guess.
(Video capture courtesy of Fox Sports)

With their NLCS-clinching Game-7 win, the Dodgers will be heading to Boston on Tuesday for Game-1 of the 2018 World Series. And even though Boston finished the season with an MLB-best 108-54 record, they will be facing a very pumped up Dodgers team; a team that has a knack for coming up big when their backs are against the wall.

The 2018 National League Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
(Photo credit – Jon SooHoo – Click on image to enlarge)

Play Ball!