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Cue up "I love L.A." and break out the bubbly — the Dodgers are headed back to the National League Championship Series after knocking off the rival San Francisco Giants 2-1 in Thursday night's win-or-go-home Game 5 of the NLDS at Oracle Park.
The Dodgers and Giants went back and forth in the NLDS, trading wins like heavyweight boxers trading haymakers. The Giants won Games 1 and 3 and had the Dodgers on the brink of elimination in Game 4, but L.A. managed to rally to win two in a row to end the Giants season.
A base hit by Cody Bellinger drove in the go-ahead (and winning) run.
The Dodgers now turn their attention to the NL East Champion Atlanta Braves, who defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in their division series. These two teams know each other well in the postseason — they met in last year's NLCS, where the Dodgers went down 3-1 in the series before surging back to win three in a row and win the series, becoming just the 14th team in MLB postseason history to win after being down 3-1.
Atlanta boasts a top-flight pitching staff and a robust lineup that boasts solid hitters top to bottom, including defending National League MVP Freddie Freeman.
Game 1 of the NLCS will be on Saturday in Atlanta.
Meantime, if you missed our real-time illustrations of the game, catch up with them now:
Hey Twitter, this is @AlborzK, your friendly visual journalist at LAist live-sketching game 5 of this historic #NLDS. The #Dodgers are coming for you San Fran! #repeatLA pic.twitter.com/HicDHgvMqk
— LAist (@LAist) October 15, 2021
