3 key storylines for Game 2 of the World Series
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You wanted some more drama in your MLB postseason? Well, if a pair of LCS that went seven games didn¡¯t do it for you, I hope you were satisfied by Game 1 of the World Series on Friday night. The first extra-inning game of the postseason. A stunning ninth-inning comeback. And then the first walk-off homer of the postseason ¡ from the exact guy you would have suspected it would come from.
Are they all going to be like this? One can only dream.
Here¡¯s a look at three key storylines for Saturday¡¯s Game 2.
D-backs at Rangers
Rangers lead, 1-0
Merrill Kelly vs. Jordan Montgomery
8:07 p.m. ET, TBS
Storyline No. 1: Should maybe the D-backs start giving Adolis Garc¨ªa the Barry Bonds treatment?
OK, maybe that¡¯s silly. But .. maybe it isn¡¯t? Garc¨ªa's opposite-field walk-off home run, which set a postseason record for RBIs, the sort of record that is super exciting and still was the eighth-or-ninth-most-exciting part of that at-bat, further established Garc¨ªa as the dominant force of this postseason, a scorchingly hot combination of Randy Arozarena, David Freese and Kirk Gibson. Remember, that homer was the fifth time Garcia got on base on Friday, a sign that he¡¯s locked in at a level that, frankly, the D-backs should maybe stop messing with. He¡¯s now hitting .357/.400/.804 with eight homers and 22 RBIs this October. Getting beaten by Garc¨ªa feels like malpractice: There¡¯s nothing you can throw him right now that he can¡¯t destroy. Proceed with extreme caution.
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Storyline No. 2: Is Ketel Marte about to make history?
Postseason ¡°streaks¡± are inherently going to be a little bit disjointed. It¡¯s hard to call anything a ¡°streak¡± when it started in 2017. That said: History is history, and if Marte can get a hit in Game 2, he will extend his postseason hitting streak to 18 games and set the all-time record for consecutive postseason games with a hit. Whatever your thoughts about that, if you¡¯re breaking a record previously held by Manny Ramirez, Hank Bauer and Derek Jeter, you¡¯re doing something right.
More to the larger point: Has there been any better exemplar of what the D-backs have done this postseason than Marte? The guy is a solid -- quite underrated, actually -- MLB player who has become his best self in the postseason, now at .360 lifetime in the playoffs and the very avatar of what the D-backs are capable of, even after as much of a bummer Game 1 turned out to be. Marte, in his own way, is as hot as Garc¨ªa is. (Plus, he just got everybody a taco!)
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Storyline No. 3: Can Merrill Kelly (and Paul Sewald) help the D-backs bounce back from that gut-punch of a loss?
If this postseason has taught us anything, it¡¯s that trying to figure out momentum from one series to another, or one game to another, or even one inning to another, is a fool¡¯s errand. The D-backs looked like they were toast two games (and even five games) into the NLCS; the Rangers looked like they were toast five games into the ALCS. And yet here they both are. So the D-backs shouldn¡¯t be too discouraged about letting that game get away from them. They are, after all, a team that won 84 regular-season games and are still playing in the World Series right now.
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When Corey Seager hit his game-tying homer in the ninth off Sewald, and especially when Garc¨ªa hit his in the 11th, the Rangers crowd made you feel like this was fated for them from the very beginning. If that statement sounds familiar, it¡¯s the sort of thing we were all saying after the Phillies took a 2-0 lead in the NLCS, and that didn¡¯t stop the D-backs one whit. It was a heartbreaking loss for the D-backs in Game 1, no question. But they¡¯ve already overcome worse this postseason. Heck, in Game 6 of the NLCS while facing elimination against the Phillies, it was Kelly who gave them five solid innings, and Sewald who closed it out.
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If they were the sort of team to be terminally cowed by a loss like that, they wouldn¡¯t have made it this far in the first place. The D-backs are the road team in this series; a win in Game 2 gives them the advantage right back. That was a rough loss. No question about that. But it¡¯s just one loss. It¡¯s on the D-backs to make sure that one loss does not become two.