The San Diego Padres have done it again. They have handed the Los Angeles Dodgers, the free-spending, big-named, heavy favorites yet another October disappointment, condemning them to an exit in the NLDS following a come-from-behind 5-3 win on Saturday night in Game 4. The visiting Dodgers led 3-0 after the top of the seventh and appeared to be sending the series back to LA for a decisive Game 5 when the Padres offense exploded for five runs in the bottom half of the frame to overturn the score and send the Dodgers packing.
Jake Cronenworth continued his hot hitting by driving in the winning two runs in an inning of ‘small ball’ that made the difference. San Diego had finished 22 games behind LA in the regular season, but in the end that amounted to nothing in the playoffs as they proved they had what it took to take down the Dodgers. Elsewhere, the Philadelphia Phillies also pulled an upset in four games, knocking off the NL East (and defending World Series) champion Atlanta Braves. They hammered the Braves in the series, and they kept that up on Saturday by plating eight more runs in an 8-3 victory. Brandon Marsh hit a three-run homer to start the offensive onslaught in the bottom of the third before a rare inside-the-park home run from JT Realmuto signaled that it truly wasn’t going to be Atlanta’s year. Philly had finished 14 games off the pace of Atlanta in the NL East and are now the team with the lowest total of wins ever to make the NLCS, but it won’t matter to them one bit.
