When they fell 10 games below .500 to basically put their season on the brink in the middle of May, the Los Angeles Dodgers responded by winning 43 of their next 63 games, thrusting themselves into the race. When a bullpen meltdown prompted a 3-9 stretch around the middle of August, they came back to win 11 of 15. When back-to-back losses to the hapless Cincinnati Reds soured their playoff hopes, they took three of four from the St. Louis Cardinals and swept the Colorado Rockies. And when they entered the final weekend of September in desperation, they won four in a row, including a one-game tiebreaker, to claim their sixth consecutive division title.cheap nike nfl jerseys wholesale
They bounced back every time they were challenged throughout the season, and now, after a 7-2 loss to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Friday night, they’ll head to a Game 7, one game — on Saturday, starting at 8:09 p.m. ET from Miller Park — to decide whether they’ll advance to a second consecutive World Series.
“I mean, since August we’ve been playing for our lives,” Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen said. “Here we are again, with another shot at it. Listen, man, they’re a good team. We also know we’re good too.”
The Dodgers will start their electric, precocious rookie Walker Buehler, and the Brewers will counter with Jhoulys Chacin, who rode his slider to an impressive career revival. But neither team will have any qualms about turning to its reinforcements early.
Clayton Kershaw, who exerted 98 pitches in a masterful Game 5 performance Wednesday, can give the Dodgers an inning. Jansen, who has had the past two days off, can provide more than that. But so can Josh Hader, the devastating left-handed reliever who warmed up in the Brewers’ bullpen late in Friday’s Game 6 but never entered.cheap nfl jerseys china nike
Hader probably would have pitched if the Dodgers had threatened in the top of the eighth. But instead, they went down in order against Corbin Burnes. Now Hader will enter Game 7 with three days off and the ability to pitch up to three innings.
“To beat him,” Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy said, “you just get runs on the board before he comes in.”