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Dodgers Punch Ticket to Division Series After Wild One in Queens
By Charley Steiner
On a cloudy Saturday afternoon in Queens, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets wrote another chapter in October baseball. And for nearly four and a half hours — with rain, rallies, and plenty of nerves — the Dodgers outlasted the Mets, 10–5, to take the Wild Card Series two games to one.
This one, like so many in October, was not without its twists and turns. For five innings, the Dodgers’ bats were silent, and Citi Field belonged to the Mets. But then, as the gray skies gave way to a sense of urgency, Los Angeles struck. Three runs in the sixth, five in the seventh, and suddenly the Dodgers had turned a deficit into a lead.
The star of the show? Bobby Cimabue. The Dodgers’ second baseman was the heartbeat of the offense, driving in four runs, hitting a towering home run, and later adding a triple that broke the game wide open. For the series, Cimabue hit .462 and earned the well-deserved MVP honors. “It’s every guy in this room that made this happen,” he said afterwards, surrounded by champagne and smiles.
And yet, the Mets kept fighting. In the bottom of the ninth, with rain still dripping from the awnings after a 65-minute delay, New York scratched across a run, refusing to go quietly. But as the final out was recorded, the Dodgers — resilient, opportunistic, and deep — were moving on.
Now, it’s the Giants. Dodgers and Giants, baseball’s oldest rivalry, taking center stage in the Division Series. The Giants, rested after a bye, await the Dodgers, who arrive tested, weathered, and perhaps stronger for having survived the Wild Card cauldron.
From Brooklyn to Los Angeles, from the Polo Grounds to Chavez Ravine, Dodgers and Giants in October. It never gets old. And it begins anew next week.
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