Game Notes, 10/13/2024 – LCS Day 1

If the 2010 postseason wasn’t quite a pitching version of “anything you can do, I can do better,” that’s mainly because Roy Halladay set the bar too high to begin things.  In Game 1 of the Phillies’ NLDS tussle with the Reds, the right-hander was nearly perfect, allowing just one baserunner (via a walk) in throwing only the second no-hitter in postseason history.  The next day, the Giants’ Tim Lincecum almost matched Halladay’s line, allowing only two hits and a walk in a 14-strikeout, shutout masterpiece.  Then, on back-to-back days in the earlyish stages of the League Championship Series, Cliff Lee (13 K’s and two hits in eight scoreless innings) and Matt Cain (two hits in seven innings with no runs) had their own flirtations with excellence, if not perfection.  Those four dominant efforts make the 2010 postseason the only one ever to have a quartet of starts featuring no runs, no more than two hits, and at least seven innings.  It’s picky-and-choosy for the stat criteria, of course, but it’s also somewhat relevant in 2024, thanks most recently to Jack Flaherty.

Behind Jack Flaherty ‘s seven innings of two-hit ball, the Dodgers cruised to a 9-0 win over the Mets in Game 1 of the 2024 NLCS.

~Flaherty is the fourth Dodgers starting pitcher to contribute to a Game 1 shutout.  Don Sutton went the distance on a four-hitter in the 1974 NLCS.  The Dodgers had team shutouts in back-to-back NLDS’s in 2018 and 2019, thanks to Hyun Jin Ryu (7.0 IP, 4 H) and Walker Buehler (6.0 IP, 1H), respectively.  

~Flaherty joined four others during the Dodgers’ last decade of playoff ubiquity as the only hurlers in the franchise’s postseason history to finish a start with at least seven innings, no runs surrendered and no more than two hits allowed.  Clayton Kershaw makes the list twice, for his efforts in Game 2 of the 2016 NLCS and Game 2 of the 2018 NLDS.  Zack Greinke did this in Game 2 of the 2014 NLDS and Walker Buehler did it in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series.

~In LCS history, there have been 22 starting pitchers who have finished with no more than two hits and no runs allowed while working at least seven innings.  There is a quartet – with Flaherty the latest member – to have done this in a Game 1.  

1984 Rick Sutcliffe       Cubs          7.0 IP, 2 H, 8 K, 5 BB

2019 Aníbal Sánchez   Nationals   7.2 IP, 1 H, 5 K, 1 BB

2023 Zack Wheeler      Phillies      7.0 IP, 1 H, 8 K, 1 BB

2024 Jack Flaherty       Dodgers    7.0 IP, 2 H, 6 K, 2 BB

~Flaherty and Zack Wheeler (Game 1 of the 2024 NLDS) have produced the two starting outings this postseason with at least seven innings and no more than two hits with no runs.  The 2010 postseason had the most such efforts, with four.

In this Game 1, the Dodgers came up with the franchise’s 24th postseason shutout.  The 24 are the fourth most for any club, behind the Yankees’ 32, Giants’ 27 and Braves’ 26.

~Of the Dodgers’ 24 postseason shutouts, seven of them have come in the LCS – a figure surpassed by only the Braves’ eight.  Before this year, Los Angeles had produced them in 1974 (G1), 1978 (G2), 1988 (G7), 2013 (G3) and 2016 (G2, G3).

~Of the Dodgers’ 24 postseason shutouts, the margin of victory in this one is the largest ever, besting the eight-run difference they manufactured just days ago, in Game 4 of the NLDS against the Padres.

~The Dodgers’ margin of victory in this Game 1 win represents the second largest in any LCS Game 1 shutout.  The 1984 Cubs walloped the Padres 13-0.  

The Dodgers have now produced three straight team shutouts, following their wins in Games 4 and 5 of the NLDS.  

~Los Angeles is the third franchise to produce three straight team shutouts in a postseason, joining the 1905 Giants (Games 3-5 of the World Series) and 1966 Orioles (Games 2-4 of the World Series).

~The Dodgers have thrown 33.0 consecutive scoreless innings, matching the 1966 Orioles for the longest streak in a single postseason (this nugget via the Dodgers postgame press notes).

Mookie Betts produced the game’s only extra-base hit, a three-run double in the eighth inning.  For all teams, this effort marks the seventh time a club has scored at least nine runs while amassing no more than one extra-base hit.  

1905 Giants in Game 3 of WS               9-0 win with a double

1971 Orioles in Game 2 of the WS        11-3 win with 0 extra-base hits

1979 Orioles in Game 2 of the ALCS     9-8 win with a home run

1990 A’s in Game 1 of the ALCS            9-1 win with a double 

1999 Mets in Game 3 of the NLDS        9-2 win with a double

1999 Braves in Game 6 of the NLCS    10-9 win with a double

2024 Dodgers in Game 1 of the NLCS   9-0 win with a double

Freddie Freeman went 2-for-3 with a walk for the Dodgers.  The first baseman holds a .291/.394/.505 career slash line in 231 career postseason plate appearances.  For some aspirational context, postseason history claims 11 players with at least 100 plate appearances and a career .300/.400/.500 slash line.  Organizing them by the year of their final postseason appearance:

Babe Ruth, 1932

Lou Gehrig, 1938

Hank Greenberg, 1945

Gene Woodling, 1953

Lenny Dykstra, 1993

Paul Molitor, 1993

Will Clark, 2000

Lance Berkman, 2011

Carlos Beltrán, 2017

Albert Pujols, 2022

Randy Arozarena, 2023

After Jack Flaherty retired the first nine Mets in order, Francisco Lindor drew a walk.  With the base on balls, Lindor extended his streak of reaching safely to all eight games this postseason.  Lindor is one of eight Mets to have reached safely in each of the team’s first eight games of a postseason.  As the first, John Milner did this in 1973.  In 2000, Mike Piazza, Edgardo Alfonzo and Benny Agbayani all did it, and then Carlos Beltrán joined the group in 2006.  Daniel Murphy and Curtis Granderson both did it in 2015.

Francisco Lindor has drawn seven walks this postseason.  Pete Alonso – who also had one base on balls in the Game 1 loss – leads the club with eight.  Mets to have at least seven walks through the first eight games of a postseason:

8:   John Milner (1973), Mike Piazza (2000), Robin Ventura (2000),

      Carlos Beltrán (2006), Pete Alonso (2024)

7:  David Wright (2015), Francisco Lindor (2024)

The Mets’ 9-0 loss represents the worst – by run differential – for the franchise in its 100-game postseason history.  Before this defeat, the worst (a loss by six runs) had occurred seven times.

Thanks to Baseball Reference and its extraordinary research database, Stathead, for help in assembling this piece.