In this epic, it had to reach Game 7
Corey Seager's sixth-inning sacrifice fly helped the Los Angeles Dodgers eke out a come-back 3-1 Game Six victory over the Houston Astros yesterday morning (Singapore time) to force a World Series decider.
Seager's deep fly-ball to right field allowed Chase Utley to scamper home for the go-ahead run, igniting the sold-out crowd of 54,128 as the Dodgers tied up the series at 3-3 to set up today's winners-take-all showdown.
Dodgers centre-fielder Chris Taylor continued his clutch hitting in the post-season, tying the game 1-1 earlier in the inning with a double down the right field line off of losing pitcher Justin Verlander.
Taylor has reached base safely 26 times this post-season, a Dodgers franchise record.
Dodgers slugger Joc Pederson hit a solo 373-foot blast in the bottom of the seventh to provide the National League champions with an insurance run and reliever Kenley Jansen came in during the eighth inning for a drama-free six-out save.
The loss was the first of the post-season for the hard-throwing Verlander.
Pederson said keeping emotions in check would be key to finishing off an exciting matchup, which has seen two extra-inning games and the most home runs hit in any World Series.
"You dream about it as a kid," Pederson said.
"It's going to be big for me and all of us need to just remember it's still a baseball game.
"You've got to slow it down. Still play the same way that we've been playing all year that got us to here and try to limit the distractions."
Game Seven will pit the Dodgers' Japanese right-hander Yu Darvish against Astros curve-ball specialist Lance McCullers Jr.
Darvish had a nightmare Game Three in Houston, where he could not get out of the second inning in the shortest start in his major league career.
McCullers Jr had a solid outing for the first five innings of the same game before losing accuracy in the sixth, but still came away with the win.
This has been an epic contest, with many critics suggesting it will go down in baseball history as one of the best, and there's one more game to go.
Today's encounter will be the first World Series Game Seven played at Dodger Stadium and will either see the hosts win a first title since 1988 or the American League champion Astros secure a first MLB crown in their 55-year history. - REUTERS
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now