If the Dodgers have their way Thursday night, they will tie the Giants … in head-to-head wins for the season, that is.
San Francisco took 10 of 19 games in the regular season and the California rivals are knotted at two games each in the National League Divisional Series. So the Giants lead the 2021 matchup, 12 games to 11.
By another measure, the Dodgers could take the lead in Game 5. The Giants also finished one game ahead of Los Angeles in the NL West standings, with 107 wins, but the Dodgers’ 106 regular-season wins plus their one wild-card game evened the win total heading into the NLDS. The winner Thursday night takes the lead, with at least one more series to pad their stats.
Of course, the win totals don’t actually matter. Advancing to that next series, the National League Championship Series against the Atlanta Braves matters.
With those stakes set, let’s take a look back, beginning in the spring:
Since-suspended (intimate partner violence) Dodgers starter Trevor Bauer stifled the Giants with an 11-strikeout performance over 126 pitches in a 2-1 Dodgers win at Oracle Park. A Chris Taylor home run was Alex Wood’s only mistake, but it was costly.
Scott Kazmir made his first start since 2016 for the Giants, but took the loss after giving up just two hits (including a Max Muncy home run) in four innings. Walker Buehler pulled the Dodgers even in the standings with the Giants with a 6-3 win.
The Dodgers finished the three-game sweep with a strong performance from Julio Urías in an 11-5 win. Anthony DeSclafani gave up 10 runs in just 2 2/3 innings and the Giants completed a drop from first to third place in the NL West.
Wood lost his second game of the season to the Dodgers as Los Angeles maintained its apparent dominance over the Giants with a 4-3 win that featured home runs by Evan Longoria and Donovan Solano of the Giants and Justin Turner, DJ Peters and Max Muncy of the Dodgers.
The Giants finally beat the Dodgers in 2021, and it took a gem of a play to do it. Mike Tauchman made his biggest contribution to San Francisco, leaping to rob Albert Pujols of a game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth — just one batter after Austin Barnes had tied the game with a three-run shot. LaMonte Wade hit the game-winning single in the 10th and the Giants added two more to win 8-5.
Tauchman was later designated for assignment but Giants fans have not forgotten his catch.
Air Tauchman 29. pic.twitter.com/evQStqh4aM
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) May 29, 2021
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A day after tying the Dodgers for second in the NL West, the Giants took sole possession of the spot behind San Diego with an 11-6 win at Dodger Stadium. Mauricio Dubón had three RBIs and five other Giants had at least one.
Kevin Gausman delivered six shutout innings and beat Clayton Kershaw in the series finale, even as he tweaked a hip injury at the end of a stellar May (5-0, 0.72 ERA) Dubón was involved again, hitting a two-run first-inning home run, and Austin Slater tacked on a homer later.
Tauchman played a pivotal role again, but in a negative way this time as he tried to stretch a ninth-inning single into a double and was called out, upheld by a close replay review. The Dodgers won 3-2 as all five runs came on solo home runs.
Buehler outdueled Gausman in a 3-1 Dodgers win, though the Giants finished the month of June in first place. A two-run Chris Taylor double in the first inning was enough, but Max Muncy added a solo home run.
The first matchup after the All-Star break was a 7-2 win for the Giants in Los Angeles. Five relievers covered the final six innings for the Giants, who used a four-run seventh inning to secure the win.
The Giants bullpen melted down late in an 8-6 Dodgers win as John Brebbia and Tyler Rogers each gave up home runs. Rogers walked the first two batters in the ninth, then Will Smith launched a three-run walk-off home run.
The next night was Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen’s turn to blow a save. He gave up a ninth-inning home run to Wilmer Flores to turn a 2-1 Dodgers lead into a deficit. The Giants later walked in a run, setting up Rogers for the save in a 4-2 win.
Jansen blew a second consecutive save as the Giants scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to win 5-3. An replay-overturned force play at second and a bases-loaded walk allowed the Giants to tie the game before Wade drove in two to win the game.
Cody Bellinger’s throwing error trying to catch Buster Posey at third base allowed the Giants to score the winning run in a 2-1 victory. Logan Webb held the Dodgers to three hits and a single run over six innings for the win.
The Dodgers again blasted DeSclafani in an 8-0 win. He gave up four runs over 2 2/3 innings while Buehler threw seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits.
San Francisco responded with a shutout win of its own as Johnny Cueto went 5 2/3 scoreless innings in a 5-0 win. Brandon Crawford’s return from the injured list began with a bases-loaded double that scored two runs as all the Giants’ runs came with two outs.
Heading into the Labor Day weekend series, the stakes were high as the teams entered tied for first place in the NL West — and the whole league. The Giants took home a dramatic 3-2 victory when an 11th-inning throwing error by Trea Turner pulled Will Smith off the bag and Brandon Belt scored.
The Giants’ plan for a bullpen game backfired as Jay Jackson lasted just one out in a 6-1 Dodgers victory. Turner avenged his mistake with a first-inning leadoff home run that set the tone for the game.
In the final matchup of the regular season, the Giants again took a one-game lead over the Dodgers by beating Buehler. They scored six runs off LA’s ace in the first three innings and the bullpen covered all nine innings to secure the win.
Webb’s postseason debut was an absolute gem, striking out 10 Dodgers over 7 2/3 scoreless innings. Buster Posey’s two-run home run off Buehler in the first inning gave the Giants the lead, then Kris Bryant and Brandon Crawford each hit solo shots in a 4-0 win.
Los Angeles rebounded the next night as Urías kept the Giants’ bats quiet and the Dodgers scored four off Gausman to even the series with a 9-2 win. Cody Bellinger’s bases-loaded double in the sixth inning stretched the LA lead to three runs and it only grew from there.
The Giants’ pitching staff delivered another shutdown performance as Wood went 4 2/3 and the bullpen covered the rest for a 1-0 win. Longoria made the difference on offense with a fifth-inning home run off Max Scherzer to end a 1-for-35 spell, and Crawford made a stunning catch on a Mookie Betts line drive that would have tied the game in the seventh.
BRANDON CRAWFORD IS RIDICULOUS 🤯
(via @MLB)pic.twitter.com/TmHZSZvJmK
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 12, 2021
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The Dodgers forced a winner-take-all finale with a 7-2 victory, roughing up DeSclafani again as he was pulled after giving up five hits and two runs in 1 2/3 innings on a Turner double and a Taylor sacrifice fly. Mookie Betts delivered the biggest blow with a two-run homer in the fourth to make it 4-0. Buehler, pitching on short rest, went 4 1/3 as Los Angeles evened the series.
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