SANDY KOUFAX

Atlanta's Dylan Lee became the first pitcher to make his first big league start in the World Series.

Sooner than many baseball fans wanted, maybe, but the San Francisco Giants and the Los Angeles Dodgers will meet in a winner-take-all Game 5 of the NL Division Series at Oracle Park.

Everybody expected a playoff series for the ages between the century-old rival Dodgers and Giants, and now they’ve got it.

It is only fitting that 70 years after Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ’Round the World” that the Giants and Dodgers will play in another all-or-nothing game.

Major League Baseball teams can now expand their rosters, but there’s something different about September call-ups this season — clubs can add just two players.

Red Sox ace Chris Sale joined Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax as the only pitchers on record with three immaculate innings, Bobby Dalbec homered twice and Boston beat the Minnesota Twins 12-2.

Red Sox ace Chris Sale joined Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax as the only pitchers on record with three immaculate innings when he struck out the side against Minnesota on nine pitches.

A man walks near the entrance to the Jewish museum in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, March 9, 2021. Israel's revamped Museum of the Jewish People is reopening after a $100 million renovation project, offering visitors a comprehensive look at more than 2,500 years of Jewish life, history and culture from around the globe. Its exhibition space has tripled, making it the largest Jewish museum in the world, officials say. Another $52 million came from other U.S.-based philanthropists and foundations, and $18 million from the Israeli government. It focuses on the diversity of Jewish culture and the accomplishments of the Jewish people, not just its tragedies, she said.

(Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves via AP Pool)ATLANTA – Brian Snitker choked back tears as he remembered Hank Aaron’s affection for those who didn’t possess his unparalleled talent on the baseball field. During his post-playing career running the Atlanta Braves farm system, the Hammer had a penchant for looking beyond the can’t-miss prospects. Noting the 10 Baseball of Famers who have died in the past year, Manfred said Aaron “belongs on our sport’s Mount Rushmore. “The reason I’m here today is because of Hank Aaron,” Snitker said, pausing to maintain his composure. “Hank was very instrumental in me becoming an Atlanta Brave,” Jones said.

The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, said Sutton died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, after a long struggle with cancer. (AP Photo, File) (AP Photo, File)LOS ANGELES – Don Sutton, a Hall of Fame pitcher who was a stalwart of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ rotation spanning an era from Sandy Koufax to Fernando Valenzuela, died Tuesday. The Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, said Sutton died at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, after a long struggle with cancer. Shortly before the start of the following season, Sutton broke his left leg. Sutton pitched for Dodgers Hall of Fame manager Tommy Lasorda, who died on Jan. 7.

With a 175-76 regular-season record, five ERA titles and an MVP, Kershaw ranks alongside Dodgers greats Sandy Koufax, Fernando Valenzuela and Orel Hershiser. Kershaw also set a career postseason record with 207 strikeouts, two more than Justin Verlander’s previous mark. Glasnow allowed four runs and six hits in five innings, leaving him 0-2 with a 9.64 ERA in the Series. He tied a Series record with two wild pitches in the inning and set the mark with three in the game. He became the record ninth Dodgers player to homer in the postseason, one more than the 1989 Oakland Athletics of Bash Brothers fame.

(AP Photo/Eric Gay)ARLINGTON, Texas – More was not merrier for Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers. By the end of the Dodgers’ 6-4 defeat Wednesday night, which evened the Series at one game apiece, it appeared the Dodgers are down to essentially a two-man rotation of Walker Buehler and Clayton Kershaw. Alex Wood (six outs) and Jake McGee (three) finished with shutout relief, but the damage yielded by the earlier parade of pitchers was too much to overcome. Gonsolin has a 9.82 postseason ERA, allowing eight runs in 7 1/3 innings, and May a 5.00 ERA, giving up five runs in nine innings. It remains to be seen whether this merry-go-round will be a fun ride for Roberts and the Dodgers.

FILE - In this Oct. 8, 1960 file photo, New York Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford throws against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the third World Series game at Yankee Stadium in New York. (AP Photo, File)Reaction to the death of Hall of Fame pitcher Whitey Ford, the ace of the mighty New York Yankees teams in the 1950s and ’60s. Obviously, a great pitcher. They never say Whitey Ford. It’s Whitey Ford.

FILE - In this June 12, 2016 file photo, former New York Yankees pitcher Whitey Ford waves to fans from outside the dugout at the Yankees' annual Old Timers Day baseball game in New York. A family member tells The Associated Press on Friday, Oct. 9, 2020 that Ford died at his Long Island home Thursday night. Ford won 236 games and lost just 106, a winning percentage of .690. Ford holds records for World Series wins (10), games and starts (22), innings pitched (146) and strikeouts (94). Ford won 18 games in his first season back and never won fewer than 11 for 13 straight seasons.

Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw, left, high-fives Justin Turner after the team's 3-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 2 of a National League wild-card baseball series Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)LOS ANGELES – Beat up in the postseason over the years, Clayton Kershaw orchestrated one of his best performances against the weakened Milwaukee Brewers. Kershaw struck out 13 while delivering eight innings of three-hit ball, Mookie Betts hit a two-out, two-run double in the fifth, and the Los Angeles Dodgers won 3-0 to sweep their NL wild-card series on Thursday night. Only two of the Dodgers' nine hitters didn't strike out during that span; five of the Brewers didn't. That's where the NL Division Series and NL Championship Series will be contested, as well as the first neutral site World Series.