World Series Game 3: Dodgers 3, Red Sox 2 (18 innings)

LOS ANGELES — Game 3 of the 2018 World Series was the longest postseason game in baseball history, and it was almost the longest game in baseball history. It was longer than Games 1 and 2 combined, and it was longer than the entire 1939 World Series. There are so many threads to follow, so many what-ifs, so many fissures and crevices to get lost in. But here’s what I keep coming back to: Both teams combined to throw 561 pitches.

We don’t know if that’s a record because pitch counts are a very recent development. It’s probably a record, but more than that, think about each pitch as an isolated event. A pitcher holding a ball, looking in, getting a sign, mentally figuring out how to best execute the pitch, coming set, coming to the plate, and then actually executing that pitch while hoping for a favorable result, which may or may not have happened. This happened 561 times.

Before we get into Cody Bellinger’s outfield heroics in during the early extra innings of World Series Game 3, which were impressive, we should first acknowledge that just a half inning prior to showing off his capacity to nail a throw home he mucked things up by getting thrown out on the base paths.

Attempting this steal in the bottom of he ninth meant that instead of the Dodgers having the bases loaded with one out after the two consecutive walks that would follow, that had runners on first and second with two outs in a 1-1 game. Brian Dozier would foul out to the catcher to end the inning.