The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants have one of the most intense and storied rivalries in all of Major League Baseball. However, that rivalry could be elevated to a whole new level in the 2021 postseason.
Here’s how a new chapter could be added to the rivalry between the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants.
In all of the years of the Dodgers and Giants meeting as geographic rivals calling California and New York home, the two iconic franchises have never faced each other in the postseason. The closest they have come to playing postseason games were three-game tiebreakers to determine which team would win the National League pennant in 1951 and 1962. However, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network, those games were actually considered regular-season games.
The same would hold true for the two teams if they were to meet for a Game 163 this season to determine the NL West title.
After wins by both the Dodgers and Giants on Sunday, the two NL West juggernauts are separated by just two games in the standings, with San Francisco’s 102 wins on the season edging out the 100 posted by Los Angeles, heading into Monday’s play. Each team has six games left to play in the regular season, with the Dodgers hosting the San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers for three games each. San Francisco, meanwhile, will also be at home for its final six games, welcoming the Arizona Diamondbacks and Padres for a pair of three-game sets.
With the two-game lead, if the season were to end today, the Giants would win the division and await the winner of the NL Wild Card game between the Dodgers and St. Louis Cardinals, which would be played in Los Angeles since the Dodgers have the better overall record. If the Dodgers were to win that game, as the Wild Card winner, they would advance to meet the NL’s top seed. That would be the Giants and set up the historic National League Division Series.
Of course, the Dodgers could still overtake the Giants for the NL West crown. However, the above scenario would still be in play if San Francisco was the Wild Card team and Los Angeles once again won the West. The Giants would then host the Cardinals in the one-game Wild Card and, if victorious, move on to play the top-seeded Dodgers.
St. Louis, of course, will enter postseason play as one of, if not the, hottest teams in all of baseball. The Cardinals have taken control of the second Wild Card spot, earning their 16th consecutive win with a Sunday victory over the Chicago Cubs.
Getting through St. Louis will not be easy for either NL West team in the Wild Card round. However, if a Dodgers-Giants NLDS happens, it will be must-watch history in the making.