Game 5 of the 2017 World Series Will Go Down As One Of The Best Ever

In this day and age, baseball pundits complain of long games.

Game 5 of the 2017 World Series went 5 hours and 17 minutes.

As of now nobody is complaining about the length of this game, especially Houston Astros fans who saw their team prevail 13-12 in 10 innings to take a 3-2 lead in the Fall Classic.

Things did not look good for the Astros at the start of the game. The Dodgers scored three runs off 2015 AL Cy Young Award winner Dallas Keuchel in the first inning. He was done by the fourth inning when he gave up another run.

The Dodgers were up 4-0 with Clayton Kershaw on the mound. The Dodgers are 100-1 when Kershaw pitches with a four run lead.

That is until tonight.

The Astros would tie the game in the fourth on a double by Carlos Correa and a home run by Yuli Gurriel.

But the Dodgers would take a 7-4 lead in the fifth on a three run home run by Cody Bellinger.

The Astros would tie the game 7-7 in the bottom of the inning on a three run home run by Jose Altuve. Kershaw was done after 4 2/3 IP and gave up six runs. This was a far cry from Game 1 which Keuchel and Kershaw started which lasted a brisk 2 hours and 28 minutes.

The Dodgers took a 8-7 lead in the 7th on a triple by Bellinger on an ill-advised dive by Astros center fielder George Springer.

Springer would lead off the the 7th. I wondered if Springer would try to hit the ball six ways to Sunday. He did exactly did that tying the game 8-8.

Later in the inning, the Astros would take their first lead of the game on a double by Altuve and a home run by Correa. The Astros were on top 11-8. All four runs were surrendered by Dodgers' reliever Brandon Morrow who did not retire a single batter. I told my Dad the scoring was not done.

The Dodgers would cut Houston's lead to two on a Corey Seager double in the the top of the 8th. The Astros got that run back in the bottom of the inning on a solo HR by Brian McCann. The Astros went to the 9th with a 12-9 lead.

The Dodgers, however, were not done. They cut the lead to 12-11 on a two run home run by Yasiel Puig. After an Austin Barnes double and with two outs and two strikes, Chris Taylor stroked a game tying single up the middle to tie the game at 12-12.

If the game had ended in 9 innings it would have the longest game in MLB history at 4 hours and 52 minutes. But this game would need one more inning.

After retiring the first two Astros hitters, Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen would plunk McCann and walk Springer. When McCann reached scoring position, Derek Fisher was sent in to pinch run. This would be a crucial move as moments later Alex Bregman singled home Fisher to win the game 13-12.

This summary isn't doing this game justice. The Astros tied the game thrice before finally taking the lead only to lose it before finally winning the game.

To give you an idea of how great this game was is that it now overshadows Game 2 which the Astros won 7-6 in 11 innings. They tied the game in the 9th on a home run by Marwin Gonzalez, took a lead in the 10th on back to back HRs by Altuve and Correa, the Dodgers tied it in the 10th on a HR by Puig and a double by Kike Hernandez before winning it in the 11th on a HR by Springer.

Even Astros manager A.J. Hinch believes Game 2 pales in comparison to Game 5. The scary thing is there is one, maybe two more games to come. The final chapter has yet to be written.

The Astros can clinch their first ever World Series title on Halloween in L.A. with Justin Verlander on the mound.