Joe Davis made presumptive call during Padres-Dodgers Game 5

While all humans make mistakes, some are more notable than others. And a mistake made by play-by-play man Joe Davis during Fox’s broadcast of Game 5 of the National League Division Series qualified as a notable mistake.

Game 5 matched up the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers, who were squaring off for the right to take on the New York Mets in the National League Championship Series. In the fifth inning, Davis and analyst John Smoltz had a conversation that featured Davis putting the cart before the horse.

“You know both New York teams are kind of enjoying the five-game series on both sides,” Smoltz said, referencing that while both the Mets and New York Yankees have advanced to their respective League Championship Series, they will be facing an opponent who went the distance in the Division Series.

“Yeah,” Davis said. “Mets are gonna fly here to Los Angeles tomorrow.”

John Smoltz: You know both New York teams are kind of enjoying the five-game series on both sides.

Joe Davis: Yeah. Mets are gonna fly here to Los Angeles tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/1KESsy1WEf

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 12, 2024

The problem, of course, is that wasn’t clear at the time Davis made his comment. While the Dodgers were leading at the time, it was a narrow 1-0 lead with plenty of time remaining in the game. Did he know something – or was that a simple slip of the tongue? In all likelihood, it was the latter.

What was clear then was that the Mets would be flying to Southern California. As both the Los Angeles and San Diego were seeded higher than the New York, the NLCS was going to start at either Los Angeles’ Dodger Stadium or San Diego’s Petco Park.

Fortunately for Davis, the Dodgers kept him from going down in Freezing Cold Takes infamy. Los Angeles added another run in the seventh inning, while five Dodger pitchers combined for a 2-0 shutout of the Padres, sending Los Angeles to its first NLCS in three years.

[Photo Credit: Fox]