Friday night saw historic MLB Postseason moments in both the American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series. In the ALCS, Houston’s Jose Altuve smacked a three-run home run in the ninth to take the Astros from being down 4-2 to the 5-4 win they’d eventually record. And in the NLCS, the eighth inning saw the Diamondbacks’ Alek Thomas hit a game-tying two-run shot off Phillies’ reliever Craig Kimbrel before a two-out rally led to Gabriel Moreno’s RBI single that gave Arizona the 6-5 lead they’d eventually win by. Wrapping up that game, TBS’ Brian Anderson discussed the historic events in both series, and what notable baseball moments those were:
"This is gonna go down as one of the all-time great days in postseason baseball history…baseball is not boring. Baseball is great."
— Brian Anderson pic.twitter.com/kaSbZC13QQ
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) October 21, 2023
“This is going to go down as one of the all-time great days in postseason baseball history. Entering today, teams down by two or more runs in the eighth inning, 0-24. The Astros with a snatch-em-back in Arlington, Altuve’s home run, and the Diamondbacks with a snatch-em-back here against the Phillies in Game 4. What a day. Baseball is not boring, baseball is great!”
Anderson makes an excellent point there, with both of those games having such notable and historic late moments. And that was only part of the drama. The Houston-Texas game also saw a benches-clearing brawl in the eighth after Astros’ reliever Bryan Abreu hit Rangers’ outfielder Adolis García (who had previously smacked a three-run home run in the sixth), which set the stage for Altuve’s home run shot in the ninth (his 26th career postseason home run, behind only Manny Ramirez’s 29). The Philadelphia-Arizona game also saw a bizarre early sequence where the Phillies scored two runs on an infield error before giving up an out, which wound up being important in the Diamondbacks limiting the damage and eventually making that comeback.
And there may be more remarkable moments to come from these teams. Arizona will host Philadelphia in Game 5 of the NLCS Saturday (8:07 p.m. ET, TBS), with that series tied 2-2. Houston will host Texas in Game 6 of the ALCS Sunday (8:03 p.m. ET, FS1), with the Astros up 3-2 there.
[Awful Announcing on Twitter]
About Andrew Bucholtz
Andrew Bucholtz has been covering sports media for Awful Announcing since 2012. He is also a staff writer for The Comeback. His previous work includes time at Yahoo! Sports Canada and Black Press.