Seth Udinski, FISM News

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The L.A. Dodgers won a game for the ages Wednesday night, and into the early hours of Thursday morning, against their division rival San Diego Padres.

The game went into 16 innings.  This in itself is incredibly impressive considering the new “ghost runner” rule that Major League Baseball implemented in 2020, putting an automatic runner on second base at the start of each team’s turn at bat in extra innings.  MLB executives instituted this rule in an effort to boost excitement in extra-inning games.

The Padres led for most of the game, leading the Dodgers 1-0 until the eighth inning when the Dodgers tied the game on a solo home run by Will Smith.  Despite the new rule that heavily favors offense in extra innings, neither team scored a run until the 15th inning. Los Angeles put two runs across in the top of the inning, but San Diego tied the game with two runs of their own in the home half of the frame to enter the 16th inning at a 3-3 tie. Left fielder AJ Pollock came to the plate to lead off next inning in his seventh at-bat of the game. With third baseman Justin Turner on second, he drove a 1-2 pitch over center field wall to give the Dodgers a 5-3 lead. L.A. was able to hold on for the win in a game that ended just before 4:00 am EST.

GOOD MORNING, AJ POLLOCK. pic.twitter.com/8KJkGqkynY

— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) August 26, 2021

L.A. improved to 80-47 on the year and stays in a fight with the San Francisco Giants for the N.L. West Division championship, as they look to defend their 2020 World Series title.