LOS ANGELES -- This was the type of game where you drop to your knees and thank heavens you decided, at whatever point, to become a baseball fan. I found myself thinking in the seventh inning that if you just randomly brought a non-baseball fan to this game, they'd immediately become a die-hard fan, hooked for the rest of their life. It was almost like -- just a few miles from Hollywood -- the game was scripted for maximum entertainment.

It lasted 18 innings and ended on another Freddie Freeman walk-off home run, just like Game 1 of last year's World Series. This one was a solo shot to dead center field. The thousands of fans who were still in attendance shot to their feet and roared, soon serenaded with "I love L.A." It was a 6-5 Dodgers win in 18 innings.

The extra-innings portion

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