NLDS: Dodgers Beat Giants in Game 4, Setting Up Decisive Game 5 - The New York Times

“This is what baseball wants,” Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts said after his team beat the Giants, 7-2, forcing a winner-take-all game in this division series between rivals.

“This is what baseball wants,” Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts said after a grueling 3 hour 38 minute game in which the teams combined to use 14 pitchers and 25 position players.

Roberts wasted no time, naming left-hander Julio Urias (20-3, 2.96 E.R.A.) as the Dodgers’ Game 5 starter before Game 4 had even started.

Urias was the starting pitcher in Game 2 in San Francisco, holding the Giants to one run over five innings in a Dodgers win.

Roberts said that as of now Max Scherzer, who started Game 3 on Monday, very likely will not be available in relief for Game 5 but noted coyly “I’ve been known to change my mind.”.

With a strong pitching matchup in a winner-take-all game, this division series is getting the finish it deserves.

The Dodgers had the best run differential in the majors (+269), far outdistancing the next-best team — the Giants, at +210 — yet they have been shut out twice in four games by San Francisco and are also on the brink of elimination.

“I feel like our team and the Dodgers team have both been playing meaningful games for awhile now,” Giants catcher Buster Posey said.