We’re less than 30 minutes from the epic end of the Giants-Dodgers National League Division Series.

These two teams have never met before in the playoffs, and the game lived up to the hype. This is a final, win-win game at Oracle Park in San Francisco.

Emma Baccellieri and I will spend time together and chat the night away while we watch the game. We will provide updates and analysis, as well as light jokes. Let’s get started.

All times shown are EST

Matt Martell (8:55): Hi, partner.

Emma Baccellieri (8:55): Hi!

MM (8:56): Ready to throw this thing?

BE: (8:56): Sure. What do you think of the Dodgers’ decision to open the game with Corey Knebel instead of Julio Urías?

MM (8:57): Well, first of all, I love the game. I love that we finally had a weird wrinkle between two teams competing for the 24th time this year.

Having said that, I don’t know How? ‘Or’ What a lot of impact it makes. Of course, that keeps the Giants from stacking all of their right-handed squad players at the top of the order, but they seemed to have adjusted well with the lineup they had put together. They still have Darin Ruf in both holes, predicting that Urias will still be in the game for at least one, possibly two, of his home plate appearances. And they have left-hander Tommy La Stella in the lead, Brandon Crawford in the clean-up spot and Mike Yastrzemski in sixth. It’s pretty balanced. That means we won’t see LaMonte Wade Jr. until later in the game. The Giants cleverly threw Wilmer Flores in 8th place so he’s there for when Urías comes into the game.

BE (9h00): So i don’t Do not like this movement. But I’m not totally crazy about it either. It would be an easier call for me if a) the guy in question was on short rest, or b) one of the pitchers involved had extreme platoon divisions. Still, none of those apply here: Urías is fully rested, with fairly minimal gaps this season, while Knebel actually has gaps reversed. I think there is an advantage to be gained here, but I think it’s much, much smaller than most of the cases where we think an opener is useful.

As for what that does to the Giants roster, I think they played well. They added more lefties (3) than they had when they last met Urías (1), but there’s an interesting wrinkle in there: the left-handed trio includes Tommy La Stella, who was supposed to be on call only as a pinch. – Striker today, since he is fighting an Achilles injury. But with Knebel starting, he instead hits the start, which guarantees him an immediate appearance at home plate against a right-hander. If he makes it to base, it gives the team a chance to pull him out without risking serious exposure to him in defense, which could in fact turn out to be a advantage for the Giants.

MM (9:05): What’s your prediction for tonight?

BE (9:06): I think of the Giants (but not by many!).

I also think we see Max Scherzer in relief at some point.

MM (9:06): Is he the losing pitcher tonight?

BE (9:08): Ooh, good question. I’ll go with no but I think it’s possible!

MM (9:09): I think the Giants win too. I leave with a 3-2 final. Logan Webb goes seven and allows one run. Buster Posey and Kris Bryant both hit home runs. Albert Pujols hits a home run at the end (because I’m romantic with baseball), but it won’t be enough.

MM (9:14): Two hard-hit balls to start the game for the Dodgers. Mookie Betts hit the single, then Corey Seager strings 105.9 mph to the left. Logan Webb makes a big pitch for Trea Turner to bounce back into a double play. Let’s see if that’s enough to calm 24-year-old Webb a bit.

BE (9:16): And now we see how well Knebel performs as an opener!

MM (9:19): This is not good for Knebel!

BE (9:19): Oooooh, man, the bounce off that Buster Posey double – Mookie is usually good at reading them!

Yeah, that’s two hard-hit balls in a row, even though Ruf’s was caught.

MM (9:20): They swing early – Ruf and Posey both crush fastballs in right field. Ruff’s flying ball died in the right triangle-CF.

BE (9:20): Interesting – the Dodgers have the Brusdar Graterol warming, rather than going straight to Urías.

I imagine that would still aim to get Urías to about a third, sure, but curious to think about completing with other relievers before turning to him.

BE (9:25): A huge strikeout to finish the round. But I think they should feel lucky that they got out of there harmlessly.

MM (9:26): Nasty hook. I don’t know how long we’ll see Knebel. If the Dodgers don’t want Urias to come in right away to take on the righties at the bottom of the Giants roster, they should probably look to Graterol.

MM (9:31): Brandon Crawford makes it so easy.

BE (9:31): Yeah, it was so smooth.

MM (9:32): Yes! He was playing deep and down to the 6 hole there against Justin Turner, who hit a slower Grounder that Crawford had to charge. He broke his feet to perfection, made that alligator ball that all good youth coaches teach and quickly dropped the diamond. Beautiful.

BE (9:36): And we have Graterol for the second – probably the smartest move, as you said, to create a cushion so Urias doesn’t have to go up against right-handed people at the bottom of the range.

What I remember most from watching him is how easy it’s 100mph watch. It’s ridiculous.

MM (9:36): I love that Kris Bryant started two of those five games down center. He’s also combing this streak so far, hitting .462 with a home run coming into today’s game.

MM (9:38): It’s terrifying.

Bryant breaks his bat, most of them taking off in a helicopter over the head of third baseman Justin Turner. He beats the first pitch for an infield single.

MM (9:43): Wilmer Flores returned a single to left field, placing the runners first and second with one out. It’s Longo’s time.

MM (9.45 a.m.): Never said Longo Time was a good thing for the Giants. He comes out first.

BE (9:46): Hahaha. Well, now we’re down to Logan Webb Time… which, probably of note, it is a good hitter for a pitcher! But, uh, low bar.

BE (9:48): “Low bar” embodied here by its withdrawal on catches on three consecutive throws. And this is probably the last time we see Graterol.

BE (9:51): Cody Bellinger has generally been lost on the plate for a while now, but man, Logan Webb made him look downright silly on this K.

MM (9:51): Yes, that two-stitched seam that came back to the inside of the plate was pretty.

MM (9:56): Logan Webb is dealing with this right now. He faced the minimum in three sets. This two seam / slider combo works wonderfully.

MM (9:58): As expected, here is Julio Urías to start the third round. And also as expected, Donovan Solano hits hard for left-hander La Stella.