Three score and ten years ago, the New York Giants faced off against the Brooklyn Dodgers in a three-game playoff for command of the National League pennant. Those Giants had won 37 of their last 44 games to catch the surging Dodgers, ending the season with identical win-loss records of 96-58. Those Giants won the first game of their three-game playoff, the last time the Giants and Dodgers met in something approximating the postseason.
These 2021 San Francisco Giants won 21 of their last 27 games to hold off the surging Los Angeles Dodgers, playing from the position of power this time, narrowly clinging onto a one game lead.