Why Game 5 of the 2017 World Series Was the Most Ridiculous Night in Baseball History

Five hours and seventeen minutes. That’s how long it took for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Houston Astros to break the collective brain of every baseball fan on the planet. Honestly, if you didn’t see Game 5 of the 2017 World Series live, it’s hard to describe the sheer, unadulterated chaos of that Sunday night in Houston. It wasn't just a baseball game. It was a fever dream. A slugfest that felt like it was played on the moon where gravity didn't exist and every fly ball had a homing beacon for the Crawford Boxes.

Most people remember the 2017 World Series now through the lens of the sign-stealing scandal that broke years later. You can't talk about Minute Maid Park without mentioning trash cans and buzzers. But if we’re being real, in the moment, Game 5 was widely hailed as the greatest game ever played. It featured two powerhouse offenses basically taking turns punching each other in the throat. 13-12 was the final score. Just let that sink in for a second. In a World Series game. With Clayton Kershaw and Dallas Keuchel on the mound to start.

It made no sense.

The Night the Aces Died

You’ve got Clayton Kershaw, arguably the greatest pitcher of his generation, handed a four-run lead. In any other universe, the game is over. Dodgers fans were already planning the parade routes. But Game 5 of the 2017 World Series didn't care about your narratives or your Hall of Fame resumes. Kershaw looked human. Worse than human—he looked vulnerable. He couldn't get the slider to bite. The Astros hitters, whether they knew what was coming or were just locked into a celestial plane of hitting, didn't miss.

Yulieski Gurriel happened. He turned on a Kershaw heater and tied the game at four. The stadium practically exploded.

Then the Dodgers took the lead again. Cody Bellinger, then just a terrifying rookie with a swing that looked like a golf club, launched a three-run shot. 7-4 Dodgers. Surely, that’s it? Nope. Jose Altuve, the heartbeat of that Houston lineup, stepped up in the bottom of the fifth and vaporized a ball to center field. Tied again. 7-7. This was the pattern. L.A. would build a lead that felt safe, and Houston would erase it with one swing of the bat. It was exhausting just to watch on TV. Imagine being in those dugouts.

The Slick Ball Conspiracy

There’s been a lot of talk—some of it from the players themselves—about the balls used in that specific series. Justin Verlander and several others complained that the balls felt "slick," like they were rubbed with sandpaper or just manufactured differently for the Fall Classic. When you look at the home run rates in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, it’s hard not to wonder. Seven home runs. In one game. Pitchers couldn't grip their breaking stuff. Kenta Maeda, Brandon Morrow, Kenley Jansen—nobody was safe.

Morrow, specifically, got hung out to dry. He had pitched in every single game of the series up to that point. Dave Roberts called on him again in the seventh inning. He didn't even record an out. George Springer hit a first-pitch homer. Alex Bregman singled. Jose Altuve doubled. Carlos Correa homered. In the span of about six pitches, a 8-7 Dodgers lead became an 11-8 Astros lead. It was a massacre.

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Why Game 5 of the 2017 World Series Still Feels Different

We’ve seen high-scoring games before. We’ve seen walk-offs. But this game had a weird, vibrating energy. Every time the Dodgers were left for dead, they crawled back. Yasiel Puig hit a two-run shot in the ninth to cut the lead to one. Then, with two outs and the season effectively on the line, Chris Taylor poked a single up the middle to tie it at 12.

Think about the mental toll. You’re the Astros. You’ve come back from four runs down, then three runs down. You finally have the lead in the ninth, and you blow it. Most teams fold there.

But this wasn't a normal game.

The bottom of the tenth felt inevitable. Brian McCann got hit by a pitch. George Springer walked. Then Alex Bregman, who always seemed to thrive in the most obnoxious way possible for opposing fans, stepped up against Kenley Jansen. Jansen was the best closer in baseball at the time. He looked tired. He looked like a man who had been asked to do too much. Bregman lined a single to left, Derek Fisher (the pinch runner) slid home, and the nightmare finally ended.

13-12.

The Fallout and the Asterisk

It’s impossible to write about this game today without mentioning the 2019 revelation of the Astros’ illegal sign-stealing system. According to the MLB investigation led by Commissioner Rob Manfred, the Astros used a center-field camera to decode signs and relayed them to hitters by banging on a trash can.

Did it happen in Game 5?

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The data suggests the trash-can banging dropped off in the postseason because the stadiums were too loud, but players admitted to using other methods, like whistling or relaying signs from second base after decoding them via the video room. When you watch Kershaw’s pitches get tattooed in that fourth and fifth inning, it’s hard for Dodgers fans not to feel robbed. Kershaw didn't get a single swing-and-miss on his slider or curveball that night. Not one. For a guy with his movement, that’s statistically bizarre.

However, the Dodgers also scored 12 runs. They weren't stealing signs in the Houston dugout. The "slick ball" theory probably carries just as much weight for the sheer offensive explosion as the cheating did. It was a perfect storm of exhausted bullpens, juiced or slick baseballs, and two of the best lineups in the history of the sport.

The Tactical Blunders

Dave Roberts gets a lot of heat for how he handled the staff in Game 5 of the 2017 World Series. Using Brandon Morrow for the fifth straight day was, in hindsight, a disaster. Morrow clearly had nothing left. His velocity was there, but the ball was flat.

On the other side, A.J. Hinch was managing like his hair was on fire. He pulled Keuchel early. He burned through his high-leverage arms. It was a game managed by the gut, which is funny considering how much both these franchises rely on "the book" and analytics. By the eighth inning, the "book" had been thrown out the window and set on fire.

• The Dodgers used 7 pitchers.
• The Astros used 7 pitchers.
• There were 28 hits total.
• The game featured five different ties.

It was "stupid" baseball. That’s the only way to describe it. It was the kind of game that makes purists cry and casual fans fall in love with the sport. It was long, it was messy, and it was beautiful in its ugliness.

What We Can Learn From the Chaos

Looking back at Game 5 of the 2017 World Series, there are actual takeaways for anyone who follows the sport or analyzes high-pressure performance.

First, momentum is a myth, but fatigue is very real. The Dodgers' reliance on a few specific arms in the bullpen caught up to them at the worst possible moment. When you ask a human being to throw 100 mph five days in a row, the results are going to be catastrophic eventually.

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Second, the environment matters. Minute Maid Park with the roof closed is a sensory overload. The noise levels that night were clocked at over 100 decibels. That affects communication, it affects the "internal clock" of a pitcher, and it clearly gave the home team an adrenaline surge that bridged the gap when they were trailing.

Third, and most importantly, baseball is a game of inches that can be altered by miles of controversy. Whether it was the balls, the signs, or just a hot night in Texas, Game 5 changed how we view the modern era of the game. It pushed the boundaries of what a "high scoring" game looks like in the playoffs.

Moving Forward: How to Watch Classic Games

If you’re going to go back and re-watch Game 5 of the 2017 World Series—and you should, it’s all on YouTube—don’t just look at the home runs. Watch the catchers. Look at how Austin Barnes and Brian McCann are trying to set up. Watch the frustration on the faces of the pitchers.

You can see the exact moment Clayton Kershaw realizes his stuff isn't working. You can see the desperation in Kenley Jansen's eyes in the tenth. It’s a masterclass in the human element of sports.

Practical Next Steps for Fans:

• Watch the Pitch Sequence: Go to Baseball Savant and look at the pitch-by-pitch breakdown of the 5th inning. Notice how many pitches were over the heart of the plate.
• Compare to Game 7: Contrast the high-scoring insanity of Game 5 with the tense, low-scoring (relatively) finale to see how much variance exists in a single series.
• Research the "Juiced Ball" Era: Look at the 2017-2019 home run trends to see how Game 5 fits into the larger narrative of MLB's changing equipment.

Ultimately, Game 5 was a bridge between two eras. It was the peak of the "fly ball revolution" and the beginning of the end for the "untainted" perception of that Astros core. It remains a polarizing, incredible, and deeply flawed masterpiece of sport.