Dodgers’ Game 3 win longest in Series history

LOS ANGELES — Brian Dozier swung bananas from a rope over the dugout railing.

How appropriate. The longest game in World Series history was bananas.

Twenty-three players on each team, including nine pitchers.

Eighteen innings — four more than any of the previous 662 World Series games.

Seven hours, 20 minutes — 1:39 longer than any Series game played before and 15 minutes more than all four games of the 1939 World Series combined.

Walker Buehler threw the first pitch in autumn twilight at 5:10 p.m.

Max Muncy hit the decisive home run on the 561st and last at 12:30 a.m. when most of America was asleep.

Ernie Banks would have been happy — the Los Angeles Dodgers and Boston Red Sox filled his oft-said desire: Let’s play two! “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” was played twice, during the seventh-inning stretch and the 14th inning elongation.

“It was an amazing game,” Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig said. “I’m a little tired. But we’re ready to come back tomorrow.”

Then he looked at his watch and corrected himself.

“In a couple of hours,” Puig said.

Live from Hollywood: the Late Late Late Show: The Dodgers’ dramatic, draining, dizzying 3-2 victory Friday night cut their World Series deficit to 2-1.

“I think my beard got about 3 inches longer,” said Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, whose red whiskers already were Santa length.

Soccer ends after 120 minutes and is decided by penalty kicks.

Even Wimbledon is instituting fifth-set tiebreakers next year when tied 12-12 after John Isner’s 70-68 first-round triumph over Nicolas Mahut in 2010 and Isner’s 26-24 semifinal defeat to Kevin Anderson this year.

No U.S. major team sport

doubled the length of a game in its championship. Notably, a Boston team has been involved in the longest title match in all four of the major sports.

Only once has the Super Bowl gone to overtime, with only an extra 11:02 needed for New England’s win over Atlanta in 2017 .

There have been only two NBA Finals games needing the extra 15 minutes of three overtimes, Boston’s victory over Phoenix in 1976 and the Suns’ win over Chicago in 1993 . The longest Stanley Cup Final matchup was Edmonton’s win over Boston in the 1990 opener, a three-overtime affair requiring an extra 55:13.

“You look up and see the 18th inning, and you’re like, holy cow, where did the game go?” Muncy said. “Those last nine innings or so just kind of blended together.”

Mark J. Terrill The Associated Press Dodgers infielder Max Muncy rounds the bases after his home run in the 18th inning gave Los Angeles a 3-2 home victory against the Red Sox in Game 3 of the World Series early Saturday.