Max Muncy lives a short ride from the site of the World Series in Arlington, Texas, but hasn’t been able to go home because he’s in baseball’s playoff bubble.
“Not being able to see our house, see our friends, see our family, not even allowed to have our pets, it’s been extremely difficult,” said Muncy, the Dodgers’ cleanup hitter and former A’s prospect.
“But we’re really close to the end, and hopefully it’s something that’s going to all be worth it.”
Muncy, whose two-run single in Friday’s Game 3 helped the Dodgers beat the Rays 6-2 and take a two-games-to-one edge, knows exactly what he’ll do once the World Series ends. Friends and family can wait.
“The first thing we’ll do is pick up our pets,” said Muncy, who graduated from nearby Keller High School. “Those are our kids, our family.”
Muncy is far removed from his days with the A’s, who released him at the end of spring training in 2017, but the dismissal remains a major piece of his stunning journey that has gotten him to two wins from a World Series championship, the Dodgers’ first since 1988.
Before Saturday’s Game 4, Muncy admitted he set out to prove the A’s wrong: “There’s always a motivation like that for anybody. If you’re ever released from a team or traded from a team, there’s always some type of motivation.”
Muncy had two fabulous seasons in Los Angeles, hitting 35 home runs in both 2018 and 2019, but he hit .192 in the 2020 regular season. He said he was “freezing and jumping out of the way” of pitches on the inner half of the plate after breaking a wrist in September 2019 and a finger in July.
No worries. The Dodgers stuck with him, knowing his plate discipline and ability to draw a walk would set him apart even when he wasn’t hitting. In fact, while Muncy is batting .245 in the postseason, he leads all Dodgers with a .448 on-base percentage because he has drawn 18 walks to complement his 12 hits.
No other Dodger has more than 10 walks, and only two players in postseason history walked more than Muncy: Barry Bonds 27 in 2002 (13 of those were intentional) and Gary Sheffield 20 (none intentional) in 1997.
“All throughout September, I knew he was close,” manager Dave Roberts said. “The numbers weren’t showing it, but as far as his at-bat quality, it continued to get better. Every single time he’s in the batters’ box, I feel good, and to be able to have him at the 4, it just makes everybody around him that much better.”
Roberts’ trust paid off in Game 3 when Muncy was at the plate in the third inning. There were two outs and two on. The count was full. First base was open with Will Smith on deck. Charlie Morton threw a high slider, and Muncy lined it into center field.
It was a game-changer and gave the Dodgers a 3-0 lead, which is all starter Walker Buehler and three relievers needed. Muncy also drove in two runs in Game 2 of the Division Series (a 6-5 win), a two-run homer in the ninth inning of Game 2 of the NLCS (an 8-7 win) and a grand slam to spark an 11-run first inning in Game 3.
Through it all, the A’s remain a significant part of Muncy’s narrative because of how he ascended after Oakland, where he was colossally unimpressive, a .195 hitter in 96 big-league games and not exactly a defensive whiz anywhere.
“One of the things I talk about the most is the mental adversity I had to overcome,” Muncy said. “Not just what happened on the field, but things that happened off the field. You come home from the stadium, and you’re not happy. You’re dealing with a lot of stuff. It makes it really difficult.
“So just trying to overcome all that stuff is something I’m most proud of. Just regaining the little kid in me. Going out there and, regardless what happens, enjoying my time and being thankful I get to go out there and play baseball every single day.”
Muncy was 26 when released by the A’s and didn’t know if he’d play in the majors again. He considered playing in Japan or South Korea. And independent ball. And going back to school for his degree in business.
Then-Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi, now the Giants’ president of baseball operations, knew of Muncy from their days together with the A’s, and Los Angeles signed him to a minor-league contract.
Muncy spent the 2017 season at Triple-A Oklahoma City refurbishing his game and credited his father, Lee, and Triple-A hitting coach, Shawn Wooten, for altering his approach at the plate (to better lift the ball) and improving his aggressiveness and confidence.
Muncy was called up early in 2018, quickly found a home and displayed enough power to recieve an invite to Home Run Derby. In 2019, he was an All-Star for the first time.
For A’s fans, Muncy is one who got away. For Giants fans, he’s the one who said, “Go get that ball out of the ocean,” delivering a legendary popoff after Madison Bumgarner objected to Muncy admiring the ball he blasted into McCovey Cove.
For Dodgers fans, he’s one of several reclamation projects, along with Justin Turner and Chris Taylor, players grabbed off the scrap heap and turned into difference-makers for a team on the verge of a championship.
John Shea covers the Giants for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: jshea@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JohnSheaHey
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Dodgers’ Max Muncy, former A’s prospect, closes in on World Series title - San Francisco Chronicle
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