Dodgers' Max Muncy isn't a nobody anymore

LOS ANGELES — Before Max Muncy ascended to full-blown folk hero status late Friday night — early Saturday morning — there was a long fly ball that soared toward the rightfield corner, bringing a jam-packed Dodger Stadium crowd to its collective feet and very nearly sending everybody home.

And then it landed foul. Muncy kind of figured it would, his vantage point from the first-base line providing a clear angle of the near-homer. Instead, he struck out on the 10th pitch of his seventh plate appearance of the game, a cutter away that he whiffed on.

Permanent Los Angeles fame had to wait.

“I knew immediately there was no way it could have went behind the pole, just from where it landed,” Muncy said. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t get my hopes up.”

Three innings later, Muncy etched his place in Dodgers lore with another fly ball, this one leaving no questions about fair or foul, going an estimated 382 feet from home plate — just far enough to land on the right side of the wall in left-center.

The Dodgers’ 3-2, 18-inning win against the Red Sox in Game 3 of the World Series represented a potential series-shifting turn of events, sure, but it was also a new chapter in the already ridiculous rags-to-riches story authored by Muncy the past seven months.

Muncy opened the year in Triple A, the starting first baseman a part-time third baseman for the Oklahoma City Dodgers. He was 27 years old and had a .195 average in 96 career major-league games, none since 2016. Last year, he spent most of April unemployed after getting cut by the A’s — a losing team in 2017 — ending his half-decade tenure with the organization.

Max Muncy was a nobody.

“Everyone has a different path,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I’ve talked to him about how much more mature he’s become going through that experience. Later bloomer in the sense of opportunity. But he’s a college kid — Baylor — he’s intelligent, he’s tough. He really understands who he is as a baseball player. And this is an opportunity that he’s created for himself. And all the credit goes to him to take it and run.”

The Dodgers called up Muncy on April 17 as part of a roster reshuffling amid early struggles for the eventual National League champions.

“I’ll fit in wherever they want me to fit in,” Muncy said that day. “I offer a left-handed bat, defensive versatility. That’s what I’m hoping for right now.”

Said Roberts: “Really like him in the (batter’s) box.”

No kidding. After a few games to find his major-league footing, Muncy took off, using a reworked swing designed to hit the ball in the air more often, which he wound up doing with great effectiveness.

The season totals for Muncy, one of the most valuable players for a team three wins from its first World Series championship in his lifetime: 35 home runs and 17 doubles (and two triples), batting .263 with a .391 OBP and .582 slugging percentage — not to mention playing first, second, third and left.

Max Muncy isn’t a nobody anymore.

“It happens in this dream right now, this exact one,” Muncy said. “It’s been a dream. This whole year has been a surreal experience that it’s hard to put into words. But just getting a chance to play in the World Series has kind of capped it off.

“And then getting a chance to hit a walk-off home run, obviously there’s not many words I can use to describe that. The feeling was just pure joy and incredible excitement. That’s about all I can think of because it’s hard to describe how good a feeling it is.”