The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate after Chris Taylor hit a home run during the ninth inning to win a National League Wild Card playoff baseball game 3-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, in Los Angeles. Cody Bellinger also scored.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

The Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate after Chris Taylor hit a home run during the ninth inning to win a National League Wild Card playoff baseball game 3-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, in Los Angeles. Cody Bellinger also scored.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

A two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning pushed the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 3-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday night during the National League Wild Card Game.

The Dodgers’ Chris Taylor, who was suffering from a recurring neck injury, netted the team the needed late-in-the-game lead over the Cardinals.

According to StatsPerform, a sports technology company, Taylor is only the second player in Major League Baseball history to hit a walk-off home run during an important winner-take-all playoff game, despite not starting the game. The other was Aaron Boone in Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series.

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chris Taylor (3) hits a home run during the ninth inning to win a National League Wild Card playoff baseball game 3-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, in Los Angeles. Cody Bellinger also scored.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

hide caption

toggle caption

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

Los Angeles Dodgers’ Chris Taylor (3) hits a home run during the ninth inning to win a National League Wild Card playoff baseball game 3-1 over the St. Louis Cardinals Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2021, in Los Angeles. Cody Bellinger also scored.

Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP

The Dodgers, who are the defending National League champs, will now face off against the their biggest rivals: the San Francisco Giants in the division series.

Game 1 of the best-of-five series is Friday night in San Francisco.

“That’s gonna be fun. Yeah, two of the best regular-season records of all time. We’ve been battling all year, so I expect a hard-fought series,” Taylor said, according to ESPN.

It’s sure to be a battle between the two powerhouses. According to the ESPN MLB Power Rankings, both the Dodgers and the Giants have swapped places for the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in all of baseball all season long.