What just happened?

When I was in college, the Astros played the Mets in one of the most memorable games in postseason history to that point, an epic 7-6 Mets victory in 16 innings at the Astrodome, which clinched the series for New York.

I worked in the college's cafeteria that evening. A portable radio that stood on a shelf behind the salad bar counter aired the game. And the workers among us who were fans, mostly college kids but also some full-time "grown-ups," would regularly make trips to the radio to catch up on an increasingly wild game.

They would then come back to their stations and gleefully report the news: the Mets just scored three runs in the ninth and they're going to extra innings! ... Backman singled in the 14th, the Mets lead! ... Bass hit a home run off Orosco, it's tied again! ... It's the 16th inning! ... Lopez threw a wild pitch! Mets lead by three! ... No, Hatcher just singled, Astros down two! Davis just singled, Astros down one! ... Orosco struck out Bass, Mets win!

It was wild and added plenty of excitement to my four-hour work shift. Customers would ask what the score was and people who I didn't think cared anything for baseball (my girlfriend at the time worked the salad bar and she showed an interest in the game I didn't know she had) were clamoring to get into this exclusive club called baseball. This was thrilling.

Travel 30 years into the future and Game 6 of that series has stood the test of time. However, there have been plenty of games similar to that one, tumultuous back-and-forth affairs with many twists and turns since then. There seems to have been even more in the last 5-to-10 years. And now we're in the middle of the 2017 World Series and someone please tell me what happened in Game 5.

As wild as the 1986 game was, it kind of made sense. Starters pitched for awhile (Bob Knepper went 8-plus innings) and if they couldn't (Bob Ojeda went five), the relievers lasted for awhile (Rick Aguilera pitched three, Roger McDowell pitched five).

Also, that '86 game started in the afternoon. I don't remember what time, maybe around 1or 2 because by the time I started my shift at 4, the game was in the later innings. And, even though it lasted 16 innings, it was over by the time my shift ended around 8.

Last night's game made almost no sense. Starters yanked before the fifth inning ended. Constant pitcher changes. Batters, especially on the Houston side, confident every time that they walked to the plate that they could hit the ball to the moon. The game ended at 1:37 in the morning and lasted just one extra inning! I woke up today and went about my business for a bit and suddenly remembered Justin Turner being tagged out at third base after a bunt play. I thought I had dreamed it. But, no, that was real. In a game in which the entire planet knew no lead was safe, the Dodgers were bunting for a run ... like it was 1986 again!

Last night I remembered sitting in the office over the summer waiting repeatedly for games between the Astros and the Rangers to end. The games seemed to take longer than any other and end up 12-10 or 15-11. After experiencing Minute Maid Park for an extended period for the first time, I realized why I waited so long.

I've followed baseball for four decades. I don't know if I could explain to an outsider what happened in that game, what it meant beyond "Astros take 3-2 series lead." It barely seems like baseball to me. Batters shouldn't be able to hit home runs seemingly every time they want. Pitchers shouldn't look shell-shocked in every game. If the balls actually are slicker and preventing pitchers from doing their jobs, then shame on MLB.

This could be just someone struggling to deal with the fact that baseball isn't like it was back in the day. Maybe there were college students jumping for joy in the cafeteria during last night's game (although that is some kind of after-hours cafeteria). But there's no doubt that the excitement level is dialed up so high that it's difficult to grasp what's happening.

I don't want to put a damper on an exciting series involving my Dodgers, but ... did that look in the slightest bit normal to you?

Anyway, I promised at the start of this Series that I wouldn't get too wrapped up in it and that's now a complete lie. The least I can do is show some cards.

These are from Henry from the Cardboard Greats blog. Most of them are current Dodgers, trying to move on.

There's Ross Stripling, one of the few Dodger pitchers who didn't get into the game last night.

There's Yasiel Puig, who hit a very Minute Maid Park-like home run to key yet another Dodgers comeback.

There's Clayton Kershaw, who turned into a different pitcher between the third and fourth innings. I don't know if I've ever seen anything quite like it. Do you think Kershaw wishes he could have pitched in the days of Marichal when the ball/players/parks weren't juiced?

A short-printed Sandy Koufax! Yup Kershaw is the best Dodgers pitcher since Koufax, but Koufax never had to pitch in the era of Launch Angle.

Numbered cards of two players who are either jealous they're not playing in this Series or maybe very happy that they aren't.

And if a guy who grew up on '70s and '80s baseball is trying to figure out what's going on, imagine someone who grew up collecting cards in the mid-1950s!

During the bottom of the fifth inning of last night's game, my daughter, who has shed a lifetime of baseball indifference to follow this postseason avidly, got up from her seat after Jose Altuve's three-run home run had tied a game that had just been untied by Cody Bellinger's three-home run, walked past the TV to go upstairs and declared "this game is stupid."

I nodded in agreement. What could I say? It was.

Today at work, a co-worker in his late 30s who is a sports fan, but is more interested in football and basketball, asked me:

"Is this World Series bullshit?"

I thought for a moment and then answered, "Yes, yes it is bullshit."

It's exciting, nerve-wracking and exhilarating as hell. But through it all there seems to be something a bit off.

I'm calling stupid. I'm calling bullshit. And I know I'm not the only one.