Charlie Culberson: Dodgers ‘made us feel like family’

LOS ANGELES — Charlie Culberson was part of the Dodgers’ five-player trade with the Braves on Saturday, the only one without a big contract in the swap.

Culberson was with the Dodgers for two seasons, and though he only briefly played in the majors — 49 games and 83 regular season plate appearances — he still left his mark in franchise history. The utility infielder hit a walk-off, division-clinching home run in 2016 in the last game Vin Scully called at Dodger Stadium. Then Culberson followed that up with stellar defense at shortstop filling in for an injured Corey Seager during the NLCS, and hit .500 in the postseason (8-for-16) with four extra-base hits.

When he hit an 11th-inning home run to pull the Dodgers within one in Game 2 of the World Series, Culberson was so exuberant rounding the bases that play-by-play broadcaster Joe Buck speculated on air that Culberson might have thought he tied the score (he did not think that; Culberson was just very, very happy).

Culberson thanked the Dodgers on Twitter on Saturday night.

The trade is good news for Culberson, who played prep baseball at Calhoun High School in Georgia, roughly an hour away from Sun Trust Park, and lives in nearby Smyrna.