Ladies and gentlemen, the Los Angeles Dodgers are Champions of the World. That’s a reference to Vin Scully’s call when the Dodgers won the World Series in 1955. Since their first championship, they have to wait four, four, two, sixteen, and seven years for their subsequent championships. So 32 years since 1988 was a long wait. This is going to be a long, rambling post, but here we go.
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| You know we’ll get to Kershaw. I just wanted to make sure this was the first picture in this post. |
Do you ever think about why you root for the teams you root for? For college sports, it’s often because of where you went to school (not always, but that’s the case for me). For professional sports, it’s just geography for many people. But not for me. I grew up as a Dodger fan because of my father being a Brooklyn Dodger fan. I’m a Celtics fan because of my father also. I don’t know what happened with my brothers. My theory is the Yankees/Giants vs. Mets/Jets thing was a way to differentiate them because they’re twins, but that doesn’t explain how they grew up as Knicks fans. For football, I grew up as a Jets fan because my favorite color is green. And I became a Ranger fan because I first became interested in hockey in 1994. I’ve spent the better part of the past decade lamenting the fact that my favorite color was green. Between the Patriots cheating and winning all the time, the Jets being the Jets, Rex Ryan acting like a moron, and USC quarterbacks, I’ve lost so much interest in the Jets (maybe they’ll end up with Trevor Lawrence and I’ll get back in, but it won’t be the same) and in the NFL in general. I’ve regretted being a Jets fan, but I’ve never regretted being a Dodger fan even though they couldn’t win the World Series. There’s something cool about being a fan of the team of Jackie Robinson, the team that had Vin Scully calling games for 67 years, the team that always battled the Yankees and finally beat them in 1955, the team of the greatest left-handed pitcher of all time (Koufax) and perhaps the greatest left-handed pitcher since then (Kershaw, it’s either him or Randy Johnson as the best since Koufax), and the team that has called Ebbets Field and Dodger Stadium home.
My first sports memories involve the 1988 Dodgers. I am almost certain that four-year-old Jim was at Shea Stadium for a Dodgers-Mets game that was rained out. They played on Friday, September 2, and Saturday, September 3, but there was no game on Sunday, September 4. I’m pretty sure I was at Shea Stadium that day, but they never started the game. I almost certainly didn’t watch Kirk Gibson’s home run live (it would have been pretty late at night), but I was definitely aware of it. The first game that I went to that was actually played was August 18 of the following year. Orel Hershiser was pitching for the Dodgers. David Cone was pitching for the Mets. The Mets won 3-2. I cried leaving the game. The 90s was not a good decade for the Dodgers. They had a bunch of Rookies of the Year, but they won a total of 0 playoff games. Things got better in the next decade, but they still only won two playoff series. And they were left with an owner who had no money. And in the following decade, they had a young superstar pitcher and new ownership. The team started spending money again and winning, but they couldn’t get over the hump. In 2017, they finally made it to the World Series. The combined score for the series was 34-34, but they lost in seven. Later we learned that the Astros were cheating. If not for the Astros cheating, the Dodgers certainly win Game 5 and maybe Game 3 also. They got back to the World Series in 2018, but again they lost to a team that was cheating (but probably not as egregiously as the Astros the year before). In 2019, they lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Nationals, who went on to win the World Series. I think that was the loss that hurt me the most when it happened. We thought the Dodgers and Astros were just evenly matched and the Astros just edged them out. The Red Sox were better than the Dodgers. But the Dodgers were better than the Nationals. If they played 25 times, the Dodgers would have won more than half of them, but it was only a five game series and the Nationals won three. And then this year it looked like we might not have a season for a while. And then when the season started, it looked like it might not last very long early on. But we made it to the end and the Dodgers are World Series Champions.
Being a Dodger fan on the east coast was difficult growing up in a time when you couldn’t just watch any baseball games you wanted. I got to watch when they played the Mets or when they were on ESPN (or Fox, but usually the Fox game in New York would be the Yankees or the Mets). In 2004, I got the MLB.tv package for the last few weeks of the season. That was a fun team, but then they lost in the first round to the Cardinals in four games (by the way, I was mad that they traded Dave Roberts that year, he could have helped them the way he helped the Red Sox). But I’ve had the MLB Extra Innings package since 2008 and I also got a real job for the first time in 2008 and that allowed me to go to a lot more games. I went to 45 Dodger games from 2008-2019 (in 14 different stadiums around the country), but I didn’t get to any this year of course. I went to lots of Dodger games at Shea Stadium before that 2008, but I don’t know how many. I have an exact record of all the games I’ve been to since 2008 thanks to the MLB Ballpark app. The Dodgers are 23-22 in the games I’ve been to since 2008 (they won the last five I went to last year). I was supposed to go to two games at Dodger Stadium in April, I definitely would have seen them at Citi Field, and I had thought about seeing them in Kansas City and Minnesota with their original 2020 schedule. Of course, none of that was to be. I watched pretty much every game until school started. I think the only exceptions were the few games against the Padres when I didn’t have cable or internet because of a tropical storm. When school started, I watched all of Kershaw’s starts and any weekend or early games, but they were in good shape in the division so I wasn’t going to stay up late watching every single game. So I watched as much as I could, but I wish I could have watched them for 162 games and I wish I could have seen them in person a few times. And I wish they could have won this World Series at Dodger Stadium. It was nice that they did have a good amount of Dodger fans at the stadium in Texas, but it’s a shame they didn’t get to win it in front of 55,000 Dodger fans at Dodger Stadium. Speaking of Globe Life Field, it’s the only current stadium that I haven’t been to. I certainly plan on getting there whenever it’s safe to do so. And it will be more special going to the place where the Dodgers won their final 11 games on their way to their seventh World Series Championship.
Let’s talk about Clayton Kershaw. He’s my favorite athlete ever (just search for Kershaw on the blog and you’ll find several posts about how much I love him). He won three Cy Youngs from 2011-2014 (and he should have won in 2012 also, but people thought knuckleballs were cute or whatever) and an MVP. He finished third in Cy Young voting in 2015, but that was only because Jake Arrieta pitched like the Major League Baseball season-long version of Robert Horry taking big shots in the playoffs (inexplicably otherworldly) and a Hall of Famer (Zack Greinke) had the best year of his career. He would have won the Cy Young in 2016 and maybe 2017 also if he didn’t get hurt. I think he’s the best pitcher I’ve ever seen. I’m not considering Roger Clemens because he was a cheater. Greg Maddux might have the numbers, but I watched baseball and he wasn’t as good as Randy Johnson or Pedro Martinez. I already said it’s between Kershaw and Johnson for the best left-handed pitcher since Koufax. It’s pretty close between Kershaw and Pedro Martinez. Check out their best seven-year stretches:
Kershaw has been amazing, but it hurt so much that he couldn’t win a World Series. And he had this reputation of not pitching well in the postseason. Some of that was deserved, but it was also overstated. He had plenty of great starts in the playoffs. There were some disasters, but there were also other games where his numbers ended up looking bad after he had pitched very well because his manager left him in too long and/or he got no help from the bullpen. Then there was 2017. He was excellent in that postseason. In the World Series, he was dominant in 11 innings in Games 1 and 7 in Dodger Stadium. Game 5 was a disaster in Houston. What was the difference? The Astros were cheating at home. Kershaw deserved his first championship that year. Kershaw was really good this postseason and he was the only pitcher to win two games in the World Series. He was great in Game 1 and he was solid in Game 5. Nobody can say that he didn’t earn this.
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| Kershaw has certainly had his share of great starts in the playoffs. |
I have to mention other players. Mookie Betts is a special player. I knew he was good, but I had no idea how good before I started watching him every day. I’ve never enjoyed watching somebody play the outfield or run the bases like I enjoy watching him do those things. He’ll be wildly overpaid at the end of his contract when his skills are diminished, but he’s underpaid now and he’s already helped the Dodgers win one World Series. I think he’s not done. I was happy for Corey Seager. I always liked him, but he struggled with injuries. Last year, he was pretty good, but he was coming back from two big surgeries. Then going into this season there were rumors about trading for Francisco Lindor or Mookie Betts. I wanted Mookie Betts because I thought he was better, but also because the Dodgers had Corey Seager at shortstop. I got that one right. Cody Bellinger didn’t have the best season, but he hit the home run that gave them the lead in Game 7 against the Braves. And he made some tough plays look easy in center field. Justin Turner has been such an important part of the Dodgers during this run. He’s such a dependable player. When he tried to talk Dave Roberts out of taking Kershaw out in Game 5, that has to be one of his best moments as a Dodger (the home run to win Game 2 against the Cubs in 2017 is probably his finest moment). But going back out on the field after the game yesterday, well, that wasn’t one of his finest moments. Hopefully it was a false positive and everybody will be okay. Will Smith had a really nice season and it’s nice to have a young catcher who can hit. Austin Barnes had a really nice season after a couple of down years and he knocked Blake Snell out of the game last night. And then there’s Chris Taylor, Kiké Hernandez, A.J. Pollock, and Joc Pederson. They just did whatever they were asked. I was really happy for my fellow Notre Dame alum A.J. Pollock. He had a rough year last year with injuries. He didn’t have a big postseason, but he was really good in the regular season. I’m happy for Kenley Jansen. He’s the best relief pitcher that I’ve ever seen for the Dodgers. He might not be the closer anymore going forward, but he’s given the Dodgers everything he had over the years. Walker Buehler is a special young pitcher. I hope he stays healthy and the torch can be passed from Kershaw to Buehler. I’m always confident when he’s on the mound in the playoffs. Julio Urias was a huge prospect for the Dodgers. I was at his first career start, which came at Citi Field. But he’s had his struggles with injury. He came up huge for the Dodgers in the playoffs. One last player that should get mentioned is Andre Ethier. No, he wasn’t on this team, but he was a great Dodger and he deserved to win a World Series in 2017. Stupid Astros. I would give him a World Series ring.
Before the game yesterday, I either listened to or watched the final out of the Dodgers previous six championships. When we didn’t have sports, I listened to the radio broadcast of Game 7 in 1955 and I watched Game 7 in 1965, Game 6 in 1981, and Game 5 in 1988. I watched all of their wins in 1981 and 1988. I had seen Game 1 in 1988 before, but I hadn’t seen their other wins. When I watched Game 5 in 1988, I was a little emotional. I was alive for it, but I didn’t experience it the way I experience every season now. This game was the third time during my life where the Dodgers were playing to win the World Series. I was hoping I’d have to wait longer than a day for the fourth time. Hopefully it won’t be as long as the three years I had to wait for this opportunity.
I had thought that Game 6 was going to be an issue for the Dodgers. The Rays had the pitching edge. But yesterday I had a feeling that they’d get it done. They won all of the Kershaw/Buehler starts. I just didn’t think they were going to lose all the other games in the series. Blake Snell was fantastic for the Rays. Tony Gonsolin got in trouble, but the only run he allowed was the solo home run to Randy Macho Man Arozarena. He got the early hook and the bullpen was amazing. I’m happy Alex Wood got to make a contribution. He was very good for the Dodgers in 2017 and he was the only pitcher to beat the Astros in the playoffs when they were cheating in Houston. I thought that if the bullpen could keep it close, the Dodgers could get to their bullpen. I have to thank Kevin Cash for taking out Blake Snell way too early. He gave up a single in the sixth and he was out. The Dodgers had the top of the order coming up, but those three hitters were hitless in six at bats with six strikeouts. Every Dodger fan was happy Snell was coming out of the game. It was such a bad move. Maybe that will make the pendulum swing back away from nerds making decisions about baseball based only on numbers and not on what is actually happening on the field. Dodger fans were upset about Kershaw getting a quick hook in Game 5, but that was a little bit different. His pitch count was higher and he was not dominating the way Blake Snell was. If Snell kept pitching like that, he could have gone at least seven. But Kevin Cash took him out and the Dodgers promptly went from being down 1-0 to being up 2-1, mostly thanks to Mookie Betts. Suddenly the Dodgers were nine outs away from being World Series Champions. Watching the playoffs is just so stressful. It’s not like basketball. When one team is just better than everybody else, they’re going to win. That’s the way the 2008 Celtics were. The Dodgers were better than everybody else, but that doesn’t always mean you’re going to win in baseball. They needed to finish it off. I was hoping they would tack on some runs to make it less stressful. Mookie Betts came through a home run to give them a little breathing room. But they didn’t need it as Julio Urias cruised through the last seven batters for the Rays. He struck out Willy Adames to end it and the Dodgers were finally World Series Champions. And I got to watch it with my dad.
I celebrated with a Brooklyn Lager in honor of the Dodgers’ roots. And then I had a Boston Lager, which is my favorite beer that I can get my hands on right now (I finished my Summer Ale, I think I missed the boat on Octoberfest, and I don’t think Sam Adams Chocolate Bock is out yet). I had a student give me a bottle of champagne last year, but I’ll save that to continue my celebration this weekend with some college football on a night where I don’t have to go to work the next day. I stayed up until a little after 2:00. I saw an interview with Clayton Kershaw and Walker Buehler together on MLB Network and that was the perfect way to end the night. I really wish I didn’t have to go to work today.
Almost final thoughts: I don’t want to hear about any asterisk on this season. The Astros get an asterisk for cheating. The Dodgers had no control over the circumstances of this season. They were playing under the same rules as everybody else and they still only gave one team a “piece of metal” at the end and they won it. That reminds me, I loved the Dodger fans booing Rob Manfred. He deserved it. And they were given no breaks. They had to play an extra round against a team that had no business being in the playoffs. Sure, the Brewers stunk and the Dodgers won pretty easily, but they shouldn’t have had to play that series at all. I get giving more teams a chance since they only had 60 regular season games, but they should have given the top two seeds an advantage by making it a two-game series where they only had to win one to advance. In the second round, they could have reseeded to reward the best teams. That would have given the Dodgers a much weaker opponent in the second round in the Marlins, but the Dodgers took care of business against the Padres. Once you were down to four teams, you had three teams that deserved to be there. The Astros did not. The Braves were good and they went up 3-1 in the series, but the Dodgers came back. I really had a feeling that they would. They were due to pull off something like that. The Braves were really good but the Dodgers were better. And the Rays were the best team in the American League, but the Dodgers were better than them also. This was actually the perfect year to play the Rays. I hate watching games on TV in their terrible stadium, but fortunately the Dodgers didn’t have to go there. There were actually more fans at the World Series games than there were at the Rays game I went to last year. I hope I get to see Dodgers-Yankees someday (it’s the most common World Series matchup, but it hasn’t happened since before I was born), but this wouldn’t have been the right year when none of the games would have been in Dodger Stadium or Yankee Stadium. Beating the Astros would have been awesome, but it also would have been disgusting to have lots of Astros fans there with the games being in Texas.
The Dodgers have often made me feel like Christopher “Mad Dog” in this famous rant from 2003:
He got his one. And then he got two more. The Dodgers are back in the lead for most NL Pennants. Hopefully they’ll add to their seven World Series Championships soon.
I’ll end with this. When the Dodgers lost to the Astros three years ago, I thought of a Vin Scully quote:
I suffered many years waiting for this championship. But now I’m celebrating. I love baseball and I love the Dodgers.
