As all Hallows eve descends upon us I am reminded that the Dodgers have played only once on Halloween. During last year’s World Series the boys in blue took on the Houston Astros in game 6 of the World Series. That was the only the sixth time in MLB history that players took the field on Halloween. If you remember the Dodgers won, defeating the Astros 3-1. Joc Pederson hit a huge home run off of Justin Verlander and Rich Hill turned in a strong performance. The Dodgers overcame a 1-0 deficit thanks to an RBI double from Chris Taylor and a sacrifice fly from Corey Seager before Joc’s home run. Hill’s strong start led most of us writers to affectionately term the night “Hilloween.”
The win tied the series at 3-3 forcing a game 7. Of course we all remember how the next evening turned out. It did not turn out well for the Dodgers. That doesn’t take away that the lone Dodger game played in Halloween night was a special one.
This winter should be an active one for the Dodger’s front office. Clayton Kershaw has to decided by tomorrow morning whether he will opt out of his contract or not. Manager Dave Robert’s contract status is still up in the air and several players should receive qualifying offers. Will the Dodgers give Yasmani Grandal a 17.5 million dollar qualifying offer? Would he accept it should he receive one? Will Alex Wood get a qualifying offer? Will the Dodgers pick up the option on David Freese’s contract? Hint: they should.
The hot stove will soon be upon us and the Dodgers will have a lot of decisions to make. As Roberts said via interview after game 5 of the World Series, some guys will not be back. I think that the 2019 Dodgers will look vastly different from the team that won their second consecutive National League pennant this season.
In the meantime, while we wait for the news to start rolling in, let’s enjoy Halloween 2018. I hope you guys are preparing to have an exciting and safe holiday. From all of us over here at LADR, to all of you out there, have a very happy Halloween. Nothing could be scarier that losing another World Series anyways.
The deciding game in both World Series were eerily similar. Kersh put them in a hole early and Darvish did the same last year. Both finished with 5-1 scores. Game 6 last year was the last time Dodger fans truly felt they were on the verge of ending the drought. I never felt that way this year from the beginning of spring right through the season. Yeah, they surprised me a few times and ended up winning both the division and pennant. It was a lot tougher road this time, so I respect what they were able to get done. It was truly a team effort. But I would trade all these division titles, the two NL Championships and the team HR record for a Series win. I am pretty sure every Dodger fan feels the same, whether you believe in this front office or not, we all want the feeling some of us have felt before. The elation of seeing the team you love rise to the top. Even though you are not out there on the field with those guys or in the clubhouse spraying champagne, you feel like you are. One of my all time favorite moments is when they clinched in Arizona and jumped in the D-Backs beloved swimming pool. It was a great moment. Lots of questions this offseason. Will we ever see Kersh pitch at Dodger Stadium in a Dodger uni again? Do they ever entertain re-signing Machado? What about Harper? I think Kersh will stay, we will know later today. Machado and Harper? I think no way they go after either one of them. I do think they will make an effort to plug the obvious holes. Catcher and second base. Fasten your seat belts…it is about to start. Oh yeah, they will give Roberts a new deal or just exercise his option. They love the guy.
5 PM Mountain time. Still waiting on a decision from Kershaw. Price staying in Boston. World Series viewership down 25% from last year.
A couple of things, and these are my thoughts only. Bellinger and Taylor need to make contact more often. Between the 2 of them they struck out 328 times. That’s 328 wasted at bats. No runners moved over or runs driven in. That’s pretty bad. In 16 post season games the combined to strikeout 29 more times. Of course Muncy struck out 23 times in the playoffs all by himself. They need to pick up Freese’s option. Freese in 39 games after they picked him up hit .385 with a couple of homers and 9 RBI’s. In the postseason he hit .364 with 2 homers and 6 RBI’s. He is a valuable player and a perfect replacement in the club house for Utley. They need a 2nd baseman who can play everyday and they have to address the catching problem. The team will no doubt work heavily on re-tooling the bullpen. They have trade options, and they have a lot of money available now. I do think they will do something with Matt Kemp and he will not be a Dodger next season. It is that time of year. The times they are a changing!
Michael
Kemp will still be here next year unless an American League team needs him to DH which I think is unlikely. We do need Freeze but I do not think they even have a plan to get back to the WS. We shall see. You know as well as I do that Bellinger and Taylor will not change next year. They are what they are and that is a couple of guys that will strike out way too many times and will not turn into top quality guys. Plus, Dummy will never put them in a position to win. They will retool the bullpen the same way they always have, dumpster dive and get guys they hope might amount to something. Yeah right, times are achangeing.