It still doesn’t feel real. Not for me. Not for most of Dodger nation. The drought is finally over. The Dodgers broke their 32-year championship drought on Tuesday night in Arlington Texas by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in game 6 of the 2020 World Series by a score of 3-1. The skies cleared, and the black cloud that has been hanging over the franchise is now gone. No more waiting for next year now next year has passed!
When Julio Urias struck out Willy Adames on Tuesday night, and the ball landed in in the glove of Dodger’s catcher Austin Barnes (now a World Series hero), all of the heartbreak, anguish, and sadness of nearly 32 years of losing vanished. Those are now just memories. Distant memories of October past, and thank goodness they saw it in Los Angeles.
From being a kid growing up in Southern California and hailing from a third generation Dodger family naturally I have dreamed of this day my entire adult life. I was only 8 years old when Kirk Gibson hit the home run and the Dodgers won the 1988 World Series. I was too young to fully remember. Sure, I have memories from 1988, but they are not as clear as they would be if I were older. Perhaps if I was a few years older those memories wouldn’t be so vague, but they are.
That’s why I wanted an adult championship so much. Now all of those playoff losses don’t hurt as much. There are so many things that will change now that the Dodgers are World Series Champions. Here are some of the things that have changed.
Clayton Kershaw’s legacy
Kershaw’s legacy is now complete. He’s finally done it. He’s won a World Series title. Hey he also went 2-0 in the 2020 World Series with a 2.93 ERA. The title of choker is now gone forever. He’ll never be referred to as a choker again. Nobody will ever mention Kershaw and say “he’s a great regular season pitcher, but you know he never won a World Series”. Well he’s got a ring now. He can now cement his place in the hall of fame and amongst Dodger legends.
The manager of the Dodgers Dave Roberts is now the winningest manager in Dodger’s postseason history. His moves have been scrutinized more than any other Dodger skipper in history. For good reason too. His boners in the fall classic have been monumental. Now we can finally say Dave Roberts is a World Series Champion manager. His moves in the last two games were good, and nobody can question that now. No longer can we refer to him as an idiot, or clueless. No more can we talk about him hooking pitchers too early, or not putting lout the right lineups. The guy has just won the World Series. He’s a good manager.
Andrew Friedman
Similar can be said about Friedman. I’m the first to admit this as I have been the most critical of the president of baseball operations. No more can we question Friedman’s tactics, signings and trades. No more can we poke fun of him for his heavy analytics based strategies. No more can we say moneyball and point and laugh. Sure signing Brandon McCarthy was a joke, but the Dodgers just won the World Series and his philosophies are a big reason why. I’m sorry Andrew, and you did a good job. You did it.
Ghosts of 1988
We can finally stop talking about 1988. Honestly I think we were all getting a bit sick of talking about 1988. It was time to make new memories and have new special moments to talk about. We can finally put the ghosts of 1988 to rest permanently. That 1988 team was very special, but now we have a new special team to talk about.
Past World Series failures
Forget about 2017 and 2018. Forget about those two World Series defeats. Forget about the stupid Astros and the cheating. Forget about that game 7 and Yu Darvish. Forget about the Red Sox and that Fall Classic the following season. None of that matters now. It’s ancient history. Let the cheaters have their tarnished trophy. Let the Red Sox have their trophy. The Dodgers have a trophy of their own now. It’s a brand new shiny trophy that sparkles and shines bright.
Past postseason failures
Forget about all of the rest of the postseason losing. The 7 consecutive postseason dumps. Forget about it forever. Forget about Hanley Ramirez’s ribs, and the 2014 NLDS meltdown. Forget about the brain fart on the shift in 2015 NLDS versus the Mets and Daniel Murphy’s soul-crushing home run. Forget about 2016 and the annoying Chicago Cubs breaking their century of losing. Forget about being a footnote to the lame Chicago curse being broken. We just broke our own curse. Forget about last season and Howie Kendrick and the Nationals, and Kershaw hanging his head in the dugout. God it was so heart wrenching. Don’t bother thinking about it anymore because the Dodgers are World Champions.
Past nemesis players
Forget about all of the opposing players that stomped on the Dodger’s throats in the playoffs. Forget about Matt Carpenter, and Yadier Molina. Forget about Daniel Murphy, and Matt Stairs, and George Springer and Jose Altuve. Forget about Mitch Moreland and Steve Pierce. Forget about Nathan Eovaldi, and yes even Joe Kelly, (who is now a good guy). Forget about Kris Bryant, and Stephen Strasburg and Max Scherzer. All of those guys are watching the World Series from their couches.
Gloat to the Giants fans
This is truly wonderful. Remember how awful it felt to have to live through three Giants world championships in five years? I still remember how disgusting it was watching that third title back in 2014. It made me want to vomit. I truly hated baseball at that moment. Well not that’s reversed. Now the Giants fans get to feel disgusted and horrified and now they get to watch us win a championship. This means Grant Brisbee and all of those other goofballs at McCovey Chronicles can take their titles from those seasons and shove it right up their……
Tommy Lasorda and Vin Scully witness history
Even more wonderful is that Tommy and Vin got to see this. Thank god they were able to watch this title run. That makes it all the more sweeter.
There’s so many more stories and heroes from this World Series winning Dodger club. So many come to mind right now like Corey Seager’s record breaking postseason, and MVPs. The Dodger bullpen riding to the rescue. Clutch hits from Will Smith, and Cody Bellinger, and Enrique Hernandez. Joc Pederson and the return of Joctober. Max Muncy, Justin Turner, Walker Buehler, Mookie Betts and his gravity defying catches, Austin Barnes and his fabulous catching, and on and on and on.
Perhaps one of the coolest treats from the Dodgers winning the World Series is that the Gibson clock from the defunct Dodgerblues website is now frozen. A classic reminder of the Dodger’s 32-year long futility is now halted. It’s so hard to put everything into words about how much this championship means to the Dodgers, the fans and Los Angeles. As parents woke their children from their sleep on Tuesday night to witness history, yours truly wept tears of joy. All I could do was cry and write, and so I did as the tears continued to flow.
I am so happy that Tommy Lasorda and Vinny could witness this day in Dodger History…. Thirty-Two years in the making. It was a long, frustrating ride for us fans, but can you imagine how these Hall of Famers felt, having to witness their teams shortcomings year after frikin’ year. Whew, the 2020 Dodgers delivered!
Kershaw finally got his World series win and rid himself of the post season monkey on his back. Now, with this guy named Mookie, who has his back, he might get a couple more trophies for his mantle. There is a new Sheriff in Dodgertown, and his name is Mookie Betts.
Dave Roberts has escaped the chopping block, and after this victory, he may be around for a while, with this young team and new leader, named Betts. I just hope he took notes, and learned a few things from this championship season.
Only regret was the irresponsible COVID Superspreading celebrations in ELA and Downtown LA, and the opportunists (not fans) who destroyed properties and looted businesses. If we do not take this virus serious, they might have to bring out those cardboard cutouts again, next year.
Let’s Go, Dodger Fans….. be responsible. Let’s beat this virus so we can return to some sense of normalcy, both in our lives, and with our National Pastime.
Go Dodger Blue, YOU ARE THE 2020 MLB CHAMPIONS! Let’s get greedy and win some more! The Dodger-Laker Dynasty has begun.
BIG win! Finally they can put some playoff demons to rest.
Many people can rest easy now and enjoy being the WS champs.
I will just ignore all the haters who want to put an asterisk on the trophy (or get on their high horse about Turner celebrating with the team after the game). I will not go along with all the “fans” who will inevitably go after each other and try to settle old scores.
We need to enjoy this victory. This team went through some tough opponents. They learned lessons that have plagued them year after year. They got performances that took them over the top. To the promised land. Congratulations to the 2020 World Series Champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Thanks Mex!
Indeed it is a dream come true for everyone. There are tears in my eyes still. It still doesn’t seem real. Let’s enjoy this.
Just my view on the Justin Turner controversy.
MLB and Manfred has again managed to screw the Dodgers with this COVID-19 protocol issue.
Sure Justin did a irresponsible thing, coming out of isolation and not heeding to MLB Security orders to not go on the field. But, he had been with his team, all but the last two innings. His teammates wanted JT to have some sense of normalcy and take photos on the field with the so called (piece of metal by Manfred), and with his team for the victory team photo.
Face it…. JT had a test the day before which was inconclusive. So, he was technically OK to play at that point, but was retested prior to game 6. He had been very outspoken about following the protocols, as should any clubhouse leader. JT was in the bubble the whole time, and not until near the end of game 6 he comes up positive? Really? I hope it was a false positive and he did not endanger any of his fellow teammates and family members.
Game 6 was almost over. If JT was positive, he definitely would have already infected everyone in the dugout and bubble. Yes, MLB had the right to pull JT from the game. But the timing of it all, it just seems that MLB may have plotted this conspiracy to disrupt the Dodger victory and possible outcome of the World Series. Manfred probably wanted to create a panic on the Dodger team, and possibly have game 6 slip out of their hands. Also, should the Rays have been able to steal game 6, the test would have either postponed Game 7, and/or eliminated JT from playing in the final game, thus decreasing the odds that the Dodgers would be able to recover and then lose the World Series.
Then, you have to look at the consequences JT would have to face in 2021. There has been talk of possible fines and/suspension. This being JT’s free agent year, the suspension could influence any teams that would have been interested in signing him to a lucrative contract, if he could not start the season with his new team. JT being an outspoken MLBPA team representative, Manfred again gets the last laugh on the Dodgers and JT.
Manfred said, “JT broke the rules”. Well, so did those frickin’ A$$tros. The
World Series was technically over, so at that point, did JT really violate the protocols to an extent that would justify a suspension? Were the protocols still enforceable if the World Series was over at that point?
JT was released and allowed to fly home. Out of an abundance of caution JT came home in a private jet, not with the team. Why was he and his wife not quarantined by MLB for 14 days, or at least through the incubation period?
I do not know. Who am I to say. But the circumstances just wanted to make say, “Hmmmmm…”.
Take off the tin foil.
No conspiracies, please.