i didn’t expect it

the dodgers of recent years have definitely moved from the “make the postseason and anything can happen” mentality to “world series or bust” but having to play the padres in the nlds was a worst case scenario for me in terms of playoff anxiety. i have a couple of friends who are actually padre fans and they were pretty excited given how well the pads played down the stretch and i was resigned to a “bust” season given the injuries to the pitching staff. 

so getting to the nlcs was more than i figured for that version of the 2024 dodgers. even once they made it to the fall classic i was pretty nonchalant about their chances to win it all. freeman’s game 1 homer gave me hope and ice cube and clutch hits had me fired up but it was only when they went up by three games that i started to worry that it might actually slip away. ohtani’s shoulder injury in game 2 and the patchwork rotation requiring the game 4 bullpen game didn’t instill a lot of confidence. knowing that gerritt cole was waiting with game 5 made matters worse.  

even though i was traveling, i was able to follow game 5 through various means and ultimately watch the bottom of the ninth from the delta sky club at lax with some other displaced dodger fans. seeing walker buehler strike out alex verdugo was glorious.

so it’s another commissioner’s trophy for the dodgers 

and there can be no denying by the 2020 naysayers like verdugo that this one is legit. beating the yankees in the postseason is the best dodger baseball there is and now the franchises are even head to head in my lifetime. 

by the way, hearing vin scully’s 1988 game 1 call imposed on video of freeman’s at bat was and is spectacular. to steal another scully call, if you have a sombrero throw it to the sky!