What a Series, what a game!
The team some thought was ruining baseball gives the game it's greatest World Series ever
With hundreds of thousands of people flooding the streets of Los Angeles at this very moment, the Dodgers are being recognized for winning what may well be, objectively speaking, the most exciting World Series in history.
Tomorrow we’ll read about traffic jams, reckless driving, public intoxication, malicious mischief and all kinds of other terrible things, including the team’s possible plans to accept an invitation to the White House. But today, let’s give it up for the Dodgers.
In an 18-inning Game 3 win, their superstar Shohei Ohtani hit two doubles, two home runs, and was intentionally walked a ridiculous five times, but he did nothing that stood out in the other six contests.
Down three games to two on the road, then 3-0 in Game 7, the team kept coming back in the most unlikely ways, until Miguel Rojas, a 36-year-old bench player who hadn’t had a hit in a month and has never been considered a power hitter, lined a pitch from Toronto’s top reliever over the wall in the 11th inning of the deciding Game 7, with what proved to be the winning hit of the Series.
There’s been a lot of great writing about the game, and I can’t add much to it except this: The Blue Jays won Game 1 at home, but the Dodgers came back to even things up in Game 2. They won two out of three in L.A., but the Dodgers came back to sweep the final two on the road. They out-hit the Dodgers, out-scored the Dodgers, and for the most part, showcased superior defense and baserunning until it counted, but Los Angeles kept coming back, even when all but their most die-hard fans counted them out.
And now LA, a city besieged this year by fire and ICE, finally has reason to celebrate.
And so do fans of exciting baseball everywhere. Good going, Dodgers; we’ll see you again next year!
Ahem, shouldn’t that be subjectively speaking? Still, agreed. Except for the 1960 Series between the Yankees and the Pirates when we listened on transistor radios…
I understand the critics' palaver about the team "buying" the World Series and I buy NONE of it. Many of us said that about the Yankees for decades: Whenever they wanted instant improvement they'd buy it from a player's current club. The Dodgers reconfigured the process by deferring some of Ohtani's money to acquire Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Don't reach for the smelling salts just yet because other teams will adopt this approach.
Let's also not downplay a couple of realitiess: Toronto ALSO spent a ton on talent -- and the Blue Jays are a great team. Not gas cans and the Series was decided by outstanding play on the field. On that score, BOTH teams delivered.
Take your pick among the moments that had your favorites teetering on the edge of obliviom. This Series gave renewed urgency to the national pastime. Let's see this happen every year!