"There are only two seasons--Winter and Baseball." ~Bill Veeck
The Dodgers are the World Series champions!
I'm excited! The Dodgers are one of my teams--I have four of them. I know. I get all kinds of crap about this, but I lived most of my life in Minnesota, so of course I have the Twins. Then the Cubs were on cable every day and I watched them whenever I could, so I adopted the Cubs. But then WGN lost the Cubs broadcast, but TBS still had the Braves, so I picked up the Atlanta team.
And that's where I sat until I subscribed to the MLB package that let me watch any game I wanted. I'd start on the east coast because those games came on at noon in Minneapolis, but by around 3 or 4pm, I'd be flipping around, looking for another game.
What did I stumble across? Vin Scully, literally the best announcer in baseball. I started watching the Dodger games because he was so good. And became a Dodgers fan.
It was beginning to feel as if the Dodgers were my second Cubs, because no matter how good they were, they couldn't seem to actually win a World Series. But the Cubs managed one season where they made it across the finish line, and this year, the Dodgers did the same.
I went to bed with the score 1-0, Tampa Bay Rays. Before too long, I was reaching for my phone to check the score. I did it a few times. I saw it become 2-0 Dodgers. I watched Mookie Betts hit a home run to add an insurance run. And when there were two outs in the ninth inning, I turned off my phone and made a mad dash for the family room to flip the TV on!
This was almost as exciting as the Cubs win. Almost. But then it was 108 years between World Series wins for the Cubs and only 32 years for the Dodgers.
Only one thing marred the celebration--Justin Turner, the third baseman tested positive for COVID and was removed from the game. He was supposed to remain in isolation from others, but he went back out on the field to celebrate and frequently had his mask off around other people who weren't wearing their masks either. This action sucked a lot of the enjoyment out of the victory. It was very selfish.
Other interesting things of note from game 6:
The Rays pulling their starting pitcher who had dominant stuff. I was surprised. I know analytics got them to the World Series, but there needs to be a balance between numbers and what's happening right before the manager's eyes.
The fans booed commissioner Rob Manfred. This had a lot to do with how he handled the cheating scandal involving the Astros. There actions were egregious, and while Manfred made a deal not to issue punishment for the players if they told the truth, he certainly could have taken sterner measures with the team in general.
Finally, to close on a happier note, holy cow is Mookie Betts an incredible player or what?
Congratulations, Dodgers!
