This is the first baseball season since I was probably 5 years old or younger that I haven't gone to a Dodger game. I know that's a Cadillac problem, but this team is as much a part of me as my eye color or blood type, there's no changing it. The sky is blue, water is wet, the sun rises in the east and I bleed Dodger Blue.
I realized when I was messaging my with my Dad what's different about 'Dem Bums this year, it's not just the presence of Mookie Betts, although having the AL & NL MVP on my team isn't a bad problem to have, it isn't JUST that. It's that this group, Joc Pederson, Max Muncy, Chris Taylor, AJ Pollock . . . They're not going to be the same group next season. If they're gonna do it, it's gotta be now. Clayton Kershaw who has broken every record, passed historic greats, won countless awards . . . Needs a ring. He's not getting any younger. Kenley Jansen is all but done, Baby Joc is most likely out the door when this season is over, how much gas does Pollock have in the tank, and JT is in the last year of his contract with us. Now the lack of a salary cap means we've got some wiggle room, but Belli is gonna get PAAAIIIID and he should, he's a young stud who's only going to improve. I'd like to keep them all, which means I would make an absolutely awful GM. I simply can't make those decisions.
It's the bottom of the 8th now and the score is still 8-3, meaning my guys couldn't get a run across the plate with the bases laoded. Gahhhd, runners in scoring position (RISP) and NOT scoring has always been a thorn for us, but this Padres team is nothing to be trifled with. They've got a good young squad full of hot bats, when they get their pitching dialed in, look out.
Yes, athletes get paid a bunch of money to do something that most of us only dream of, but this year has been chaotic for everybody, and ball players were juuusttt about to start the season when everything shut down. They started the season at what should've been the All Star Break, now they're in a bubble and yes their families are there, but they've had to make sacrafices just like us, and they're living through insanity just like us. To show up every day and keep their heads and play good ball, that shouldn't be discounted.
I digress. I don't even know what point I'm trying to make with this post, I just know that I love this team that has been breaking my heart for so many years, and I'm so glad that I'm able to watch them make history and have fun. If we get by San Diego, we gotta get by the Bravos, neither of which should be considered an easy path. Also, Globe Life Park super sucks! It's like the anti Coors Field. Nothing goes out.
Anyhoodles, life is short, Dodger Baseball is magic.
