After years of disappointment, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally met the lofty expectations bestowed upon them by the amount of talent they have on their roster.
Last night, Los Angeles clinched their first World Series since the gritty, gutty 1988 team stunned the Oakland Athletics.
If ever there was a season when you could borrow the Vin Scully statement “in a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened” it’s this one.
The Covid-19 epidemic caused the regular season to be shortened. The Dodgers navigated through the regular season in a fashion befitting of a team with their talent. After cruising through the first two series (Milwaukee and San Diego), Los Angeles found themselves down 3-1 to the Atlanta Braves.
That’s where there was a different feeling to this team. Instead of there being a sense of “here we go again”, it was a feeling of “we can win three in a row”.
That change in attitude signaled a different time despite a lot of the roster being held over from the disappointments of the past.
Mookie Betts’ importance can’t be denied but lets not overlooked the importance of the organization’s home grown talent.
- Corey Seager (2012, Los Angeles Dodgers, Round: 1, Overall Pick: 18) was the World Series MVP.
- Julio Urias (2012 signee) got the final seven outs of the game.
- Walker Buehler (2015, Los Angeles Dodgers, Round: 1, Overall Pick: 24) was 2-0 with a 1.80 era in the postseason
- Clayton Kershaw (2006, Los Angeles Dodgers, Round: 1, Overall Pick: 7) as been through so much playoff disappointment sometimes of his own doing. But his performance in Game 5 was as good as any.
- Cody Bellinger (2013, Los Angeles Dodgers, Round: 4, Overall Pick: 124) had 4 home runs and 14 RBI in the playoffs including the game winning home run in the seventh inning of Game 7 of the NLCS.
That’s what makes this win so special. A lot of the guys who grew up in the organization and experienced all the disappointments were here for the high point.
Justin Turner and Max Muncy aren’t original Dodgers but they might as well be. Turner was willingly let go by the Mets when they didn’t want to give him a million dollars in arbitration. Muncy was drafted by the Oakland A’s and ended up being a non-roster invitee for the Dodgers in 2018.
This roster might not resemble the 1988 roster on the surface but there are a lot of the same traits.
