Dodgers

Leave a comment Posted on Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani

Ohtani–Oh My!

For fans of Dodger baseball, the past 12 years have been schizophrenic.  As monumental as the regular season records have been, the playoff runs have been short-lived and sometimes awful.

2013 – 92-70; lost in championship series

2014 – 94-68; lost in divisional series

2015 – 92-70; lost in divisional series

2016 – 91-71; lost in championship series

2017 – 104-58; lost in World Series

2018 – 92-71; lost in World Series

2019 – 106-56; lost in divisional series

2020 – 43-17; won World Series

2021 – 106-56; lost in championship series

2022 – 111-51; lost in divisional series

2023 – 100-62; lost in divisional series

During this incredible 12-year stretch, the L.A. club holds the best winning percentage of any team in baseball.  Normally, that track record would amount to the Dodgers anointed as a dynasty.  Unfortunately, titles are what ultimately determines such a distinction.  And the Dodgers have but one World Series championship (that shortened season one in 2020) to show for their regular season greatness.  It can be argued that 2017 should have been another when the Houston Astros were guilty of cheating their way to a title.

Talk to Dodger fans and they will conclude that the regular season means nothing as long as they don’t win a championship.

I used to feel that way, but this season I no longer do.

That’s due to one player:  Shohei Ohtani.

Every time he comes up to the plate it’s a thrill.  You have to stop what you’re doing and watch what he does.  Look at how many people in the stands are videotaping his at-bats.

For those who may not know, what makes Ohtani unique is his ability to hit and pitch at elite levels.  The only other player who did that was Babe Ruth.  It is why when he left Japan to come to America in 2018, several teams wanted him.  He signed with the Angels and won two Most Valuable Player awards. 

As a free agent over the winter, Ohtani signed with the Dodgers for $700 million, the most expensive contract for an athlete.  But it’s like signing two players at the same time:  a pitcher and a hitter.  Since he’s recovering from arm surgery this year, he is the Designated Hitter.

By focusing solely on hitting, he is doing things never done or rarely done before in the nearly 200 years of baseball.

Earlier this season he became the 6th player in MLB history to have at least 40 home runs and 40 steals in the same season. Of those players, he achieved that mark in the fewest games.

And on Sept. 19, the one-year anniversary of his arm surgery, Ohtani may have had the best single game every for any baseball player in history, when he surpassed 50 homers and 50 steals.

He went 6 for 6, with a single, 2 doubles and 3 homeruns; those homers were list last three at-bats.

Look at Ohtani’s stats for that single game:

  • He had 10 RBIs, the most for any Dodger player.
  • He’s the 16th player to have 10 RBIs.
  • He’s the 7th player to have 17 total bases.
  • He’s the 1st player to have 3 HRs and 2 SBs.
  • He’s the 1st player to have 10 RBIs and 5 extra-base hits.
  • His batting average increased from .287 to .294.

Ohtani challenged himself to steal more bases this year.  Previously, he only had 26 stolen bases out of 36 attempts.  As of this writing, he has 55 stolen bases out of 59 attempts. He also has 53 home runs.

That day, the Dodgers clinched a playoff spot for the 12th straight year.  It also was the first time Ohtani in 7 years will be in the playoffs ending the longest streak of games for a current player who never played in a playoff game before.

What makes his productivity even more impressive is this.

  • This is his first year adjusting to a new team and environment.
  • In March, his closest American friend pled guilty to stealing $17 million in a gambling scandal; Ohtani had no idea of this betrayal.
  • Signing such a huge contract did not harm his output; in fact, he is having his best year in the majors.

Think of the global media pressure Ohtani has managed in all of the visiting cities.  One thing is clear:  no moment overwhelms him.  In last year’s World Baseball Classic, he clinched the championship for Japan.  One can only imagine how he will perform in the playoffs.

And the most amazing part of this story is how humble of a person Ohtani is.  The first thing he said after the game:  “[I am] very respectful to the peers and everybody who came before who played the sport of baseball.”

Sports can provide a respite from negative news.  To marvel at how one human can perform at a level never before seen in a particular sport is glorious.

As much as I would love for the Dodgers to win their first full season championship since 1988, Ohtani is a champion, and next year when he pitches and hits, who know what records he will break?  I’m going to enjoy watching him play in Dodger Blue for the next 9 years.  How lucky we Dodger fans are!

Leave a comment Posted on Dodgers, Vin Scully

Vinny is Gone

Whenever an unbelievable major news event occurs, I absorb all readings and viewings of the event so that the reality finally registers.  And so it is with the passing of Hall of Fame Dodger announcer Vin Scully.

Even though I never met him (a wish that never came true), Vin Scully’s death at age 94 hits me hard.

Vin Scully outlived my father and my mother during my lifetime.

I was 14 when my father died.

I was 47 when my mother died.

I am 64 when Vin Scully died.

The year 1958 is very precious to me.  It was the year I was born.  And it was the year the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.

Perhaps that explains why I am a lifetime Dodger fan.  However, the person responsible for that love for baseball and the Dodgers is Vinny.

He was always Vinny to me because he was talking to me on my transistor radio, describing what he was seeing on the field.

I held on to each precious word he broadcast from the time he greeted us with “Hi everybody and a very pleasant good evening to you wherever you may be” to signing off with a “Good night, everybody.” His dulcet tones were soothing, comforting.  He was our security blanket from April to September.

If I was driving home and putting away my car in the garage, I wouldn’t turn off the radio until Vinny finished the half-inning.

It is why whenever Vinny would do a playoff game on the radio, I would turn off the TV volume so I could hear his unique depictions of the game, always adding personal stories of baseball players he knew that spanned much of the 20th century.

I always looked forward to his history lessons on Memorial Day and Independence Day.  He was a true patriot, a lover of this country as when he remarked “Can you imagine that?”

when two spectators at Dodger Stadium ran onto the field to burn an American flag (then Chicago Cub outfielder Rick Monday famously rescued it).

His calming but firm words at the start of the first Dodger game after the Sept. 11th attacks in 2001 were the appropriate way to soothe all of us shaken from that dastardly terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

All of us were truly fortunate that he had such a long life and broadcast for 67 years working for the same employer. 

There will never be another Vin Scully.  Besides the gentlemanly traits that he imbued—decency, kindness, class—he broadcasted in an era where only one announcer was in the booth meaning that he had a personal connection to the listener or viewer.  Even when it became fashionable to have one or two analysts sit with the play-by-play announcer, Vinny held his ground that he didn’t want to lose that attachment with the fans and so the Dodgers never forced him to change his ways.

That is why the Dodger games haven’t been the same since he retired in 2016.  Hearing two people talk to one another instead of talking to the fans feels remote as if we are eavesdropping on buddies joking with each other in the broadcast booth, instead of a person who we feel is a friend or a member of the family.

Here is just a small sample of the type of calls I will forever remember Vinny making:

On using poetry:  “Deuces wild.  Second inning, two on, two out, two and two count, tied at two.”

On a home run:  “Away back, she is gone!”

On a bases clearing double:  “In comes Buckner, in comes Russell, here comes Cey on a double by Garvey!”

Eerily, the very day before his passing, I emailed Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke about his health.  I noticed that the last post on his Twitter account was from May 6.

“I find this odd considering normally he would comment on the Sandy Koufax statue ceremony last month,” I wrote.  “Is he doing okay?”

“Good catch Brian,” Plaschke wrote back. “I haven’t spoken to him in a while…no idea how he’s doing…but as always, it’s worth monitoring.”

Twenty-four hours later he was gone.

This is a difficult column to write, not just because of Vinny’s passing, but it means that this will be the final time I will write about him.

There are few people we encounter in life that we wish would live forever.  For me, Vin Scully would be on that short list.

Leave a comment Posted on Dodgers

It’s No Longer Time for Dodger Baseball

And so, another Dodger season is over.

After winning 106 regular season games tying a franchise record, a wild-card game, the five-game division series against the Giants, as well as two games against the winning Atlanta Braves who will go on to play in the World Series, the 2021 Dodgers are in the books.

As a fan, it is always a weird, empty feeling knowing that your favorite sports team in the world is no longer going to be on the radio or TV playing.  You hold on to every last moment including the final time you will hear Charlie Steiner and Rick Monday on KLAC or Orel Hershiser and Nomar Garciaparra on Spectrum.   The announcers and analysts rarely say “see you next year,” their voices and faces disappear  off the air into a commercial.

For the Dodgers, the current roster will undergo changes due to players becoming free agents, among them:  Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen, Chris Taylor, Corey Seager, and Max Scherzer.

My guess is that Kershaw will return.  I can’t imagine that he and the Dodger organization don’t come up with an agreeable plan to allow the all-time great leftie to end his career in Dodger blue.

I’m afraid to say the it is doubtful any of the others will be back.  Not even the mighty Guggenheim Group who owns the club can give out big contracts to every player.

Looking back at this unprecedented 9-year run of Dodger playoff baseball, from 2013 to 2021, the only shame is that all those seasons, eight of them as first place division finishers, resulted in only one championship, and it had to be the crazy coronavirus shortened one so that critics can claim that it was because of the 60-game season that they won.  Those same critics should be reminded that the Houston Astros cheated their way to the 2017 banner which MLB should have revoked.

I don’t see the Dodgers fading away from the playoff picture quickly, but expect an eventual downturn with the Giants and Padres rising in quality for the foreseeable future.

One day Dodger fans will look back yearning for the days of Kershaw and Jansen and Seager and Scully.

For now, we wait 5 months for spring and baseball to return.

Leave a comment Posted on Dodgers, Opening Day

Inspirational Dodger Opening Day

Due to my son’s school being closed on Monday, I had to take a day off of work to be home with him. That day happened to be my birthday, so the stars were aligned when I found out that April 1 was also the Dodgers’ Opening Day. And it was an experience that I will never forget (and I hope my son doesn’t forget either).

If someone asked me what would you like to see on Opening Day, there is no way I could have asked for all the wonderful moments that occurred at Dodger Stadium.  The fact that my boyhood idol, Sandy Koufax, threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and that Dodger legendary hall of fame announcer, Vin Scully, narrated the whole scene over the P.A. system was fantastic. I told my son that no matter how the game played out, the day was already amazing.

Little did we know what was to unfold. Clayton Kershaw, a southpaw like Koufax (notice how both of their names start with ‘K’, a letter that symbolizes a strikeout), broke a scoreless tie leading off the bottom of the eighth inning with his first career home run, then pitched a complete game, a shutout no less. Well, even the best Hollywood screenwriter could not have come up with such a scenario.

I’ll forever remember Monday’s game and the fact that my son shared it all with me.  But my birthday wasn’t over with yet. 

Later that evening, my son pitched a scoreless final inning for his little league team, striking out the side.  He told me he felt inspired seeing Sandy Koufax.  That’s the best birthday present a dad could ever have.  Like father, like son.