Yes, it’s been a long while since I last posted. No, I don’t care. This is my blog and I can post about what I want, whenever I want, kapeesh?!

So let’s catch up. The Dodgers lost, it was heartbreaking and disappointing and it put me in one of the worst moods I’ve been in in a while, to the point that my wife thought somebody died. “Someone did die! My hopes and dreams!”

Baseball is a funny game, man. For fanatics like myself, the season technically starts in the Winter when the MLB Winter Meetings take place. Merely 2 months after the season ends, it begins again. It’s not a huge deal, but every once in a while something big happens at the meetings. In 2011, reigning World Series Champion Albert Pujols signed a 10 year, $250 million deal with the Angels in a move that hasn’t paid off for those damn Angels. Even Joseph Gordon-Levitt can’t help them…

And in 2014, the Dodgers made a mad dash at the end of the 4 day event. In the span of 24 hours, they managed to ink 6 trades involving 4 teams and 19 players in all. It was a Winter that kick started a new Dodgers identity, one that would be constructed of home grown players that ranked up through the Dodgers system. All this to say, sometimes the Winter meetings are an exciting precursor to the actual season. After that, comes March, and with March comes Spring Training, which is also not the actual season but still a very exciting month for baseball fans. There is no other sport that gets as pumped for the technical pre-season than baseball. Just ask this guy.

Then, almost magically, the calendar reaches the end of March and Opening Day peeks it little head out of its burrow to grace us all with its wonderful presence. Opening Day is better than most things in life. A good Animal Style In N Out burger doesn’t come close. Christmas can’t even compare. Losing your virginity – ok well maybe that one is a poor example. The point is, Opening Day ROCKS. It’s the start of a brand new season, full of joy and new aspirations. For 29 teams, it means redemption, revenge, and a chance at what they missed out on last season. For 1 team, it means defending their crown over the next 6 months. For fans of all teams, it means one thing:

But that’s a post for an upcoming sunny March afternoon (lookin’ at you, March 26th, 2020).

Then the grind begins. 6 months of regular season ball, 162 games, all of which matter (just ask the 2018 Dodgers, who had to play a 163rd game to determine who would win the NL West). And after such a long slog through such a difficult terrain, what do you get? A month (if you’re lucky) of anxiety as your team battles it out for a chance at the World Series.

Only to lose it all in the first round. Yes, the 2019 Dodgers failed to live up to expectations. Easily the best team in the National League, the Dodgers were set up to make a run through the postseason. Then they ran into a red hot Washington Nationals team. A Nationals team who beat the Dodgers in Game 5, swept the Cardinals in the NLCS, and now hold a 2-0 lead over the powerhouse Houston Astros in the World Series.

Your baseball mind tends to take over in moments like this. “What if the Dodgers played better in Game 5, and won it? Hell, what if they played better in the whole NLDS and won it? Would they also have swept the Cardinals? Would they also hold a 2-0 lead over the Astros right now?” The fan in me wants to say ‘of course!’ but the realist in me knows that that may not be true. The Dodgers blew it. You can’t win a World Series with a sputtering wheel spinning offense. You can’t win a World Series giving up a Grand Slam in extra innings. A lot of blame can be thrown around and I’m sure The Boys In Blue have done so to themselves. The fact of the matter is that baseball is a silly little game and anything can happen. Even a World Series caliber team shitting the bed.

If it hasn’t been obvious, I’m a pretty hardcore fan. I tend to take loss hard. I’ve always prided myself on my sportsmanship, so after a game I will always say good game and shake hands that deserve to be shaken. I’ll always credit another team if they outplayed us. I’ve always tried to not be a sore loser, but my wife would probably argue that she’s never seen that side of me. She’s seen me watch losses and yell and scream, kick and hit things, and even throw an occasional remote or two. Sore loser indeed. But I’m just being a fan, right? Wrong.

Your fandom is not measured by how poorly you react to your team not performing to your standards. It’s also not measured by how boastful you are with a winning team, but I wouldn’t know anything about that because I’m a Dodgers and Raiders fan, and I’ve never seen them win it all in my lifetime. But to circle back, you shouldn’t yell and scream and throw a fit because your team (who has no direct effect on you) doesn’t play well. Like I said, I take loss hard, so I had to write myself a little note to remind myself of this. I’ll give you a little background on it.

I was lucky enough to go to Game 6 of the 2017 World Series. It was my first World Series game ever, and I was pumped. I was also anxious and full of nerves. The Dodgers were down 3-2 to the Astros, and the game was here in Los Angeles, which meant there was a very real possibility that I was about to watch the Astros win it all on our home field. So to prepare myself, I wrote a little note, and I share it with you now in hopes that maybe it’ll help you deal with sports loss in a healthier manner. It goes like this:

“I know it sucks and it hurts like hell, but just try to remember that it is just a game and at the end of the day, it has no effect on your immediate life. It’s ok for you to hurt because it means so much to you, that’s ok. And I know it sucks to hear but there is always next year. They’re an amazing team and you’ve spent your entire life loving and supporting them, and in the end it’s that passion and love that really brings you the enjoyment and happiness. Everything else on top of that is bonus.”

Look guys, we’re not the ones being paid millions of dollars to win games. We’re not the ones who have the sole job of winning championships. We’re just the fans. At the end of the day, sports are just part of the wide net that is the entertainment industry. We love our teams and we love the games, and in the end that’s what truly matters to us, as fans. It entertains us, and if the team we choose to root for happens to win it all, whether that be a World Series, a Super Bowl, an NBA Championship, etc., then what a wonderful treat that is. But if they don’t, as all but 1 team does every year, we were still blessed with the joy and fun and entertainment that a season of sports brings us.

Baseball is a silly little game. But dammit if I don’t love it to death.

So a 4 day absence from writing and what did we miss? Well, the Dodgers/Nationals series went from a 1-0 lead for the Dodgers to a 2-2 tie heading back to LA for Game 5. Let’s dig in!

Game 2 was… frustrating. The Dodgers sent out the best pitcher in the game in Clayton Kershaw to hopefully lock up a 2-0 series lead, but Kershaw’s October woes continued as he got rocked in the 1st and 2nd innings for a 3-0 Nationals lead. The Dodgers offense was eerily quiet, but that should be partly attributed to the brilliant pitching of Stephen Strasburg, who had Dodgers batters guessing all night. The Dodgers would claw back to make it a 4-2 game going into the bottom of the 9th, where they loaded the bases on Closer Daniel Hudson. With 2 outs, and the doubles leader Corey Seager up to bat, it looked like the Dodgers had some magic left in the tank to pull of the win, but Seager struck out on a low and inside slider to even the series at 1 game a piece.

The Dodgers hadn’t lost back to back games since the beginning of September, and in Game 3 they came into Washington ready to prove they wouldn’t let it happen again. Max Muncy homered in the top of the 5th to cut the Nationals 2-0 lead in half (they took said lead off a 2 run bomb by Juan Soto in the top of the 1st). Then, in the top of the 6th, the Dodger offense finally woke up, pounding Starter turned Relief Pitcher Patrick Corbin for 7 earned runs to blow it open 8-2. The game would finish 10-4, with the Dodgers taking a 2-1 lead and putting Washinton’s back up against the wall.

Outside of a 1st inning home run by Justin Turner, Game 4 proved to be equally as frustrating as Game 2 did, with the Dodgers offense suddenly going to sleep at the worst of times.

A well pitched game by Crazy Eyed Max Scherzer and a 3 run shot by Ryan Zimmerman silenced the Dodgers, as they would end up losing Game 4 by a score of 6-1. The series is tied. We’re going back to Los Angeles.

The Dodgers are no strangers to Playoff Rubber Matches. Just last year the Milwaukee Brewers took them to Game 7 in the NLCS. This team has what it takes to dig down, focus, and go out to do what needs to be done. Now we just have to see if they can execute their game plan against Stephen Strasburg, who all but shut them down in Game 2. Can they pull it off? We’ll find out tomorrow.

Talk to you in the next one!

Love,
Devin

So a 6-0 win lends way to a 1-0 series lead for the Dodgers. The story through the first 5 innings was Patrick Corbin Sliders and walks. 22 games this season he walked 2 batters or less, but in tonight’s first inning he walked 4, walking in a run but stranding the bases loaded. His secret weapon? His not so secret Slider. I mean, he throws the damn thing nearly 40% of the time, we all know it’s coming! But it’s so nasty and so deceiving that even the Dodgers, who are among the league leaders at not chasing pitches, were caught looking foolish at times.

The story shifts in the 7th inning, when Corbin leaves the game with 107 pitches and leaves a 2-0 game up to his bullpen. Big mistake. The Dodgers quickly went to work, loading the bases before a Max Muncy single opened it up to 4-0. Then in the bottom of the 8th, 21 year old rookie Gavin “Lux Capacitor” Lux had a pinch hit appearance for his first ever postseason at bat, and promptly hit one over the wall for a lead extending home run. Joc Pederson followed with an ABSOLUTE BOMB off the right field foul pole.

The player of the game, however, goes to Walker Buehler. 6 innings pitched, 8 strikeouts, and only 1 hit allowed. He was dominant all night, and silenced the critics who thought he shouldn’t be starting Game 1.

On the flip side of the National League, we had the Cardinals in Atlanta facing off with the Braves. Through 7 innings, it looked like Atlanta had a fairly firm grasp on the game. They had a 3-1 lead, St Louis couldn’t really get a groove going on offense, and they had 6 more outs to get to lock up a Game 1 victory.

And then the top of the 8th came around, and something weird happened. Atlanta’s Chris Martin came in to pitch, looking all but ready to go, then suddenly stepped off the mound and left the game holding what looked like his left oblique. Luke Jackson came in to replace him, and Paul Goldschmidt utterly destroyed a ball to left to make the game 3-2. A few singles later and we have a tie ball game, 3-3. Atlanta couldn’t get anything going in the bottom of the 8th, leaving all the momentum in the Cardinals’ dugout. And what they did with it was electric.

The top of the 9th saw the Cardinals quickly load the bases and follow it up with 2 huge 2 run doubles to pull ahead 7-3. In the game of baseball. a 4 run lead is a beautiful thing. It means that even in the worst case scenario where you load the bases, you can’t lose the game off a grand slam. The Cardinals had a cushion, and wouldn’t give it up.

Despite a frantic 2 home run rally, the final would be 7-6, Cardinals take a 1-0 series lead.

The action continues today, as all 4 Division Series games take place. The Astros open up the fun against the Rays, followed by Game 2 for the Braves and Cardinals. The Yankees open up their series with the Twins during that game, and the late game of the night goes to the Boys in Blue for Game 2, Kershaw vs Strasburg. It should be a fun matchup!

That’s it for now! I’ll talk to you all in the next one!

Love,
Devin

Well, the Wild Card games are officially over and the Dodgers and Astros now have their opponents. The Astros will face the Rays after a dominant home run hitting performance in Oakland. Oakland hasn’t won a winner take all playoff game since 1973.

Meanwhile, in the NL Wild Card game, the Nationals made a frantic comeback in the bottom of the 8th capped off with an extremely untimely error by Brewers’ right fielder Trent Grisham.

If I were a betting man (which I am! Hey!) I would wager that Grisham was ready to come up throwing, and lifted his eyes slightly as the ball came in, causing him to absolutely whiff on it.

And so, we’re set for some division series baseball! It starts today with the Cardinals traveling to Hotlanta to face off with the Braves. Later tonight, we have my Boys in Blue playing the Nationals in match-up that looks to be largely in favor of the Dodgers. The Dodgers lead the NL in pretty much every pitching and offensive category, but the Nationals are not to be taken lightly. Both teams are coming in red hot and riding win streaks, so it should make for a fun start to the series.

Patrick Corbin (14-7, 3.25 ERA) gets the start for the Nats while the Dodgers will counter with Walker Beuhler (14-4, 3.26 ERA). For us Dodger fans, the name Patrick Corbin rings a bell because he spent his first 6 years in the majors as a part of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Dodgers know Corbin, and Corbin knows the Dodgers. Expect a high dose of strategy with a dash of anxiety (for us fans. Obviously).

Let’s talk about the Dodgers for a second. They’ve had a magical season, mixing in blowouts, close calls, walkoffs, and capping it all off with the most wins in franchise history at 106. After back to back World Series losses, I think this team is poised and ready for a magical postseason run.

I just passed by a Nationals fan here at work and we gave each other quick looks followed by “Good luck tonight, it should be fun!” That’s what I love about sports. As long as you don’t go batshit crazy, like some fans tend to do, it can be a really great thing for bringing people together.

The Postseason is upon us. After a 6 month long, 162 game grind, it turns into a 4 week long 11 (or 12, if you’re the Nats or Rays) win sprint. I’ll keep you all posted on the happenings as they, well, happen. Talk to you in the next one!

Love,
Devin