The Hunt for Blue October
Why winning the World Series this year would mean everything for the Dodgers
The post-season is here. After 28 different players have been placed on the Disabled List, the Dodgers have somehow crawled their way back from their poor start to the season. Things happened to get worse when Clayton Kershaw went down with a herniated disc in May: it was the worst fucking news that the club could receive, and the club was in panic.
Thankfully, the well-documented weakness of the Dodgers from the past few seasons — the bullpen and back-end of the starting rotation — really stepped up their game when CK22 went down.
The Dodgers’ pitching staff went from being one of the worst bullpens in baseball to being the number one ‘pen in the Bigs. It went from a dumpster fire that they called a bullpen, to a well-oiled machine that kept on producing.
In recent memory, the Dodgers have been labelled as “Post-season Chokers’ when it came to the pressure of October baseball. Mostly, from our good friends, the San Francisco Giants, that have won three World Series titles since 2010, whereas the Dodgers have won zilch since good ol’ 1988.
I wasn’t born in 1988. In fact, all the ‘good times’ came from the years leading up to 1988, when the ultimate Fall Classic was the Dodgers facing the Yankees in the World Series.
I’m fucking sick of hearing of all these happy memories for the club, with little-to-show for, in recent memory.
Yet, the Dodgers have become that person who only lives in the past and not the present. Think of the middle-aged guy that almost always talks about his days as the high-school quarterback. I’m looking at you, Uncle Rico. Or that actor that was once a high-profile movie star, but now is reliving their glory days over and over again in their head.
The Dodgers have been living in the past for nearly thirty years and the time to put an end to this is now.
With the richest owners in baseball, surpassing the New York Yankees — the Evil Empire — in terms of overall payroll, there really isn’t an excuse for the Dodgers to not go deep into the playoffs. Yes, teams need to rebuild after many years, whether it is digging for prospects or signing marquee-level free agents in the off-season. Yes, other benefactors such as injuries, change in management, and mid-season slumps contribute negatively into teams that want nothing more than the Commissioner's Trophy by the end of the season.
This team is now built to win. The Dodgers have the best pitching staff in baseball. They were the best defensive unit in the second half of the season, committing only 27 errors as a team, after the All-Star break.
Breakout seasons from SS Corey Seager, 3B Justin Turner, and C Yasmani Grandal. Clayton Kershaw is still in the Cy Young award discussion, even though he missed much of the season due to injuries. The mix of veteran presence and promising youth in the clubhouse has been a great factor to the field of play.
The Dodgers play the Washington Nationals today, with Clayton Kershaw on the bump against Max Scherzer going for the Nats. It should be a pleasing duel to watch these pitching greats go at it in October, with both clubs underachieving with their impressive squads the past few seasons.
I’m more excited than ever for this post-season, and I expect it to be a Blue October for baseball.
