The Pandemic Shortened American Baseball Championship, AKA The World Series, starts Tuesday night. I know you might not be aware, given that Red Sox fans have been tuned out for a while after the 2020 campaign AKA “a season to dismember”. And sure, there’s plenty more to take away your attention these days - football mania, election year, virtual learning purgatory - but whether you realized it or not a potentially great series for the short season title is at hand.
Dodgers vs. Rays. And I can’t believe that I can’t wait.
I’ve been indifferent (and that’s putting it kindly) to baseball for most of the year. Hell, I’m surprised after this year I have any feelings of any kind left at all. There’s a whole salad of reasons for my baseball apathy, from a bad season for the Sox to COVID challenges and the like. But the expanded playoff format has given me a chance to tune in and catch up on who’s playing, who’s good, who’s popping and who’s worth watching. Add to that two really good championship series, one which almost saw the villains of baseball, the Astros, stage a comeback only accomplished by your 2004 Red Sox, and now my interest in piqued. Throw in another that featured some high-quality good old-fashioned hardball between some familiar faces, down to a Game 7 won by a monster home run by a throwback player who overcame his postseason struggles? Sold. I’m in. Let’s do this.
If I were Bellinger and I hit that bomb I’d still be there staring at it.
An argument can be made that rooting for the Rays makes sense, given that this is the team our chief of baseball operations spent years putting together. So if Chaim Bloom can do that on a shoestring budget in Tampa imagine what he can do, given time, with real adult money, in Boston! That’s an optimistic spin for a team that faced mostly negatives in an empty Fenway this season. But my rooting interest, my fandom on loan this series will be with the Dodgers. Which might come as a surprise, both that I have any feelings to spare at all after this year, as well as where I might allocate them. Here are five reasons why I’ll be pulling for the team that Boston bested last time they had a shot at the title. And yes, Boston fans, it’s OK to root temporarily for another team some times. Doesn’t mean your allegiance or false or your fan card will be revoked next season.
1. DAVE ROBERTS
Few players can claim that they helped the Boston Red Sox win two World Series, and Dave Roberts is one of them. First he steals the most important base in team if not MLB postseason history in 2004, helping the Sox complete the greatest ALCS comeback, and then the World Series was the baseball equivalent of Team USA beating Finland. Then, as manager of the Dodgers vs the Red Sox in 2018, he makes several questionable decisions, removing and inserting pitchers at times that sparked a Sox offense his staff had up to that moment stagnated. Some even argued he deserved a ring from the Sox after that series. I’ll always be grateful for the steal, so a second ring now would be a perfect compliment to his first.
2. CODY BELLINGER
Anyone capable of that Game 7 moonshot, that swag ... I’m in. Bellinger reminded me Sunday night that there’s still nothing like a big home run in a big moment. Plus, he’s a great player, got a throwback feel to his game, beautiful swing, does it the right way, all that jazz. Whatever, I like watching the guy play. He overcame his postseason demons with one swing, and I’m glad I watched it live. After the Patriots loss to the Broncos sent me into a binge eating cheap beer drinking tailspin, the Bellinger tater Sunday night was just what I needed to pull me out and remind me baseball matters and sports can unexpectedly do a lot for you when you least expect it.
3. MOOKIE BETTS
Tough not to still follow and cheer for someone you were invested in for so many years here. Someone many fans said was their favorite and could possibly stake a claim to being the best in franchise history. Whoever’s side you came down on in the alleged contract stalemate that lead to his trade to the Dodgers, still gotta love, as much as it hurts, seeing his smile, and watching him make plays like this.
4. CLAYTON KERSHAW
This generation’s Steve Carlton is another Dodger who has endured postseason struggles aplenty. Kershaw’s career postseason ERA is about two runs higher than his regular earned run average. He’s one of the few dominant starters in the game still worth tuning in to watch every five days, and his effort to get the “can’t win the big one” monkey off his very tall back should make for great hardball theater in a series where he’ll pitch opposite great young starters and face an offense relentless in approach and execution. So if ever there was a time for him to come through this is it for the big lefty.
5. I KINDA LIKE THE DODGERS
Some fans have a second or an “alt” team they secretly root for. Maybe they were on TV a lot growing up. Maybe they were your dad’s childhood team, or your spouse pulls for them. Maybe you are soulless enough to like them because they own you money once. WHO KNOWS. In my case the Dodgers were on TV a lot growing up, and the Sox weren’t particularly good save for a year or two, one of which ended in me missing a day of school for “grieving” (no joke, still have the absence not e to prove it). Whether it was watching Fernando Valenzuela pitching on Monday Night Baseball (look it up) or Kirk Gibson rounding the bases after the most improbable World Series dinger off Eck, the Dodgers were always around and I kept a small soft spot for a national team with an iconic logo.
The Dodgers are making their third trip to the World Series in the last four seasons. A loss would make them the modern equivalent to the Braves of the 90's. Do people really like to see greatness unfulfilled, baseball bridesmaids never brides, like that? I don’t. Plus I still love baseball, want to have a horse in the race, find some fun toward the end of a year that largely hasn’t been and sure as hell am not cheering for the Rays. Gross.
And there we have it. Those are my reasons and I’m sticking to ‘em. Whether you agree with any of these reasons or not as to who to root for I hope you’ll be watching. If passivity to the sport or Fenway frustrations are the reasons you choose to tune out that’s a shame, because with this matchup there’s a chance you just might be missing out on a Fall Classic.
