LA Dodgers: It’s Now Or Never
By Jamaal Artis
October 8, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; New York Mets manager Terry Collins (10) watches team workouts before game one of the NLDS at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
The playoffs will officially begin tonight for the Dodgers as they seek for the third straight year to win the 11 games it takes to be World Series Champions.
Just so everyone is clear this isn’t going to be analysis or a playoff preview, if you want that then read this great article.
Nope this is a full on rant by a 35 year old man child who’d just like to see his team in the World Series, let alone win it.
As most Dodgers fans have heard, read, or had beaten into their heads, its been 27 years since the Dodgers won a title.
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It’s been so long we’ve had four presidents since then and one of them is black.
If you had told someone in 1988 after watching Kirk Gibson hit his one-armed, one-legged home run that there would be a black president before the Dodgers made another World Series, they would have said that was improbable.
The Dodgers have a lot riding on this playoff season both in the fantasy world of sports narratives and the real world.
In the fantasy world of sports narratives Clayton Kershaw will continue to be pilloried by the sports hacks for being a great pitcher in the regular season but choking in the playoffs.
It’s no lie Kershaw has a bad playoff record on paper going 1-5 with a 5.12 ERA, but some of that is mitigated by the fact that he has struck out 58 in just 51 innings and his won-loss record would be better if the Dodgers scored runs in his games.
Taking out last years Game 1 debacle the Dodgers have scored 2, 0, 0, and 2 runs in four of his last five starts.
I don’t care if he is the greatest pitcher on the planet — Kershaw shouldn’t have to be perfect to try and win games.
So if the Dodgers want Kershaw to dominate, how about they take some of the pressure off of him to be perfect, and, oh I don’t know, score some runs?
In the real world a lot of people who work for the Dodgers may lose their jobs.
Candidate number one is probably manager Don Mattingly.
President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman is expected to have to let Mattingly go if the Dodgers don’t make the World Series.
This comes despite the fact that Mattingly has taken the Dodgers to the playoffs three straight years, something no other Dodger manager has ever done.
Yet he has been criticized for his in game management and with Friedman & Co. cleaning out the scouting office, minor league system, and International office, lack of postseason success leaves Mattingly vulnerable.
So if the Dodgers want to see Mattingly in a Miami Marlins uniform as was leaked in September — that’s right, even the Marlins think Mattingly is gone — then go ahead Dodgers bullpen melt down again.
If you don’t like Mattingly Adrian Gonzlaez then hit .188 with 1 HR and 3 RBI like last years NLDS.
Full disclosure: I’m a huge Dodgers fan.
How can I not be when I grew up and live five minutes from the stadium?
So when I say I want the Dodgers to win it’s not so that Kershaw can re-write his legacy or so Mattingly can keep his job.
No it’s for me, because I’m selfish.
I want to go and buy championship swag, I want to sit out in the blazing hot October sun waiting for a parade, I want to blow money on commemorative DVDs.
You see it’s about me and all the other grown men (or women) children who want crow on Twitter about how their team is the best in the world, while some poor 88 year old grandma in Skokie, Illinois hopes the Cubs win a championship before she dies.
It’s time Dodgers go win a World Series, don’t do it for yourselves, or your ace pitcher, or the skipper, win for me.