“I’m almost done.”
It’s a weird feeling that has been simmering in my head these past few months. It has grown louder with each passing day. This life is a funny old life.
I could never have imagined in April 2021 in Oakland that five and a half years later I would stand on the precipice of the goal: to see the Dodgers play in every MLB stadium… and somehow Tokyo. It’s understandably been a roller coaster week.
I meant to write a follow-up field report for Chicago, but I realized I’d said just about
everything I needed to in the Guide Entry. I’ll update the Guide Entry, but I did finally find a decent seat at this ballpark. The problem is that the solution is what I will call the Daikin Park Solution: a club seat is really the only way to go.
Having to shell out $200-400 per game ticket is not a solution. It’s a joke. When spending that much per game is the only option, the real best option is to stay at home. The spot I had picked for the series finale seemed promising until people showed up; then the frequent comings and goings blocked the action.
You don’t tug on Superman’s cape
On this eve of completing the MLB circuit, I want to address a question I have gotten this year.
“Michael, you seem a heck of a lot meaner to Blue Jays’ fans than Yankees’ fans; what gives?”
I am generally not mean to anyone. However, I do have infinitely less sympathy for Blue Jays fans for a simple reason: I have never seen an organization or fanbase lean so hard into coming second. Yes, the Dodgers are probably overdoing it with Game 7 bobbleheads. In case you missed it, “The Catch” is finally coming to bobblehead form this September. Hang it in the Louvre.
Are we on the eve of getting a Justin Wrobleski marching towards the plate with arms extended bobblehead? Honestly, I hope not, because what would the next 2025 World Series bobblehead be? Justin Dean “Hands Up”? “The Legend of” Will Klein? “Shirtless” Clayton Kershaw?
As for our northern cousins, a combination of 50th anniversary gear (very cool) and AL Pennant gear. Imagine if the Dodgers had followed the same tack in 2018; the mockery would be loud and deserved. After 2017 broke me, there was a period of loss when the Dodgers felt so close yet so far. “Yu Darvish laying an egg in Game 7” became a running joke, until it came out that the Houston Astros cheated, which retraumatized me all over again.
However, I have never once said that the Dodgers should be awarded the 2017 title. Even with the Astros’ cheating, the Dodgers were a Kenley Jansen meatball (Game 2), a Clayton Kershaw not listening to his coaches (Game 5), or a Yu Darvish turkey (Game 7) away from winning.
But at the end of the day, three is less than four.
Vacatur was the appropriate remedy because the Astros screwed over a bunch of teams along the way, including the Yankees — unless you were the disinterested Commissioner trying to turn the page. The video of the Commissioner calling the trophy a piece of metal is hard to find, but sometimes life hands out a gift.
With this history in mind, hearing fans try to justify the 2025 Jays is personally irritating. I acknowledge it’s my burden to bear. It turns out that if you yell at me for four hours, I’m going to be a bit cross about it and let it color how magnanimous I feel.
Losing in the World Series stinks. I actually get it. The only thing worse is watching the team struggle itself back up the hill to lose even faster. I never watched Game 7 of 2017 or even knew its ending until seeing it by accident after the 2020 title. I had no such luxury in 2018.
I maintain the position that the toughest opponent the Dodgers faced in 2025 was the Philadelphia Phillies. That series could have, and probably would have, lasted longer if it had been Best of 7. This acknowledgment is not a request to lengthen the Division Series round to Best of 7 (please no), but rather an appreciation of the effort it took for the Phillies to make Shohei Ohtani look mortal.
All that drama, only to end on a play Bill Buckner would grimace at.
All the ink that has been spent on Dodgers/Padres could have gone to a much more interesting matchup we were denied. Sadly, it is a topic for another day, after I have returned from the City of Brotherly Love.
To be fair to the Blue Jays, the World Series we got last year was entertaining. However, I wouldn’t necessarily call it “good.” Games 1, 4, and 5 were duds; not because the Dodgers lost, but the outcomes were pretty much set from the get-go. Watching an old team be tired is generally not entertaining, especially if you have spent a lot of money to be there in person.
Game 2 was a tightrope, a tense, entertaining affair where Yoshinobu Yamamoto outdueled Kevin Gausman.
Game 3 was a classic, mostly due to its length and the sheer comical nature of parts of it. Had manager John Schneider not been so overly aggressive with pinch-running, the Blue Jays would have stood a better chance of winning it. Instead, the Jays fielded essentially a Spring Training lineup, which ultimately was their undoing that night.
Baserunning blunders sealed Games 6 and 7, which were 36 hours of pure baseball cinema.
Yes, the Blue Jays outhit and outpitched the Dodgers overall on a statistical level that Series, so you know who else recently outhit and outpitched the Dodgers overall in a Fall Classic only to lose? The hosts of the Dodgers’ next three games: The New York Yankees.
For as entitled as Yankees fans are generally thought to be, none of them went around two winters ago saying: “The Yankees outplayed the Dodgers and should have won that Series!” To be fair, 21 minutes of generational trauma, laying bare the worst things anyone has thought about the 2024 Yankees, is a lot harder to swallow than Jeff Hoffman coughing one up to Miguel Rojas.
As the Dodgers return to the Bronx for the first time since that fabled night in 2024, I face a solemn truth that has bothered me. In all my travels, the only team that I have yet to see play in person is the New York Yankees. I had the opportunity to go to Games 4 and 5 of the 2024 World Series, but I held back because I would have had to overextend myself.
To celebrate the Dodgers’ return to the Bronx, let us relive a bit of lost playoff coverage we ran out of time to publish two winters ago on the eve of the Dodgers’ return to the Bronx. The locals will likely be loud and eager to “welcome” the Dodgers back to New York. As a fun exercise, I thought it would be neat to annotate what never got to print with thoughts from now.
The Bronx Flop
“Recently,” Joe Kelly and Miguel Rojas have publicly confirmed what was apparent on the field in this World Series: the Yankees had no business being there. Normally, when the playoffs end, I generally stop paying attention to what the Dodgers say about their opponents. [Author’s Note: Yes, early 2025-me would probably judge and mock 2026-me.]
But unlike in recent years, the Dodgers opened up a bit more than expected. Dave Roberts called the NLDS the Dodgers’ biggest challenge in the playoffs, and that that series was the World Series:
We try not to venture into “talk radio” territory here at True Blue LA. And when Dodgers reliever, “now” free agent Joe Kelly, went off on the New York Yankees, I had a single thought in response:
That’s mighty big talk from someone who was not on the roster at any point in October.
With the second title in four years [Author’s Note: Out of date], with the first full-season title since the hallowed year of 1988, I let a lot of stuff slide, including when Mookie Betts was manhandled in Game 4 of the World Series. This fact remains true, even though I felt like a scold during that playoff run.
When someone interfered with Gleyber Torres’ ball in Game 2, Dodger fans around him and watching at home justifiably reacted in horror. To their credit, when this inattentive fan was kicked out of the stadium, the crowd did not give him adulation or high-fives.
When Betts was manhandled in Game 4, it was a far different story in the Bronx. These two jokers got a hero’s exit upon being ejected from Yankee Stadium. I was so horrified by everything that it was almost enough to make me wish dishonor on everyone at Yankee Stadium in Game 4, including any livestock they might own. [Author’s Note: Still banned!]
The following day, as a barometer, I showed the footage to my mother, who was largely ignorant of what was going on. Her outright horror was palpable, not just on Betts’ behalf, who handled himself as well as could be expected, but for the game itself. [Author’s Note: At the time, I did not know that Betts was her favorite Dodger, which explains a bit reaction-wise.]
Even after the World Series, on November 6th, Max Muncy was still pretty heated about the incident.
At the time, I figured Aaron Boone would have the final word, until he ruined the moment by whining about the Dodgers’ remarks.
And as much as I thought I would be able to move on, I cannot let this Series pass without commenting on the fact that one of my favorite actors was literally chased from Yankee Stadium.
The locals messed with The Bunk
Most of you do not know the name Wendell Pierce. Pierce is a distinguished actor from television and the stage. Pierce is widely regarded as the epitome of style and class. Pierce’s most famous role is arguably Detective Bunk Moreland in The Wire. Finding a safe-for-work clip of Pierce as Bunk that was not a spoiler was a gargantuan task.
Pierce happens to be a fan of both the Yankees and the Dodgers and was in the enviable position of being able to attend games in both Los Angeles and New York, wearing the home team’s gear to enjoy this World Series.
While some may scoff at having both a National League and American League team to root for, good for him. I instantly thought of a friend of mine who is both a fan of the Dodgers and the Tampa Bay Rays and who treated the 2020 series as an invitation to anxiety.
I see someone in that dilemma as having a Sophie’s Choice — you can only pick one. But Pierce’s actions say otherwise, and frankly, good for him. Rather than letting this titan of acting enjoy his moment, he was accosted. Imagine my rage when he tweeted the following from Game 5 at Yankee Stadium.
Between the stupidity of Game 4 and the classlessness of Game 5, it would be easy to paint all Yankee fans with a broad brush. But to do so would be wrong. What frustrates me the most is that Yankee Stadium is one of the four remaining stadiums I have yet to visit for True Blue LA. [Author’s Note: Well, two now.]
I thought I could not dread visiting a place more than Houston, but considering everything that happened, the Bronx has joined that ignominious list. [Author’s Note: For the record, Houston was just as insufferable as I feared as I feared it would be. Score one for past-me as to foresight. Whether I have a better time is a question we will answer this weekend. Until I check in from the road!]
