As previously reported, before the rosters were announced for the 2025 World Series, Alex Vesia announced that he was stepping away from the team because of a “deeply personal family matter.” Vesia and his wife, Kayla, were expecting their first child at the time of the announcement.
“It’s with a heavy heart that we share that Alex Vesia is away from the team as he and his wife Kayla navigate a deeply personal family matter,” the Dodgers said in an issued statement. “The entire Dodgers organization
is sending out thoughts to the Vesia family, and we will provide an update at a later date.”
The World Series pressed on because it had to. The Vesias navigated their family emergency because they had to.
Bigger than baseball
Lost in the exuberant bliss of the Dodgers successfully defending their title (regardless of whether one was there to see it live) and the jubilation of the aftermath, there was a lingering dread. An unspoken fear that could only be made real and felt by all once the news that everyone had worked so hard to avoid finally came due.
Friday afternoon, Alex Vesia and his wife returned to the public square with heartbreaking news about their daughter.
Sterling Sol Vesia, the couple’s first child, passed away on Sunday, October 26. No further details were released at this time.
There are times when there is literally nothing to say and nothing that can be said, but we press on because silence is not an option.
For those keeping track of this timeline compared to the World Series games, it is a straight line from when the members of the Dodgers’ bullpen had Vesia’s 51 stitched into their caps for the rest of the series, starting in Game 3 on October 27th.
“Ves, he means a lot to all of us. He is a huge part of this team and a huge part of that bullpen,” Clayton Kershaw said after Game 3. “We just wanted to do something to honor him.”
“I would like to let them speak about that when they want to,” Game 3 hero Will Klein said that night. “But just keeping them in our thoughts and our prayers. There’s bigger things than baseball, and he’s in all of our hearts.”
What happened next was truly extraordinary.
True Sportsmanship
Once the World Series shifted back to Toronto, Eric Stephen reported that the Blue Jays’ relief core had taken the genuinely kind and extraordinary step of solidarity to adorn their own caps with Vesia’s 51 in white sharpie.
“After [Chris] Bassitt struck me out, and then I was looking up at the board to see the replay, and that’s when I saw that he had 51,” Kiké Hernández said before Game 7. “Instead of being mad that I struck out, I was kind of going back to the dugout thinking, Did Bassitt play with Vesia at some point? And then after the game, I saw that everybody had them.
“For those guys to do that, it’s incredible. They’re trying to win a World Series, but they understand that this is — life is bigger than baseball, and baseball’s just a game. For them to do that with the stakes — where we were at with the stakes, hat’s off to them, and I want them to know that we appreciate ‘em. Regardless of what happens tonight, we appreciate what they did.”
“I think it really speaks to the brotherhood of athletes, major league baseball players, that they’ll all say that baseball is what we do, but it’s not who we are, and for these guys to recognize Alex and what he and Kay have gone through, it’s — heartbreaking is not even a good enough descriptor,” manager Dave Roberts said before Saturday’s Game 7. “For them to acknowledge that, it just speaks to how much respect and love they have for one another. It’s a huge, huge tribute to Alex.”
The Dodgers exercised Vesia’s contract option for 2026 on Thursday. One can only imagine the response Vesia will get during Spring Training and his first time taking the mound for the Dodgers in 2026.
In the interim, sorrow poured in from all corners of baseball for the Vesia family’s loss, with many Dodgers fans donating to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, with $30,000 being donated as of November 7.
Friend of the site and journalist Molly Knight likely had the most apt words for this terrible situation:
There’s nothing I can add here to give peace to the Vesia family right now as they navigate the unthinkable. “I’m so sorry for your loss” feels so hollow, but we say it anyway because it’s better than not saying anything at all.
It breaks my heart that the Vesias waited until well after all the confetti from the Dodgers victory parade had been swept up from the streets of downtown Los Angeles to make this announcement, though maybe this much time was needed for them to even find the words.
Please continue to keep Alex, Kayla, and their family in your thoughts, and shower them with love wherever possible. And please be good to each other.
No one is guaranteed a tomorrow. It costs nothing but effort to be kind. Sometimes all we can do is make a gesture, even a feeble one, because to do nothing, to say nothing, is unconscionable. For everyone here at True Blue LA, we offer our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to the Vesia family during this darkest hour.
We will provide relevant updates as they become available, such as information on where to send donations, if any are requested, and other pertinent details.
