Amid the joy of the Dodgers’ second straight World Series win and subsequent championship parade and celebration on Monday was the absence of pitcher Alex Vesia, one of the team’s best relief pitchers
for the last five seasons.
Vesia pitched in seven of the Dodgers’ 10 playoff games through the National League Championship Series, but was inactive for the World Series, not with the team as he was home with his pregnant wife Kayla. To date no details of what happened have been revealed, but the weight has been obvious over the last week and a half.
“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 a statement on October 23.
When the Dodgers returned home from Toronto after the first two games, Dodgers relievers all had Vesia’s number 51 stitched into their caps. Game 3 turned out to be perfect timing to show it, because all nine active relievers pitched in the 18-inning game.
“Ves, he means a lot to all of us. He i’s 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.”
Once the series shifted back to Rogers Centre in Toronto, the Blue Jays bullpen followed suit, and had number 51 written on the side of their caps as well. It was a welcome gesture amid the heightened competition.
“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.”
