ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Back when he buttoned up the same home white Dodgers jersey for work that his former teammates will wear tonight as they reach once more for elusive history, David Freese sat in the Dodger Stadium dugout and described what a World Series championship would mean for Los Angeles and for his peers who spent careers chasing one.
He imagined a city aglow and the team “right in the middle of it,†at the heart of the biggest, baddest, brashest LA party this side of a Lakers title. He then listed the names of reasons they could win, like Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, Corey Seager, and Kenley Jansen — all of whom would rise with the helium of a championship, freed from the lead of misspent Octobers.
Freese said that a few months before he retired, a few months before the Dodgers would fall shy again. A year later, the former Cardinal and World Series MVP’s thoughts on the possibility of a Dodgers title took on a different tone.
People are also reading…
He spoke not of a celebration, but again of validation.
“Guys like Turner, Kershaw, Jansen, and Seager — they need this championship,†Freese said Monday. “Just one championship to stamp their legacy as Dodgers.
“It’s just a nice breather when the best players over the course of an organization’s history get to the top and receive that ring,†Freese continued. “For the city, for the players, the manager, the idea of sitting back in retirement without the ‘great career but you didn’t . . .’ has to be refreshing. Especially with the opportunity those guys have had year after year.â€
The time is now
Going into Tuesday’s Game 6 of the World Series against Tampa Bay, the Dodgers are one win from the franchise’s first championship since 1988. They have reached the playoffs in eight consecutive years and represented the NL in three of the past four Fall Classics. Since 2013, the Dodgers have played 83 playoff games — and only once before been a win away from the title.
They lost, Game 7 in 2017.
The Dodgers took a three-games-to-two lead in the best-of-seven series with Sunday night’s businesslike 4-2 victory. The weekend was chocked with riveting baseball and one classic game, so naturally on the cusp of excellence, the Dodgers spent one more mundane Monday in the bubble.
Manager Dave Roberts said there was a wedding shower planned for some of the wives and that the team was rather excited about barbecue being delivered from the “outside.†Players have described over the past week how they’ve fought the urge to imagine what a title would feel like, the weightlessness that comes with the weight of the trophy. Many of them have waited years, what’s another 48 hours?
“It’s not easy,†said Kershaw, the winner in Game 6 and a constant during this eight-year quest. “I think when you’ve been working so long and so hard for one goal and it’s getting closer and closer with each win it’s hard not to think about what that might be like. But you have to.â€
With a Game 7 as insurance, the Dodgers opted not to start Walker Buehler on short rest, and instead will start Tony Gonsolin for as many innings as he can handle. Tampa Bay counters with former Cy Young Award-winner Blake Snell, and that’s just the beginning of the Rays’ pitching advantage for Game 6.
In Game 2, Gonsolin didn’t finish the second inning while Snell struck out nine and steered the Rays toward a victory. Despite the previous two games being decided by a total of three runs, the Rays exit Monday’s off day with a reset bullpen. All their arms from all their angles are all available.
The only question is whether they ever get a lead to protect.
The Dodgers scored in the first inning of all three games with the Rays as the home team at Globe Life Field. LA has scored first in four of the five games. The Dodgers will bat last for the rest of the Series.
“We’re going to be aggressive,†Rays manager Kevin Cash said of his bullpen use. “We’ve got some of the big guys in the back end of the bullpen who are ready to go. That’s kind of our M.O. That’s what makes us special at times, especially from the pitching department. Continuing to give different looks. Consistently being inconsistent with the looks we’re giving opposing lineups. Just allowing them to not see repeated at-bats. It just hasn’t happened yet because they’re up 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 by the second or third inning every night.â€
The one game the Rays scored first was the one started by Gonsolin.
The righthander was brief when asked if he thought Buehler might start given his experience and his success already in this series.
“Not at all,†he said.
Familiar position
While always better when using their bullpen to stay ahead of opponents, the Rays have shown a knack for playing from behind — in games and in series.
They trailed most of the game Saturday before scoring two runs to win when they were down to their final strike and final out in the ninth inning. In the division series, the Rays lost Game 1 to the Yankees and rallied to win the series after falling behind 1-0 in the decisive Game 5 before winning 2-1.
“Back in the mix,†Snell said. “It’s our chemistry, man. We love to play baseball with one another. We’ve been in a bubble doing the same thing every day over and over and over but we show up to the field and we’re all excited. We can’t wait. We find ways to have new conversations, which is crazy because there’s nothing exciting in our lives. We still feel we can do this.â€
Cash said they didn’t have anything fancy planned for the off day, no barbecue being delivered. A cold front and rain forced kept everyone indoors, but he spied some fire pits at the resort that they might gather around Monday evening.
To talk baseball, he said.
It’s not much a conversation about how the Dodgers have taken a 3-2 lead in the series. They have been exceptional throughout the postseason with two-out rallies. They have the deepest line in the majors, and they have many, varied ways they can score runs — from the steals of Mookie Betts to the homers of, well, Betts and everyone else. Cash said he’ll have an early read on whether his lefty, Snell, has the stuff to slow the Dodgers long enough for the Rays’ to have their desired fast start.
“I just think the conviction with his pitches,†Cash said. “If he attacks, that’s a pretty big tell. That’s kind of the sum of what’s taken place through the first five games of this series. We just haven’t done a good enough job of establishing that we’re going to get outs within the zone early in the count. They’re pretty fearless with two strikes. We haven’t done ourselves any favors by just saying attack, attack, attack, attack. They’re seeing everything that we’ve got that first at-bat for a lot of them. All the weapons have been brought out.â€
Strange scene
If this World Series was played at the home ballparks and not relocated into a bubble in north Texas, the first thing brought out would have been all of the pageantry.
The Dodgers would have had their living legends present, members of that celebrated 1988 team there to throw out a first pitch or to shout, “It’s time for Dodger baseball.†Unless Vin Scully did it first. There would have been dozens of celebrities in attendance spotted on camera to promote Fox shows or just take in the game. Maybe a Duke Snider highlight played on the video boards. Definitely a Kirk Gibson one.
Being in a bubble means these Los Angeles Dodgers won’t share the stage with history as they try to join it.
The stars on the screen will be the current players.
The highlights replayed will be theirs.
“We want to make our own mark on Dodger history,†Roberts said.