The Dynasty Dodgers.
Shout it as loud as a Will Smith home run, ball soaring, arms flailing, blue immortality awaiting.
Shout it as deep as a Miguel Rojas home run, impossible, unimaginable, unthinkable, forever.
Shout it long enough to line a parade.
The Dynasty Dodgers
From the doom of a World Series Game 7 sucker punch, two outs from defeat, the Dodgers roared back in the final breaths of baseball’s ultimate game Saturday to overtake the gritty Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre and steal a 5-4, 11-inning victory for their second consecutive World Series championship.
In becoming the first team in 25 years to win consecutive championships, in winning their third title in six seasons, the Dodgers are now certifiably a dynasty.
And Rojas and Smith are certifiably Dodger icons after Rojas’ home run tied the score in the ninth and Smith’s home run gave them the lead and eventually decided the game in the 11th.
The classic ended with an Alejandro Kirk double play grounder in the bottom of 11th induced by a third icon, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who finished with 2 ⅔ scoreless innings despite throwing 96 pitches 24 hours earlier.
“Special group of guys, man,” Smith told FOX TV afterward. “We just never gave up.”
With one out in the ninth, trailing 4-3, Rojas, who entered the game without a hit in a month, hit a full-count slider from Jeff Hoffman over the left-field fence for only his second home run since August.
Then, in the bottom of the ninth in a tie game, with the bases loaded and one out, Rojas created greatness again by making a great stop of a Daulton Varsho grounder and throwing out Isiah Kiner-Falefa at the plate. Then Andy Pages added to that greatness by reaching over Kiké Hernández in left field to catch a fly ball by Ernie Clement to end the inning.
Yeah, it was a helluva game.
A season that began in Japan in March ended in Canada Saturday night with the Dodgers conquering all worlds in between.
There was arguably more pressure on this team than any other collection of players in major league history, and, yet, somehow, the Dodgers thrived.
The team that couldn’t lose didn’t lose. The invincible Hall of Fame lineup proved unbeatable. The richest team in baseball history was pure money.
The team that everyone outside of Los Angeles booed ended up with cheers that will echo through the ages.
Goliath won. Sorry about that, Davids.
While celebrating the sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS, Dave Roberts famously shouted to the Dodger Stadium crowd, “Before the season they said the Dodgers are ruining baseball. Let’s get four more wins and really ruin baseball!”
They didn’t ruin baseball, they revived it
It was first and foremost a victory for the Mark Walter-led Guggenheim Baseball Management. With this victory they become unquestionably the best owners in baseball and soon, with Walter’s purchase of the Lakers complete, they could soon be the best owners in all of sports.
They make a ton of money, but they pour it back into the team at a pace unmatched by their baseball peers. Ticket prices go up, but some of that money goes right to Freddie Freeman. Parking prices are obscene, but so is the ability of Shohei Ohtani.
Not once in their 13-year tenure has Guggenheim been accused of passing up talent to save money. In most other markets, that is an accusation made daily.
Second, this was a victory for the man in charge of spending all that money, baseball genius Andrew Friedman. Yes, he nearly blew it this year by wasting money on lousy relievers this winter and then not adding to the bullpen at the trade deadline. But it turns out he knew his starting pitching would be enough, and it was, and Friedman has been right far more than he’s been wrong as the architect of most of the 13 years of greatness.
Third, the victory belongs to Dave Roberts, the manager who, with this third title, has gone from hassled to the Hall of Fame. He is not only a worthy successor to the legend of Tommy Lasorda, he has won more than Lasorda while serving as the perfect face for the organization and a calming touchstone for its players.
Never a clubhouse controversy? That’s Roberts. Never a battle between super egos on a team with several future Hall of Famers? That’s RobertsThere was a time Roberts struggled with pitching changes, but he has seen matured and evolved and often now shares a heartbeat with the countless relievers he summons.
In the end, they not only ran it back, they sprinted it back, they slugged it back, and then they literally Will-ed it back.
The Dynasty Dodgers.
The post Plaschke: Back to back! Dodgers nab dynasty-defining victory over Blue Jays in World Series Game 7 appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
