Now that the remarkable 2024 MLB season is over, it is a good time to talk about what we die-hard Dodgers fans have been through during this ultimately triumphant season.

As background, I tuned into major league (sort of) baseball in 1948 and lived and died with the hapless Washington Senators through my primary and secondary school years. “Sort of” refers to the fact that from 1948 through 1960 (when I finished high school and the Senators moved to Minnesota), the Senators never finished higher than fifth in the then eight team American League.

A fictionalized version of the Senators was the subject of the popular musical “Damn Yankees” which debuted in 1955 and was premised on the facts that the Yankees won the American

League pennant every year and the

Senators were consistently at or near the bottom. But there was a hopeful note in the song “You Gotta Have

Heart” – surely you remember: “When your luck is batting zero, get your chin up off the floor…”

For a kid, the Senators’ performance (and corresponding lack of fan support) made them very accessible. I could take the streetcar down Georgia Avenue to Griffith Stadium for a dime.

Then, if you were under 12 (and I could carry that off well into my teenage years) general admission was free if accompanied by an adult. All I had to do was find a friendly adult who would take me through the turnstiles. So, baseball was absorbed into my genes during formative years. And I must confess, after my baseball upbringing,

I feel a bit guilty about replacing the

Senators with a team as successful as the Dodgers have been.

Through the next ten years of college, law school and teaching, I paid little attention to baseball.

But in 1969, I moved to Los Angeles and was quickly hooked by the Dodgers. They included Don Drysdale,

Steve Garvey, Willie Davis, Willie Crawford, Wes Parker and Don Sutton. Midway into the season, they acquired Maury Wills who grew up in my DC neighborhood. Maury was a great base stealer but we should not overlook the fact that over 15 MLB seasons, Maury hit 20 home runs.

Ever since then, I have lived and died with the Dodgers. In fact, even when the LA Times had a real sports page, I dreaded picking up the Times on mornings after the Dodgers had lost.

So, with that backdrop, we turn to the 2024 Dodgers.

The Dodgers in recent years have had extraordinary success. They had won the Western Division of the National

League nine times in the last ten years and had made the playoffs in all ten years. This has been an almost unbelievable history of success with Dave Roberts as their manager since 2016.

Yet, they have been a disappointment because they won the World Series in only 2020 and have been knocked out of the playoffs numerous times when expected to do better.

It was supposed to be different in

2024. The Dodgers spent enormously to make it happen. They spent $1B on three players: Shohei Ohtani, a unique talent as he is arguably the best hitter, the best home run hitter and the best pitcher in MLB; Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the best pitcher from Japan’s very high level major league; and Orange

County”s Tyler Glasnow, who was expected to be the “ace” of the staff.

Now I digress to discuss the downside of this largesse. The Dodgers have been a commercial success since they moved to Los Angeles from Brooklyn in 1958. In 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024 attendance at Dodger

Stadium has been nearly 4m, nearly double the MLB average. In 2008, they drew the most fans to see a major league baseball game,115,300 to an exhibition game against the Boston

Red Sox in the LA Coliseum (where the Dodgers had played from 1958-61 while Dodger Stadium was being constructed). I was there – what a lousy place for a baseball game with the left field fence only 250 feet from home plate compared with a more normal of 330 feet at Dodger Stadium.

Coupled with this box office success is a very high player payroll. Because the Dodgers draw so well no matter what and have spent so much, attending a Dodger game is both very expensive and a logistical nightmare. Box seats can range in price from $1000 to $10,000 or more. Unreserved general parking costs $50. As a practical matter, the only way to get to the stadium is by car and the congestion getting in and getting out is horrendous. And the

Dodgers don’t seem to care as almost every game is a sell out or close. Remember what I said above about the

Senators games being accessible? Not so for Dodgers games. I rarely attend in person. Home television is much better with far less brain damage.

Now, let’s go Back to the 2024 season.

With the acquisition of the three superstars mentioned above added to the superstars already on the roster including Mookie Betts, Freddy Freeman and Clayton Kershaw and numerous mere stars, the Dodgers had seemingly put together an offensive powerhouse. And they had as the Dodgers led MLB in many categories and outscored their opponents by more runs than any other

MLB team. They had also put together a great group of starting pitchers – or so we thought.

During the regular season, the Dodgers were very successful and had the best record of all MLB teams, mainly on the backs of the offensive stars and unusually good relief pitchers.

But then we got to the playoffs. For the playoffs, which start at best two games out of three, then progress to three out of five and then four out of seven, starting pitching is a key. To be successful, a team needs at least three but preferably four or five front line pitchers. But the Dodgers’ starting pitchers were, without exception, snake bit by injuries that kept them off the field for extended periods or for the entire season. It was known going in that Shohei Ohtani would not be able to pitch in 2024 because of a serious injury sustained in the 2023 season, the injuries to eight other starting pitchers, most of whom were out for the season once they had sustained injuries, was not known.

For most of the season, the Dodgers did well and seemingly effortlessly led the league so there was little emotional stress. But then came the playoffs which brought a whole new world of emotional stress.

Success in the playoffs, which involves only the very best teams, requires a strong offense, three or four outstanding starting pitchers and a group of strong relief pitchers.

The Dodgers’ starting pitching was a mess – at least seven of the best Dodger starting pitchers were not able to play due to injury. So the Dodgers headed to the playoffs knowing that their fate would depend upon how well the offense and the relief pitchers performed.

Because of their outstanding record, the Dodgers had a bye and did not have to play in the first round. But then came the second round, the National League Division Series where they would meet their arch rivals from 120 miles south, the San Diego Padres.

This was not a good thing. The Padres had beaten the Dodgers in a majority of the games they played during the regular season. Knowledgeable baseball experts believed that the Padres were the best team in the National

League. The Padres’ expressed goal was to beat the “big brother” Dodgers from up the I-5 freeway. And their biggest stars could not resist talking about how they would do it.

After the first three games of a best of five series, the Padres were up two games to one. We had hit almost bottom and it appeared that the Dodgers once again would have an early exit from the playoffs. To fight off despair, we had to rely on the sentence attributed to Yogi Berra: “It ain’t over ‘til it’s over” but things looked bleak as the

Dodgers had to use only relief pitchers for game 4 because they were out of starting pitchers.

Dodgers fans were prepared to say once again: “Wait ‘til next year!”

But somehow a combination of eight relief pitchers shut out the Padres 8-0.

We went into the deciding game 5. The Padres starting pitcher was Yu Darvish; the Dodgers starting pitcher was

Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Both were

Japanese born. Interest in Japan was so high that 8M more people watched the game in Japan than in the US. On solo homeruns by Teoscar Hernandez and Kike Hernandez (no relation) the

Dodgers knocked the Padres out of the playoffs 2-0.

For that alone, to me the season would have been a success but there was more, much more to come.

Now all the Dodgers had to do was beat the Mets to bring about a dream

Dodgers-Yankees World Series. And the Dodgers did, four games to two.

On Friday October 25, the Dodgers and Yankees met in the first game of the World Series. It was the 12th time that the Dodgers and Yankees have met in the World Series. Among the players, there were numerous Southern California connections. Starting pitchers for game one were Dodgers’ Jack Flaherty from Harvard-Westlake High School against Yankee Gerrit Cole from Orange Lutheran High and UCLA. Yankee Manager Aaron Boone was from Villa Park High

School and USC; Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts was from UCLA; Roberts and Boone played for their schools against each other. The Dodgers won, 6-3, on Freddy Freeman’s walk off grand slam home run in the bottom of the 10th inning. It was the best game that I had ever seen.

Best of all, I went with Nick who was generous enough to buy an outrageously expensive excellent ticket for his dad. Nick’s first World Series memory was attending the 1981 Yankees – Dodgers Series. Now, we attend a Series when I am 81.

After that the Dodgers four games to two victory over the Yankees was almost anticlimactic.

I am a happy camper. And all that

I can say is: Wait ‘til next year – the Dodgers will be even better.