Is there anything better than being a Los Angeles Dodger?
Maybe being the world’s first trillionaire. Possibly hooping for the New York Knicks, but only for a drought-ending moment. Probably not finding a parking spot on your side of the block when it’s street-sweeper day on the other side, though that experience is mighty righteous.
Other than that, forget about it. It’s all about the Dodger Blue.
“I don’t know that there’s anything better right now,” star first baseman Freddie Freeman said Sunday at Rate Field, roughly two hours before homering in the first inning against the White Sox as if to prove his premise.
“It’s amazing to be part of an organization where they’re always trying to win now. They do everything you can. The fans come out and support us, spend their hard-earned money, and that money gets put right back into the team on the field. It’s all you can ask for. Being a Dodger is beyond special.”
In that vein, the back-to-back World Series champions sharing a spring training home with the Sox — Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona — has long been beyond paradoxical. On one side of Camelback is a colossus that spends insatiably on its roster, destroys everything in its path and seemingly exists for the sole purpose of winning. On the other, tumbleweeds roll across a desolate stretch of parking lot, occasionally bumping into a sign that reads, “NO NINE-FIGURE CONTRACTS OFFERED HERE.”
But guess what? Things are changing for the better with Team Tumbleweed anyway. If it wasn’t obvious before this Sox homestand, it sure ought to be after the teams with the top two records in baseball — the Braves and the superpower Dodgers — came through and lost five of six.
In 2023, the 101-loss Sox dropped a series at Dodger Stadium. In 2024, the 121-loss Sox were swept by the Dodgers at Rate Field. In 2025, the 102-loss Sox were swept at the Dodgers. No surprises whatsoever in that mix.
This time, a very different sort of Sox team shrugged off Freeman’s homer, unloaded a six-run bomb on the Dodgers in the sixth inning and won 6-4, improving their record to 38-32. Closer Seranthony Dominguez even struck out nine-time All-Star Freeman with two men on to end it, the latest example of these Sox standing tall instead of melting down and lighting a fire in their fans rather than imbuing them with resignation.
The Sox have won 20 of their last 24 games at home. If that doesn’t blow some minds, this should: Two months ago, the Sox were a major-league-worst 6-13 and the Dodgers a major-league-best 14-4. Since then — over a period representing nearly one-third of the season — the Sox have actually been better than the Dodgers, 32-19 vs. 31-23.
Shohei who? Mookie who? Freddie who?
OK, so that’s a bit overboard.
But guess what else? The Dodgers — not easy to impress — are tipping their caps at an out-of-nowhere foe that has emerged from all-out darkness and begun to move up in the world.
“It’s fun on both sides,” Freeman said, “because what they’re doing on the other side right now is exciting. They’re good. They’ve got a good young core. They’re fighting for first place already in June. You can already tell they’re starting to turn the corner. It’s going to be fun to watch for years to come.”
Third baseman Max Muncy is the longest-tenured Dodger, in his ninth big-league season with them. He’s used to the Dodger effect on the road, fans piling in to see Shohei Ohtani and others from the best show in baseball, but the weekend atmosphere exceeded his expectations.
“That team is feeding off the crowd, and the crowd is feeding off the team. That’s definitely what makes baseball fun, is when you start getting these atmospheres,” Muncy said. “We’ve gotten real numb to it because we play in front of it every single night, but [the Sox deserve] to be feeling it.”
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts missed the finale to attend his daughter’s college graduation, but he left impressed, too.
“It’s fun coming here,” Roberts said after the Sox won 8-2 on Friday. “I remember a few years back, it was empty and there was a lot of dismay here on the South Side. And now there’s a lot of energy, excitement. … It’s a young, tough, athletic team.”
Aside from losing the series, the only disappointment for Freeman was not getting to watch Sox slugger and fellow first baseman Munetaka Murakami swing for the fences. Murakami is more than two weeks into his rehab of a hamstring injury.
Then again …
“You know what?” Freeman said. “Maybe we’ll see Mune in the playoffs.”
This year? In what would have to be the World Series? Team Tumbleweed is looking good, but not that good.
Still, it could be worse than being one of these Sox. Been a while since we could say that and mean it.