The word according to Jim:
• In most baseball outposts, or at least those where the postseason exists, October is the best time of year. There is hope, there is chance, and there’s the thought process that if everything breaks just right, this could be the year. And, given that 14 different teams have reached the World Series in the last decade, and 22 out of 30 dating to the turn of the century, there’s reason to believe.
Even in Los Angeles. But I suspect you wouldn’t know it in a lot of places where Dodgers fans gather. …
• I’ve referred to it before, a mindset in which the more times disaster strikes in the postseason, the more that fans prepare themselves for the worst. (Or, in this case, the more that fans prepare to blame the manager, because that’s the easiest way to deal with the pain, right?)
At the very least, there may be emotional confusion. Are you all in, ready to talk trash to your Padres fan friends or social media contacts and vow revenge for 2022? Or, no matter how well Dodger relievers have pitched this season, are you still cringing every time the bullpen gate swings open?
That’s OK. It’s understandable. And maybe Shohei Ohtani will provide the antidote. …
• This Dodgers-Padres series may be the best and most competitive we see in this postseason, up to and including the World Series, and it will be an outgrowth of a stretch drive where the Padres and Diamondbacks put the pressure on and the Dodgers had to respond. There will be argument from other cities, but right now these may be the two best teams in the sport.
And no, I’m not going to predict a winner. But I am predicting a Game 5 next Friday in The Ravine. …
• It’s been several days since Pete Rose died, at the age of 83, and I’m still not sure how to write about him.
Rose the player was a guy you couldn’t look away from, going back to that very first spring training when he sprinted to first base on a walk and Reds veterans sneered “Charlie Hustle.” He never changed, as a 17-time All-Star, Rookie of the Year, MVP in 1973, three-time batting champ, two-time Gold Glove, World Series MVP and Clemente Award winner. All of that while playing six different positions, doing everything but pitching, catching and playing shortstop.
He was fun to watch, a dream interview for the writers who covered him – and in L.A. he was the enemy, during the ’70s when the Dodgers and Reds battled for NL West supremacy, but he was one that Dodgers fans grudgingly respected. …
• Off the field? A different, more chaotic story. And toward the end, the nickname “Charlie Hustle” took on a different meaning, as the Dowd Report details of Rose’s betting habits became public. There were other unsavory items, too, but it was the third rail of sports – do not bet on your own sport – that ultimately did him in when commissioner Bart Giamatti banned Rose permanently from baseball. Succeeding commissioners upheld that ban, which closed off any possibility of the Hall of Fame, and when after years of denials Rose admitted betting on baseball – in order to hype sales of his autobiography – it was way too late. As ESPN’s Jeff Passan noted in his column this week, Pete did it to himself. …
• And for those who are wondering, Giamatti’s decision specified “permanent,” not “lifetime.” Barring a 180-degree flip by the stewards of Cooperstown, Rose isn’t getting into the Hall posthumously. either.
Yet MLB has pretty much linked itself with the gambling industry by now. It’s not necessary hypocritical – the rules that prohibit players from betting, after all, are still there and are posted in every clubhouse – but isn’t it at least weird? …
• Amid a slew of celebrity/athlete deaths the last week or so – Maggie Smith, John Amos and Kris Kristofferson to name three – we must also recognize basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, who passed away from brain cancer at the age of 58 on Monday.
We know Mutombo best for that “no, no, no” finger wag every time he blocked a shot – it is pinned at the top of my feed on the medium formerly known as Twitter, and will remain so – and those who weren’t quite old enough to see him play probably remember his Geico ad. from 2013. But he was so much more. The NBA officially named him its Global Ambassador, and in retirement he wrapped himself up in charitable and humanitarian initiatives, devoting his life to helping others – and, not incidentally, being a sounding board and a big brother for other NBA players from Africa. …
• Buster Posey never left the Giants organization, really, but he emerged in a position of power this past week after Farhan Zaidi was fired as president of baseball operations. And if you are a Dodgers fan, maybe this should make you even more nervous. The Giants have financial resources and figure to have even more now that the A’s are moving and the Bay Area will be a one-team region again. And now they’ll have not only intelligence in the front office but a better balance between analytics and instincts, as well as a baseball boss who understands what matters in the clubhouse. …
• Which brings up a question: Why didn’t the Dodgers vote against the A’s move when it came up before the owners? I recognize not many who rooted for the A’s will switch over to the Giants, but why make it easier on your rival? …
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• There is talk, in fact, that a prominent NL West owner did attempt to rally some of his fellow owners to block the A’s move. The Padres’ Peter Seidler, according to some unsourced reports, had assembled a group of “seven or eight” owners to vote no, but after Seidler passed away in November, those other owners – who they were, we don’t know – were lobbied hard by commissioner Rob Manfred to approve the move. Maybe that’s why the Dodgers were persuaded to vote yes. …
• Best news of the week: MLB’s announcement that, beginning next season, players in the All-Star Game will again wear their regular uniforms instead of the Nike-produced clown suits they’ve had to wear the last four years. Congratulations to Manfred and his marketing people for actually listening to the public, and it’s about time. …
• Now, please tell me the Dodgers are not going to pull out the Funfetti uniforms for Game 1 on Saturday.
jalexander@scng.com