An LA Dodgers World Series win is a giant loss for all of baseball
The ideal outcome for the 2020 World Series didn’t happen on Tuesday night when the LA Dodgers won Game 6.
The ideal outcome for Game 6 was a Dodgers loss, so we all get a Game 7.
For MLB, the best possible result for a Game 7 of the World Series was a Dodgers defeat.
Didn’t happen. The Dodgers are your 2020 World Series Asterisk champions via a 3-1 series-clinching win in Game 6 on Tuesday night over Tampa Bay.
MLB would have gained little with the Tampa Rays winning a World Series, other than a host of owners who would point to that franchise and scream, “Hooray! I don’t have to spend money to win it all!”
(Not that Texas Rangers owners Ray Davis and Bob Simpson would ever do this).
MLB gains more if the Dodgers blew another one.
Baseball needs another loser. I’m not talking the San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers or Seattle Mariners type of a loser.
Baseball has one of those.
The Cleveland Indians have not won a World Series since 1948, currently the longest streak in MLB, and that futility just doesn’t resonate the way it should.
The pain of the Indians franchise does far outweigh that of the Dodgers’, a streak that was only 32 years.
Because it’s Cleveland. Not even Clevelanders care about Cleveland. Just the name evokes the image of clouds, sadness, and a recession even on a bright, sunny day.
LeBron James left for a reason.
The Dodgers, though; their pain stings.
The Dodgers are one of MLB’s signature franchises, in a marquee city; unlike some clubs that “rebuild,” the Dodgers try year after year to win another trophy.
The Dodgers burned through cash, spending hundreds of millions in payroll to win this series.
Good for them, and bad for baseball.
More than any other sports league in North America, baseball was built on a few, special losers. Baseball is the one sport that needs another big market “winner” to get its heart stomped on.
The Chicago Cubs and Boston Red Sox winning World Series’ trophies this century after comically long droughts provided relief to their loyal, and legions of fake, fans. Those championships were, ultimately, selfish.
One of the most compelling story lines over decades was the combined inability of signature franchises in Chicago and Boston, both of which play in two of America’s most storied venues, to always blow it.
Their pain marketed baseball to everyone.
Baseball had a bit more charm when the Cubs were still trying to win their first World Series since 1908. That franchise was built on losing.
Their charm ended in 2016 when they won the World Series, in heartbreaking fashion.
Baseball benefited from watching the Red Sox not win a World Series since 1918; filmmakers made documentaries about their streak.
Alas, that joy all ended in 2004.
Today’s generation knows of no difference between Boston, Chicago and New York.
As such, it became captivating theater to watch the L.A. Dodgers, who play in the underrated greatness of Dodger Stadium in Chavez Ravine, to come just so close and ultimately be denied year after year.
To watch their entitled, big city fans suffer through another loss provided so much joy to so many other baseball fans.
Although the Rays pushed the Dodgers to a Game 6, they weren’t that close to extending this streak another year.
Much like the Red Sox World Series winning teams in 2004, ‘07, ‘13 and ‘18, the Dodgers were far superior to Tampa.
The better team won.
All of that money finally bought the Los Angeles Dodgers another World Series title.
And all of Los Angeles and their fans rejoice, while the rest of us navigate the emptiness of knowing baseball just lost out another loser.
This story was originally published October 28, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
