by Paul Teetor
Wow!
That’s the only word that can summarize Saturday night’s spectacular spectacle of a World Series game.
Oh, and one other superlative: It was the greatest ever.
As in the greatest World Series ever, with the greatest game 7 ever, featuring the greatest player ever. (You don’t really need to ask, do you?)
Even allowing for a recency bias as well as a home team bias, it’s still undeniable: we’ve never seen a World Series so exciting, so back and forth, so up and down, with so many bang-bang close-call plays — and we’re unlikely to see another one this exciting again.
There’s one simple explanation for why it was so compelling: the heavily favored Dodgers were fighting an uphill battle all the way until they stole the seventh game and the World Series in the 11th and last inning on a Will Smith, two out solo home run.
From the moment they got smoked in game one – an 11-4 Blue Jays beatdown – to the moment they entered the 8th inning of game seven trailing 4-2, with the bottom of the lineup coming up to bat and the packed house at Rogers Center standing and screaming in frenzied anticipation of the sweet victory just five outs away – it felt like the Dodgers were underperforming their $350 million payroll so badly that the Blue Jays were destined to win.
For most of the series the team was supposed to be the best team that money could buy couldn’t buy a hit when they needed it most.
For most of the series the Blue Jays played better defense overall, took better at-bats and were better in the clutch – except when it absolutely mattered the most at the finish of Game 7.
It was so close because the Blue Jays were so scrappy, have such good pitching – we never heard of 22-year-old fire-baller Trey Yesavage before this series but we’re sure to hear a lot more about him in the future — and they were so hungry for a title 32 years after Joe Carter’s memorable walk-off homer to win the 1993 World Series. And even that legendary three-run dinger came in game 6 of that series – not a game 7.
Even the one moment the Dodgers seemed to be pulling ahead and establishing their dominance – when Freddie Freeman’s walk off home run ended the epic 18 inning Game Three – the Dodgers inexplicably proceeded to act like they were the team that had just had their hearts ripped out and their spirits deflated. The Blue Jays outscored them 12-3 over the next two games – at Dodger Stadium — to grab a 3-2 lead heading back to Toronto for games 6 and 7.
While the Dodgers offense was slumbering – they scored a pathetic total of 26 runs in the seven games – it is the images of defensive gems that will linger long into the future: Kike Hernandez catching a fly ball on the dead run and unleashing a bullet that beat Addison Barger back to second base to end game 6; Miguel Rojas gloving a rocket grounder, stumbling backward from the sheer force of it and then gunning a laser throw to home plate to beat the runner by inches; and most of all Andy Pages – newly inserted into the game by Manager Dave Roberts for defensive purposes – turning on the jets to run down a fly ball headed for the wall and in the process smashing into and outleaping teammate Kike Hernandez, who didn’t mind being boxed out on the play.
In the end, Yoshi Yamamoto, the Japanese pitcher that Ohtani recruited to the Dodgers last year, was easily the Most Valuable Player of the World Series. Yamamoto finished his postseason 5-1 with a 1.45 ERA.
To put the whole crazy, up-and-down series in context, the Dodgers won it despite going 1 for 11 with runners in scoring position on Saturday night, extending their output in such situations to 9 for 47 for the series, a .191 average.
Without Yamamoto on the mound for three of their four wins – a complete game in game two, six innings in game six, and three innings in game 7 the very next night – the Dodgers do not win the series.
That is why he is the MVP.
But there was one other intangible factor that was critical: Dodgers fans never lost faith in their team. From Grunions in Manhattan Beach to the North End Bar and Grill in Hermosa Beach, Dodger fans kept the faith even when the series was headed back to Toronto for games 6 and 7 and the Dodgers needed to win both games to pull out the series.
The pickleball crew at Manhattan Heights was representative of Dodger fans all over the Beach Cities: Den Mother Beth, who started a digital thread titled “I still believe” before game 6; superfan Neil, who endorsed every move Manager Dave Roberts made; Big Daddy Len, the thinking man’s fan who always saw the game-to-game drama as great entertainment; Help Me Rhonda, who begged her son for a precious ticket to game 5 but had to settle for watching that disaster on TV; perpetually peppy Mary Ann, who never gave in to the negative thoughts even when her team was down 3-2; and street-smart Sid, who made a bundle when the boys in Blue won games 6 and 7.
It was a team effort all the way – on and off the field.
That’s what Monday morning’s Dodger parade/love fest down Broadway was all about: making a statement that we pulled off this incredible comeback together.
As Shohei Ohtani told the 250,000 fans gathered for the parade: “I’m ready to get another ring next year. Let’s go.”
Redondo, Costa both Headed to the playoffs
Early this season, the Redondo football team looked to have no chance at a playoff spot. They dropped their first three games by lop-sided margins.
Now, two months later they are roaring into the playoffs fresh off a 58-21 beatdown of South Torrance that earned them second place in the Pioneer League with a 4-1 record and 6-4 overall on the season.
The Sea Hawks are usually led by star quarterback Cole Leinart, but this time they unleashed a running game that simply overwhelmed South Torrance. It was a run-by-committee attack, with seven players taking turns carrying the ball from scrimmage.
Bo Ausmus led the way with 69 yards on five carries, followed by Doug Moore with six carries for 64 yards, Rocky Martinez with 2 carries for 54 yards, and Christian Zeno, who did double duty with 49 yards rushing and 59 yards catching passes.
The Sea Hawks will play at Torrance in the first round of the playoffs next Friday.
Meanwhile, Mira Costa, which had looked so dominant early in the season, ended the regular season with a familiar finale: a ninth straight loss, 18-15, to Palos Verdes and its star quarterback, Ryan Rakowski.
But the Costa home crowd was thrilled when the Mustangs took a 15-12 lead late in the third quarter on AJ McBean’s 1-yard touchdown plunge and Liam Meeker’s 2-point conversion pass to Jackson Reach. Maybe, finally, they would beat PV, which had racked up a string of mostly close wins over Costa in recent years.
But following the Costa touchdown, which gave them the 3-point lead, Palos Verdes got the ball back and set off on what would become a 20-play drive, lasting from late in the third quarter into more than half of the fourth quarter.
The drive included two big penalties against Mira Costa, one coming on a field goal that tied the score at 15-15. But PV Coach Guy Gardner decided to take the points off the board and take the fresh set of downs from the 10.
“I don’t like that, it doesn’t sit well,” Gardner said of the decision to take the three points off the board. “There were moments when I wasn’t feeling good about that decision.”
The offense went back on the field and caught another big break on a pass interference call in the end zone on third-and-goal from the 9. On the next play, Rakowski found Christian Reis in the end zone for the winning touchdown with 5:50 remaining.
“It was not an easy night for him, that’s for sure,” Gardner said of Rakowski. “He kept competing and so did our guys. That was really nice.”
Mira Costa (7-3, 2-3) didn’t get the ball in the fourth quarter until after the PV touchdown. The offense wasn’t able to muster anything, giving the ball back to PV with a chance to run out the clock.
That’s exactly what the Sea Kings did. Rakowski picked up 36 tough yards on three carries on the final drive, moving the pile and dragging defenders. The last carry was an 8-yard gain, which would be the last play of the game, securing the win.
Costa will play at Chino Hills in the first round of the playoffs Friday night.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com. ER
