The face of the franchise, Landon Knack is just not — that distinction belongs to Dodgers stars Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Clayton Kershaw — however the rookie pitcher has been as a lot, if no more, of a social media presence than his extra well-known teammates within the weeks for the reason that Dodgers beat the New York Yankees within the World Sequence.
What Knack, a 27-year-old right-hander from Johnson Metropolis, Tenn., described as a “whirlwind” month within the wake of the Nov. 1 downtown parade and Dodger Stadium celebration started with an invite from the Tennessee Titans to observe their Nov. 10 sport in opposition to the Chargers from a SoFi Stadium suite.
Knack was at Dodger Stadium with teammates Anthony Banda and Tony Gonsolin for a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway on Nov. 20. He returned to SoFi on Nov. 24, becoming a member of Banda and reliever Joe Kelly to indicate off the World Sequence trophy earlier than a Sunday Night time Soccer sport between the Rams and Philadelphia Eagles.
Knack watched the Nov. 30 USC-Notre Dame soccer sport from the Coliseum sidelines with Dodgers pitching coach Mark Prior, a former Trojan. On Dec. 1, Knack and fiancee Anisa Herlinda Garcia cruised down Hollywood Boulevard at the back of a classic baby-blue convertible in the course of the 92nd annual Hollywood Christmas Parade.
And final Friday, Knack rubbed elbows on the crimson carpet with the likes of singer-songwriters SZA, Meghan Trainor, Shaboozey, Paris Hilton and T-Ache on his method into the iHeartRadio Jingle Ball on the Intuit Dome.
“I kept saying yes [to requests from media relations staffers] because you never know if this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” stated Knack, who pitched as soon as in every of the three rounds of the playoffs, together with a four-inning, one-run, two-hit stint in an 11-4 World Sequence Sport 4 loss to the Yankees.
“There are so many guys who have played this game for 10-plus years and never get close to experiencing this. I’m a rookie, this was my first year in the league, but you never know if I’ll get to experience this again in my career, so I absolutely wanted to take advantage of it, to make some memories and just enjoy things.”
Dodgers pitcher Landon Knack delivers throughout a sport in opposition to the Giants in July. Knack is among the many Dodgers gamers who’re very happy to maintain celebrating the group’s World Sequence title.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
The spoils of victory have been bountiful for the Dodgers, who beat the San Diego Padres within the Nationwide League Division Sequence, the New York Mets within the NL Championship Sequence and the Yankees in a five-game World Sequence en path to their first full-season championship since 1988.
5 days after he was named World Sequence most beneficial participant for his four-homer, 12-RBI barrage in opposition to the Yankees, Freeman made his late-night debut on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the place he was showered with sunflower seeds — although not by teammate Teoscar Hernández — as he walked onto the set.
Kimmel performed a video clip of an trade from the World Sequence-winning clubhouse celebration during which shirtless utility man Kiké Hernández wraps Freeman in a bear hug and asks the primary baseman, “Why are you still wearing a cup?”
Because the laughter within the viewers died down, Kimmel requested Freeman, “Why did he know you were still wearing a cup?”
“He’s gonna feel everything you have,” Freeman stated of the notoriously frisky Hernández.
Freeman, who supplied the signature second of the World Sequence together with his walk-off grand slam in Sport 1, crashed Shaboozey’s red-carpet interview with Brooks and Dunn on the Nation Music Awards in Nashville on Nov. 20 and spent an hour with football-playing brothers Travis and Jason Kelce on their “New Heights” podcast.
The spotlight of the Kelce brothers interview got here when Freeman, who has accrued $215 million in profession earnings over 15 big-league seasons, was requested what sport he would have performed had he not performed baseball.
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman speaks in the course of the group’s World Sequence celebration at Dodger Stadium on Nov. 1.
(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Occasions)
“Ooh … I probably wouldn’t have played a sport,” Freeman stated. “I wanted to be a [certified public accountant].”
“Time out!” Jason Kelce, the previous Eagles heart, bellowed. “Nobody wants to be a CPA! What are you talking about?”
Freeman: “My dad owned his own CPA firm with my uncle, his brother … and I wanted to be a CPA. I know it sounds crazy, but I was going to be doing your taxes.”
Jason Kelce: “You do your own taxes now?”
“No, I don’t,” Freeman stated with a chuckle. “That ship sailed 20 years ago.”
“I’m not gonna lie,” stated Travis Kelce, the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish. “I was not expecting that.”
Supervisor Dave Roberts, who performed baseball at UCLA, roamed the Rose Bowl sideline for the Bruins’ Nov. 23 sport in opposition to rival USC and, two days later, served as an honorary captain in the course of the midfield coin toss for the Chargers-Baltimore Ravens Monday Night time Soccer sport in SoFi.
Roberts additionally traveled final week together with his son, Cole, to Okinawa, the Japanese island the place he was born. Roberts obtained a hero’s welcome and was given a particular honor award from Naha Mayor Satoru Chinen.
“I actually had a chance to have dinner with Sadaharu Oh, which was something I’ll always remember,” Roberts, talking at this week’s winter conferences in Dallas, stated of the now 84-year-old slugger who hit 868 house runs in 22 seasons with the Tokyo Yomiuri Giants from 1959-80.
“He’s in great shape. We were talking hitting. Obviously, he’s a huge fan of Shohei. I told him, ‘I always thought he was a figment of my imagination.’ I never really believed that Sadaharu Oh existed until I saw him and put eyes on him.”
Freeman, Betts, Jack Flaherty, Chris Taylor and Brusdar Graterol have been greeted by Lakers star LeBron James earlier than a Nov. 8 sport in opposition to the Philadelphia 76ers and honored on the Crypto.com Area court docket as they confirmed off the Commissioner’s Trophy.
Kiké Hernández labored the morning shift at a Elevating Cane’s restaurant in Alhambra on Nov. 4, manning the fry cook dinner station and serving clients on the drive-through window and inside counter. He additionally did a meet-and-greet session with catcher Austin Barnes at Disneyland in Anaheim.
Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani sits subsequent to his spouse, Mamiko Tanaka, whereas watching the Lakers play the Portland Path Blazers at Crypto.com Area on Dec. 8.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Occasions)
Ohtani, who received his third most beneficial participant award, and his spouse, Mamiko Tanaka, have been gifted with Lakers jerseys earlier than Sunday night time’s sport in opposition to the Portland Path Blazers, No. 17 for the Dodgers slugger and No. 12 for his spouse, a former skilled basketball participant in Japan.
Although Ohtani didn’t attend the occasion, the Japanese American Nationwide Museum held an Ohtani lookalike contest on Nov. 23 in Little Tokyo, with Joseph Ma of Orange County rising from dozens of contestants to win the $17 first-place prize.
Three days later, a handful of followers gathered in Elysian Park for a Banda lookalike contest, with seven contestants displaying off their resemblance to the bespectacled and closely tatted Dodgers reliever, who emerged as one thing of a cult hero this season.
Pitcher Walker Buehler and second baseman Gavin Lux have been honored throughout ceremonies of their hometowns, with Lexington (Ky.) Mayor Linda Gorton declaring Nov. 18 as Walker Buehler Day and Kenosha (Wis.) Mayor David Bogdala and Kenosha County govt Samantha Kerkman proclaiming Nov. 23 as Gavin Lux Day.
Flaherty joined Roberts on the sidelines for the Chargers-Ravens sport. The pitcher additionally appeared on the “Throwbacks” podcast with Matt Leinart and Jerry Ferrara, the “All Facts No Brakes” podcast with Keyshawn Johnson, the “Rich Eisen Show,” “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” and the “Run it Back Show” with Michelle Beadle and Chandler Parsons. And on Wednesday, he labored a shift at Villa’s Tacos in Grand Central Market.
Jack Flaherty, left, meets followers whereas working a shift at Villa’s Tacos in Grand Central Market on Wednesday.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Occasions)
“It’s been a whirlwind, a crazy three weeks since we won it,” Flaherty advised Leinart, the previous USC quarterback, and Ferrara, the actor recognized for his function as “Turtle” on the HBO collection “Entourage,” in November. “I’m just enjoying every little part of it.”
The Dodgers set the tone for the offseason revelry on the night time of Nov. 1 when a number of gamers gathered on the hilltop Encino house of Betts for a celebration after that day’s parade and stadium celebration.
The multitasking Betts used the event to tape a number of segments for his “On Base” podcast, with Buehler telling the story of how, two nights after he threw 5 innings in a Sport 3 begin in opposition to the Yankees, he got here to shut out the Sport 5 clincher.
Kiké Hernández revealed an outfield dialog that he had with Betts and Teoscar Hernández throughout a pitching change within the second inning of Sport 5, with the Dodgers trailing 4-0 after Flaherty’s shaky begin.
“I looked at you and said f— it,” Kiké Hernández advised Betts. “Worst-case scenario, we finish it at home, best-case scenario, we do some legendary s— and come back and beat [Yankees ace Gerrit] Cole.”
The Dodgers, in fact, rallied from a 5-0 deficit when the Yankees suffered an epic meltdown within the prime of the fifth, committing two bodily errors and one psychological gaffe that allowed the Dodgers to attain 5 unearned runs in an eventual 7-6 series-clinching win.
Kiké Hernández led off with a single. Yankees heart fielder Aaron Choose dropped Tommy Edman’s routine fly ball for an error. Shortstop Anthony Volpe threw low-and-away to 3rd on an tried pressure play, permitting the Dodgers to load the bases.
Cole inexplicably stopped between the mound and first on Betts’ two-out squibber to Anthony Rizzo, and Betts beat the Yankees first baseman to the bag for an RBI single. Freeman adopted with a two-run single, and Teoscar Hernández hit a score-tying two-run double.
Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts smells a bouquet of flowers he obtained throughout a information convention in Tokyo on Dec. 4.
(Eugene Hoshiko / Related Press)
“We’re all thinking they kind of s— down their leg, right?” Taylor stated of the Yankees. “They were pressing. It was one thing after the next. Our energy in the dugout was kind of feeding off that. It was like all we gotta do is put the ball in play right now, you know?”
Kelly, the brash and often-outspoken reliever who missed the playoffs due to a shoulder harm, piled on the Yankees throughout an early November look on the “Baseball Isn’t Boring” podcast.
“Look at the team, look at the talent,” Kelly stated. “We go through numerous scouting reports. We pay attention to every single detail. We have a lot of big superstars in our clubhouse, but our superstars also care and aren’t lazy and play hard. That’s the difference, and the biggest separator.”
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Veteran ESPN analyst Buster Olney criticized “the small handful of Dodgers who are chirping,” and Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, admitted to cringing at a few of the vital feedback.
“I’m glad our guys are getting to soak it in some, as they should, but I think they should be reveling in the success and all they did to put us in a position to do that,” Friedman stated. “I think as little focus as we can pay to others and the more we can be internally focused, the better.”
Knack, in the meantime, lastly has a while to catch his breath after “we’ve been going, going, going,” he stated earlier this week. However as he celebrates his fiancee’s commencement from Arizona State, dives into the planning for subsequent winter’s marriage ceremony and cranks up his offseason throwing program, Knack can’t assist however pinch himself.
“To be honest, what we did hasn’t truly set in, even with me going out and doing everything I’ve done,” Knack stated. “The scope of everything is just insane, that we actually reached the mountaintop of baseball and won a World Series. I understand what happened, but the true meaning behind it hasn’t fully hit me.”
