Tommy Lasorda had plenty of issues to say, a lot of which nonetheless stick in our heads in spite of everything these a long time.
He exulted within the fruits of victory. He dubbed Dodger Stadium “Blue Heaven on Earth.” He warned you may not get into the actual heaven in the event you didn’t root for the Dodgers.
He additionally had a easy method for achievement.
“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games,” Lasorda favored to say. “No matter how bad you are, you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.”
For those who imagine the hype, these Dodgers are out to make a liar out of Lasorda.
Below Lasorda’s axiom, no group wins greater than two-thirds of its video games. For the Dodgers, that will be 108 video games.
“117 would be a nice number,” former Dodgers pitcher and present broadcaster Orel Hershiser mentioned. “Set the record.”
The file certainly is 116, set by the Chicago Cubs in 1906 and tied by the Seattle Mariners in 2001.
“There’s just a lot of excitement,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned, “probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base.”
9 groups in historical past have gained 109 or extra video games. A kind of groups: the 2022 Dodgers, winners of 111 video games throughout the common season, eradicated by the San Diego Padres in 4 video games in October.
Two Brooklyn Dodgers groups gained greater than two-thirds of their video games: the 1953 group, which misplaced to the New York Yankees within the World Collection; and the 1942 group, which misplaced to the St. Louis Cardinals within the Nationwide League, at a time there have been no divisions and the league champion superior on to the World Collection.
These Dodgers loved a hoop ceremony Friday. They plan to get pleasure from one other one this time subsequent yr.
“That’s our only focus right now, to go back to back,” Roberts mentioned. “We have the best team.”
Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts exhibit his 2024 World Collection championship ring earlier than a win over the Tigers on Friday night time at Dodger Stadium.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Occasions)
Hershiser pitched below Lasorda, who managed the Dodgers to 2 World Collection championships in 20 years. In 1977, Lasorda’s first yr, the Dodgers gained 98 video games. In 1978 they gained 95. By no means once more below Lasorda did the Dodgers win so many video games.
This isn’t a knock on Lasorda, who’s within the Corridor of Fame. Groups will not be imagined to win two-thirds of their video games, and but right here we’re watching a group so gifted and deep that not successful two-thirds of its video games is likely to be a letdown to its followers.
“It’s going to be really hard to continue to think of glowing things to say about this team,” Hershiser mentioned. “I think the adjectives are going to get real thin.”
Hershiser has allowed himself a second or two to have some enjoyable with the anticipation of greatness. At first of the season, he mentioned, the Dodgers’ broadcasters had a gaggle textual content for predictions about what number of video games the group would win.
Hershiser smiled as he informed the story. The common season options 162 video games. His textual content learn 162.
It was a joke. The followers, he mentioned, ought to have some enjoyable too.
“I would hope it’s fun,” he mentioned. “I guess it’s less excitement when you win, and more disappointment when you lose. It’s not quite as balanced of a feeling.”
For followers of each different group, the exhibition season is over. For followers of the Dodgers, the exhibition season extends by way of September, and the significant video games begin in October. The final time the Dodgers did not make the playoffs: 13 years in the past.
But a baseball season is a ebook with 162 chapters. There’s a lot to savor inside, new gamers and shock storylines, a bounty to have fun and admire because the summer time unfolds.
This isn’t as straightforward because the Dodgers plan to make it look, even with their 4-0 begin.
Once I requested Roberts what he would counsel to followers already counting right down to October, he channeled one of many biggest champions in our metropolis’s historical past.
“My advice would be what Kobe said: The dream is a journey. And when we’re in your living rooms every night, when you come to the ballpark — 4 million people come to the ballpark every year — enjoy the journey.
“If you’re just waiting to win a championship, and that defines the season for you and your joy, then you might want to find something else to root for, because you’re missing a lot.”
