OT: World Series 2020 Champions - Los Angeles Dodgers
Los Doyers are the 2020 World Series Champions!
No asterisk as they probably would have won with a full season anyways.
October 28th, 2020 at 12:18 AM ^
So...how many Dodgers test positive tomorrow?
October 28th, 2020 at 1:16 AM ^
Whole team. Turner was out there hugging people after the game.
October 28th, 2020 at 8:48 AM ^
Would've been crazy to see what could've/would've happened with a Game 7...could it even have been played? We'll never know.
October 28th, 2020 at 10:57 AM ^
My question is who is the asshole that called in the positive result right before the end of the game? He had already played the game and been with everybody the whole week, and then they are like, sorry you can’t play in the 8th and 9th or celebrate with the team. ?
October 28th, 2020 at 2:53 PM ^
how many Dodgers test positive tomorrow?
For what?
October 28th, 2020 at 12:23 AM ^
I’m glad the NFL doesn’t allow championships to be bought.
The trade for Mookie was a joke, looks like it got the Dodgers over the hump.
October 28th, 2020 at 12:38 AM ^
The Rays had baseball's third-lowest payroll this year. And they were two wins away from winning it all. And the Dodgers haven't won since 1988. And the Yankees haven't even been to a World Series since 2009. And of baseball's 16 highest payrolls this season...
1) NYY
2) LAD
3) BOS (didn't make 16-team postseason)
4) HOU (finished under .500)
5) PHI (didn't make 16-team postseason)
6) NYM (didn't make 16-team postseason)
7) CHC
8) SFG (didn't make 16-team postseason)
9) SD
10) STL
11) WAS (didn't make 16-team postseason)
12) LAA (didn't make 16-team postseason)
13) TEX (didn't make 16-team postseason)
14) ATL
15) COL (didn't make 16-team postseason)
16) ARI (didn't make 16-team postseason)
...less than half could even qualify for a completely bloated postseason field.
TL;DR - Your comment is dumb.
October 28th, 2020 at 12:44 AM ^
Dodgers had the 2nd highest payroll and they won the World Series, yet my comment is dumb.
Dodgers have made the World Series 3 of the last 4 years. Glad they were able to spend $61 million this year alone on Betts and Price, which is more than the entire Rays roster.
You probably thought all NBA teams had a shot at Anthony Davis too, right?
October 28th, 2020 at 7:52 AM ^
Yes, your comment is dumb. He did a pretty good job of laying out for you why a high payroll doesn't guarantee success or buy you a title.
October 28th, 2020 at 1:13 AM ^
Spending money doesn't guarantee success but it sure helps if you have someone who knows what to spend it on. The most recent winners are all at the top of your list. Drafting well is still the most important part of building a team. But, small market teams can rarely afford to keep a star even when they draft well.
October 28th, 2020 at 7:48 AM ^
Come on, man. I used to be in that camp too but analytics have seriously leveled the playing field. The Dodgers have one of the highest payrolls in baseball, and this is their first championship in over 30 years. The Yankees haven’t won a World Series, or even been to one, in over 10 years, and they can buy anyone they want. The Red Sox have one of the highest payrolls in baseballs as well and yes they did win one a few years ago but they’ve been pretty bad ever since. Having a crap ton of money at your disposal is in no way a guarantee of success.
The Rays have one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, if not the lowest, and they were two wins away from winning at all. The Royals won a series a few years back with one of the lowest payrolls in baseball as well. If memory serves, they almost swept the Mets, who I’m sure have one of the higher payrolls in baseball as well.
This is not college football where it’s the same 3 to 4 teams playing for and winning it all every year. I won’t debate that having a big payroll helps your team, but I think what helps you even more is having a great front office that knows how to draft And knows how to properly develop Those players in a well-stocked farm system. That is what the Rays have and that is what allowed them to beat the Yankees, the Astros, and get them to this level.
October 28th, 2020 at 8:51 AM ^
Last 5 World Series winners and their payroll rank at the beginning of that season.
’20 Dodgers, 2nd.
’19 Nationals, 3rd.
’18 Red Sox, 1st.
’17 Astros, 12th.
’16 Cubs, 4th.
Out of the past 5 winners, 4 had payrolls in the top 4. The one that didn’t acquired a 22 million a year player in Justin Verlander later that season.
October 28th, 2020 at 9:12 AM ^
The irony of “NYC Fan3” complaining about buying championships is rich.
October 28th, 2020 at 10:20 AM ^
and put an * next to the *astros - blatant cheating is the reason they won, so take the payroll of the WS loser that year or the team the *astros beat in the ALCS.
October 28th, 2020 at 11:03 AM ^
OK “NYC” fan...Yankees are the king of paying players and taking them from other teams. Most of the talent on this Dodgers team is home grown talent that they drafted And developed. Dodgers have failed to pay the giant contract under this management because they are bad deals. But Mookie Betts is a special player that they recognized could elevate this team, which he did. Plus we got him from the Red Sox not some small market team. Red Sox were stupid to get rid of him.
October 28th, 2020 at 11:03 AM ^
PS - username doesn’t check out
October 28th, 2020 at 12:26 AM ^
Kevin Cash should have been fired immediately after the 6th inning.
October 28th, 2020 at 12:36 AM ^
He'll be reliving that decision forever, he clearly should have left him in at least thru the lefty batters. He ruined the game for me, I was watching Snell just dealing and he took him out after one base hit.
October 28th, 2020 at 12:39 AM ^
Yes. Do or die game of World Series and your best pitcher dealing like that, put the metrics aside and let him continue.
October 28th, 2020 at 1:03 AM ^
I'm with you 100%, Snell was in complete control and had complete command of his pitches.
He stays and completes the 6th, pitches into the 7th, then turns it over to the set-up man to start the 8th, and we're very likely looking forward to game 7.
October 28th, 2020 at 2:07 PM ^
Everyone complaining about Snell, this Series should have been wrapped up in Game 5 on Sunday, but for a once in a life time miracle at bat. Tampa Bay was not going to win it...but they had an unbelievable year.
October 28th, 2020 at 1:21 AM ^
I mean what is he saving him for? Not like he would’ve pitched in Game 7. Let Snell leave it all out there on the mound.
October 28th, 2020 at 8:14 AM ^
Not saving him for anything, just complete and slavish devotion to the analytics. I'm a Dodgers fan and I was speechless when he did that, in both joy and WTF!
October 28th, 2020 at 10:23 AM ^
As a former baseball player and now a coach, that move infuriated me. The analytics play makes sense over the long haul, but if you are simply going to follow a spreadsheet and not rely on intuition, feel, etc., in the most important moment of the postseason, WTF is a manager being paid for?
If all one needs to do is follow some script on an iPad, my 12-year will manage the Rays for 1/10th of what Cashman is paid. Then perhaps the Rays could afford that additional bat they so desperately needed against LA.
October 28th, 2020 at 10:28 AM ^
I mean sometimes football coaches biff a call and make a crucial mistake that costs their team the game, but this seems to happen all the time in baseball, esp. in the playoffs and World Series. No sport is at the mercy of the coaches' bad decisions than baseball.
October 28th, 2020 at 11:06 AM ^
He is the new Dave Roberts. Old Dave Roberts would have put Jansen in in the 9th and blown the game ?
October 28th, 2020 at 11:22 AM ^
I have never breathed a larger sigh of relief(while watching a game) than the one I breathed when Urias went back on the mound in the 9th, if Kenley had gone out there I would have thrown something through the TV.
October 28th, 2020 at 11:36 AM ^
We had a bet at my house if he was going to come in. Thankfully Urias was throwing fire last night...and Dave Roberts didn’t pull a Dave Roberts ?
October 28th, 2020 at 1:09 PM ^
Back in the day, what Cash did was called “overmanaging.” Gene Mauch and Casey Stengel, if anybody here goes back that far (doubtful) were infamous for this before “analytics”. Relying so much on analytics all the time will inevitably come back to bite you in the ass. Got Cash last night. Didn’t Warren Buffet ? say if you think you re the smartest one in the room, you re in the wrong room.
October 28th, 2020 at 3:03 PM ^
I 'memba them.
And on the other side of the equation in baseball back then was a World Series winner many here are very familiar with, Mayo Smith. Mayo, God love him, had a reputation as a "hands-off" manager, a reputation that has led some to under-appreciate and diminish his role as the Tigers skipper. I obviously disagree. How many other managers back then would have made the bold and risky move to switch Mickey Stanley from CF to SS just 9 games before the end of the season, and then keep him there all World Series?
October 28th, 2020 at 3:31 PM ^
The Rays were able to make it that far with a small percentage of payroll, and a small percentage of offensive talent because they exploit teams who do things based on outdated expectations of roles on a roster. One of those is that a SP should rarely if ever see a lineup a 3rd time through. How a pitcher has fared the first 2 times through a lineup has no impact on predicting how a pitcher will fare a third time through.
Snell had a 1.45 ERA the first 2 times through in the postseason and a 12.00 the third time through. And that is just a small sample size, but the numbers show this over and over.
Citing the fact he was dealing as a reason to keep him in the game makes no sense. He always deals the first 2 times through. This is one of the biggest logical fallacies in baseball.
Pitchers get tired, stuff gets worse and hitters have seen that stuff more. The advantage switches.
Add on top of that the fact that Betts had the platoon advantage and it was the correct call.
People who don't understand that don't understand what makes the Rays the Rays.
The biggest problem was that Anderson said after the game he was fatigued but he never shared that with Cash. If Cash had known that he probably goes to a different pitcher.
It is like when Smoltz goes on and on about a grounder that gets through the shift that would have been fielded for 100 years but ignores 3 line drives into the shift that were base hits for 100 years.
If you make the correct decision every time over the course of time the outcomes will be in your favor.
October 28th, 2020 at 12:27 AM ^
As a Clipper and Angel fan, it’s been a weird few weeks
October 28th, 2020 at 12:53 AM ^
As a Lions fan it’s been a weird 63 years.
October 28th, 2020 at 11:07 AM ^
As a Lakers and Dodgers fan, I think your post is funny. You probably like the Chargers and Ducks too?
Angels are one thing because they are in the OC and have a history of being a solid franchise, but you choose to be a Clippers fan, so that one is on you ?
October 28th, 2020 at 1:05 AM ^
Have to take my hat off to them. Game Six should have been Snell's to lose, however.
October 28th, 2020 at 11:08 AM ^
However the Dodgers should not have lost Game 4...but for the most Bad News Bears play of all time.
October 28th, 2020 at 1:11 AM ^
Sorry - But to hell w the Dodgers, Yankees and the rest of the big money MLB teams. With a payroll double the MLB average - easy to buy your way to a title.
I give more props to clubs like the Rays and A's, who have to make smart decisions w limited budgets, and develop good players into great teams.
I guess congrats are in order on more effective big $ spending of free agents than the Yankees. Great job!
October 28th, 2020 at 2:59 AM ^
I agree. Their poor eccuse of a salary cap (the tax limit,) is a joke. Either have one or don't.
October 28th, 2020 at 9:01 AM ^
I am willing to buy the argument that the Dodgers can afford to keep their drafted players who payoff and turn into something, I am not willing to buy the argument that all the Dodgers do is sign big free agents. Full props to the Rays for figuring out a way to make it work, especially in a tough division, but this argument that the Dodgers don't have to be smart as well is complete bullshit and anyone who follows baseball should know better. The Dodgers have won 10 of the last 13 NL West Division Titles, you don't do that without a sustainable system in place.
Mookie Betts - Acquired by trade, available for just about any other team, only available because the Red Sox could not come to terms with him. Arguably the only Dodgers mainstay who was acquired by trade where he was the centerpiece. He is the first multi-year big money contract the Dodgers have given out, even Clayton Kershaw signed an extension for a limited number of years.
Clayton Kershaw - Dodgers Draftee
Walker Buehler - Dodgers Draftee
Corey Seager - Dodgers Draftee
Cody Bellinger - Dodgers Draftee
Joc Pederson - Dodgers Draftee
Will Smith - Dodgers Draftee
Julio Urias - International signing by the Dodgers
Justin Turner - Mets castoff who was given a chance to fix his swing
Chris Taylor - Mariners castoff the Dodgers developed
Max Muncy - A's castoff that the Dodgers developed
Various Role players like Mat Beaty, Gavin Lux, Dustin May, Victor Gonzalez, Edwin Rios and Tony Gonsolin were Dodgers Draftees or international signees.
Bullpen arms like Pedro Baez and Kenley Jansen were international position player signees the Dodgers converted to the Pitching Staff
Other role players like Austin Barnes, Brusdar Graterol, Kike Hernandez, and Dylan Floro were acquired via trade and not as the centerpieces.
So for free agents, you are left with AJ Pollock(4 year deal, signed when the Dodgers decided to pass on the big free agent names in the class) Joe Kelly(3 year deal), Alex Wood(1 year deal) and Blake Treinen(1 year deal). Like I said I will buy the argument that the Dodgers can afford to re-sign their own big name players. But to say that they went out and bought themselves a championship is off the mark.
October 28th, 2020 at 11:10 AM ^
As a Dodgers fan...we don’t care about your opinion ? World Champs baby! ??
October 28th, 2020 at 1:19 AM ^
Dodgers have been near the top of the payroll and it took them 32 years. Tigers have been up there, and haven't won in 36 (and counting). Yankees are perennial top salary and haven't won in more than a decade.
Big budget helps, but can't guarantee anything. You have to have coaching, you have to have chemistry, you have to have luck, that's why sports is compelling.
October 28th, 2020 at 8:18 AM ^
This. 100% this. Money doesn’t guarantee anything, but a well coached team, chemistry, and good luck.
October 28th, 2020 at 5:00 AM ^
didn't the Lakers just win the NBA finals a couple of weeks ago?
wtf.
October 28th, 2020 at 8:28 AM ^
Lightning won the Cup, so you were getting a double either way.
October 28th, 2020 at 11:42 AM ^
And Brady has Tampa Bay poised for a Super Bowl run. LA might be title town, but Tampa Bay is having an absurd sports run right now for a smaller market.
October 28th, 2020 at 12:19 PM ^
Meanwhile in Detroit, the Red Wings and Tigers finished in last place, the Pistons finished 13 out of 16 in the NBA East and the Lions are 3rd out of 4 in the NFL North (while breaking a record for losing the most double digit leads in a row). . .
October 28th, 2020 at 2:36 PM ^
Since 2000, the Lakers, Dodgers, Kings and Rams have played in 14 Championship Games/Series and won 9 Titles for the City*. This is particularly impressive since the Lakers went through the inept Jim Buss era, the Dodgers went through the dark Frank McCourt era, and we have only had an NFL team for 5 seasons. (As a Michigan fan, this has kept me somewhat sane, and given me faith that Michigan will get over the hump, eventually...at least in basketball ?).
*Saint Louis Rams -‘00, Anaheim Angels ‘02, Anaheim Ducks ‘07 don’t count for LA, and the San Diego Chargers and San Diego Clippers are not supported by real LA fans, and will never win a Championship while in this City.
October 28th, 2020 at 11:10 AM ^
Yes. They did ????
October 28th, 2020 at 5:20 AM ^
*fart noise*
October 28th, 2020 at 6:35 AM ^
Pretty dominant team overall, but that comeback to beat the Braves in the NLCS was pretty impressive