What If

It has been widely published that the Dodgers are 31 years between World Series Championships. All Dodger fans want to forget that, but what if…I know it sounds like the Kratt Brothers. For those with small children or grandchildren you probably know Wild Kratts.

Brooklyn was nine World Series and lost their first seven:
1916 and 1920 (as The Robins – managed by Wilbert Robinson) and did not return for 21 years;
1941 (Leo Durocher);
1947 and 1949 (Burt Shotten);
1952 and 1953 (Charlie Dressen).

During these years the slogan most often spoken by Dodger fans…Wait ‘til next year. Well that year was 1955 under the direction of Walter “Smokey” Alston in his second year as the skipper. The Dodgers finally broke through beating the hated Yankees 4 games to 3, behind the brilliant pitching of LHSP Johnny Podres. In Game 7, Podres threw an 8 hit complete game shutout victory to give Dem Bums their first and only Brooklyn World Series Championship. Brooklyn came back to face NYY again in 1956, but lost yet again.

In their second year in Los Angeles, the Dodgers beat the Chicago White Sox in 6, led by reliever Larry Sherry. Larry Sherry became my first Dodger hero, and it took almost all of 1960 before I was able to get his Topps baseball card. Go figure, a reliever as my first Dodger hero. Some things never change.

The Dodgers would go on to win 2 of the next 7 championships (63 and 65), before losing in 4 to the Baltimore Orioles in 1966. That would turn out to be 6 WS appearances in 11 years with 4 championships. That was a great time to grow up a Dodgers fan.

It would be 8 years before they would return in 1974, in Alston’s final WS appearance as skipper. The Dodgers lost 4 games to 1 to the Oakland A’s, where 4 of the games were won with 3-2 scores with the A’s winning 3 of them. They also won a 5-2 game. We do not need to rehash the arrogance of Mike Marshall choosing not to throw his warm up pitches in Game 5 after a long wait due to debris being thrown on the field. First pitch to Joe Rudi leaves the yard and that is the difference in the game. World Series over. Now I am not suggesting that the Dodgers would have come back to win had Marshall taken his allotted warm up pitches. To me it was just the image of arrogance. But after a year where he pitched in 106 games, finished 83 games, and pitched 208.1 innings as a reliever, I guess he had a little arrogance coming to him.

The Dodgers would go on to lose two more World Series to NYY in 1977 and 1978. Just like his predecessor, Tommy Lasorda found himself in the Fall Classic after his second year at the helm of the Dodgers. Unfortunately Reggie Jackson was unbeatable that year. I know Charlie Hough will never forget him in that series.

The Dodgers lost again in 1978 to NYY and Reggie Jackson, but this year it was his hip (and sloppy play by LAD) that turned the series around. Three trips to the WS in the 70’s but not rings.

The Dodgers were very fortunate in 1981 to even get to the playoffs, while the two best teams, Cincinnati and St. Louis, did not get in because of how the playoffs were structured after the strike. In 1981 major league baseball shut down for 50 days from June 12 to August 10. During that time a total of 713 games were lost. After play was resumed, it was decided that the team in 1st place in their respective divisions at the time of the strike would be the first half winner, regardless of the number of games played. The first half division winner would face off against 2nd half Division champions. There was no consideration given to the team(s) with the best record over the year. The Dodgers played 1 more game than Cincinnati in the first half and had a .5 game lead when the strike began. The Dodgers were named the first half champions. Houston won the second half and faced the Dodgers in the 1981 NLDS, even though Cincinnati had the best overall record in the NL West. The same was true for the NL East where the Cardinals had the best overall winning percentage, but Montreal played one more game than St. Louis in the second half and beat them by .5 game. Montreal beat the first half champion Phillies for the right to me LAD in the NLCS.

Thanks to Burt Hooten and Rick Monday (and the snow out day), the Dodgers beat the Expos in Game 5 of the best 3 of 5 NLCS, and the right to meet NYY (AGAIN) in the 1981 World Series. In Game 1 (in NY), Ron Guidry faced Jerry Reuss. NYY jumped on Reuss early and scored 5 unanswered run in the first 4 innings. Steve Yeager hit his 1st HR of the series in the 5th, and Jay Johnstone had a PH RBI single and Dusty Baker a sac fly in the 8th to get the score close, 5-3. But that is how the score ended with NYY winning Game 1.

Game 2 was a great pitching duel for 7.5 innings between Burt Hooten and Tommy John. NYY got an unearned run in the 5th to take a 1-0 into the bottom of the 7th. Steve Howe relieved Hooten in the 8th, and after a fly out, he gave up 2 singles and was himself relieved by Dave Stewart. Stewart allowed both runners to score on a single, pick off error, and sac fly for the eventual 3-0 lead and win.

The Series shifted to LA for Games 3-5. Thanks to a 3-run 2-out 1st inning HR by the Penguin, the Dodgers jumped out in front early. NYY scored two each in the 2nd and 3rd off of Fernando to answer, and the Dodgers scored 2 in the 5th due to a Pedro Guerrero double and a run scored on a double play ball. The 5 -4 scored stayed intact for the remainder of the game. Fernando pitched a complete game for the win.

Game 4 featured Bob Welch and Rick Reuschel. Neither pitcher lasted long, with Welch not recording an out. The game bounced back and forth, but in the end the Dodgers prevailed 8-7. Steve Howe pitched 3.0 innings in relief to get the victory. His only run, a HR to…yeah, that guy named Reggie.

Game 5 was a rematch of Game 1, with Jerry Reuss pitching a complete game over Ron Guidry, 2-1, to take a 3 games to 2 lead back to NY. To this point the home team had won all 5 games, so NYY was feeling pretty good about things.

In Game 6, after NYY scored the first run, the Dodgers came back and scored 8 runs from the 4th-6th inning, and coasted to a 9-2 WS clinching victory. Who here does not remember that Bob Watson fly ball dropping into Kenny Landreaux’s glove for the championship and Steve Howe jumping into the arms of Steve Yeager. That moment will stay with me as long as the Kirk Gibson HR.

The Dodgers waited 7 years before they got back to the World Series, and had to beat a superior NY Met team to get there. But they did beat the Mets 4 games to 3 to go limping (literally) into the World Series against the heavily favored Oakland A’s. Perhaps the greatest moment in LA Dodger history occurred in the 9th inning of Game 1. All I need to say is Kirk Gibson and Dennis Eckersley’s back door slider and the improbable walk off HR and 5-4 victory.

That Game 1 loss and Orel Hershiser seemed to take the wind out of the A’s sails, as Orel pitched a 3 hit complete game 6-0 victory in Game 2.

Now back in Oakland, former Dodgers, Bob Welch and Rick Honeycutt, together beat the Dodgers 2-1 in Game 3 to give the A’s life. Tim Belcher and Jay Howell bested yet another former Dodger pitcher, Dave Stewart 4-3 in Game 4 to take a 3 games to 1 lead.

Orel Hershiser took the mound in Game 5, and a pair of 2 run HR’s off Storm Davis; one by Mickey Hatcher in the first, and one by Mike Davis in the 4th, gave the Dodgers a 4-1 lead after 4. Rick Dempsey doubled home Mike Davis with the fifth run in the 6th. Stan Javier had a pair of RBIs for the A’s in the Dodgers 5-2 clinching victory.

That would turn out to be the last time the Dodgers have win the World Series. We are running up to 31 years now. But what if…Kirk Gibson does not hit that HR in Game 1. There is no doubt that the series turned on that 1 at bat. The Dodgers had no business even getting to the World Series. 1988 was supposed to be the Mets (100 wins) and A’s (104 wins) as MLB’s two best teams. But somehow the Stunt Men and Kirk Gibson’s 1 AB staved off the Oakland A’s to win it all. And because of the strike and playoff rules, the Dodgers got into the playoffs and wound their way through to win the WS. So how close are the Dodgers to being 54 years between World Series championships.

Sometimes the best teams do not win championships. That is why the goal is always to get to the playoffs and then let a hot bat or hot arm lead the way to a victory. Maybe this is the year. But it is going to take a Burt Hooten or Orel Hershiser to carry this team, and hot bat like Mickey Hatcher or 4 (Pedro Guerrero, Ron Cey, Steve Yeager, and Steve Garvey) to get hot for a playoff run. Who is that going to be this year? Thus far, the Dodgers certainly appear to be the class of the NL. Will that be good enough to get through 2 playoff series and into the Fall Classic? That is why they play the games. Any team can get hot at the right time, and be unbeatable for a series or two or three. This year it needs to be the Dodgers. They have the players to do it, even if they are not perfect. No team is. So this year it is what if…Clayton gets a little of that Hooten Magic? What if,,,Belli, Corey, AJ, JT all get hot in October? Or what if…CT3, or Kike’ or Joc come off the bench to become heroes? What if…Joe Kelly has another 2018 and KJ goes back to his pre 2017 KJ? What if…Doc lets Rich Hill pitch a complete game shutout in Game 4? What if…LA gets a downtown parade in October.