We had a sad house the night of game 7 of this year's World Series.
Having adopted the Toronto Blue Jays because of our son's interest in the team, we were ready to (quietly) cheer as the team was one half inning away from defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers and clinching a World Series victory (our three-year-old was sleeping).
We had let the eight-year-old stay up late to watch. We were already making plans to get him some Blue Jays swag if they won. Sports rarely work out the way we want them to. This wouldn't be quite the same as one of our lifelong teams winning a championship, but it would still be pretty darn fun. And it was so close.
The story of what happened at this point is well known by now. Former Rockies great Jeff Hoffman piped a slider, nine-hole hitter Miguel Rojas tied it with a solo home run, and the Dodgers proceeded to break so many hearts with an extra inning victory.
Now the Dodgers are back-to-back champs. As we all processed the outcome, I presume that the talk went to some of the loftier hobby horses of sports fandom and commentary. Is this team a dynasty? Will they win again next year? Is baseball broken because the Dodgers have a big payroll?
Whatever your appetite for those topics, it's understandable to go down that track when a team repeats as world champions. My mind went a different direction. Beyond the sadness of my kid who sat with a blanket over his head when the Blue Jays lost, I found myself thinking about two individual performances from the world champs.
Today
- Yamamoto and Ohtani and postseasons that will be remembered
- Questions about Daniel Jones as we gear up for the home stretch
- Another fellow old guy holding it down in the NFL
