Snake Bytes 10/21: A Return to Fandom’s Past

Seven games are left standing between the 2018 MLB season and a long, cold winter without actual baseball contests. The Milwaukee Brewers were agonizingly close to making it to the World Series, but fell just short of clinching in game seven last night against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Brewers late season run was remarkable. Consider the rag-tag group of starting pitchers they had going in the NLCS. Wade Miley? Jhoulys Chacin? 2013 called. They want their starting rotation back. Congratulations are in order for Craig Counsell finding a way to get the most out of his lineup and bullpen matchups and allowing that team to be successful as possible.

Here we are. The 2018 World Series. East coast sports dynasty city versus West coast media giant. And don’t let others fool you, you absolutely are not obligated to root for the Los Angeles Dodgers only because they play in the same division as the Arizona Diamondbacks. Let that hate shine. For some of us, rooting for the Boston Red Sox against Los Angeles isn’t difficult at all.

Take a look at my bio on this site. It hasn’t changed since I began contributing here. Notice what my email address is? It hasn’t changed since I first set it up all those years ago. Make no mistake about it, the Arizona Diamondbacks will always have my ire. My appreciation for the Sox has changed over the last two decades as I became more obsessed with the D’backs. World Series victories for Boston meant relatively nothing to me in 2013 and 2007 compared to 2004. I was younger then, and there was an arbitrary loyalty to Boston because of the team I played for in Little League. In 2007, I was more heartbroken from the Diamondbacks exit from the playoffs to really even care about the Red Sox sweeping the Colorado Rockies. But don’t think for a second that I will not thoroughly enjoy watching Boston dismantle Los Angeles over the coming week. For this week, I’m dusting off that 2004 David Ortiz World Series jersey. I’ll embrace that childhood fandom one more time, just to spite the Dodger scum.

Come the home opener in the 2019 season I’ll be right there back in the trenches with all of you. Donned in my Diamondbacks gear. Annoyed by all the Boston fans still celebrating their World Series victory.

NLCS

[The New York Times] Dodgers Defeat the Brewers in the N.L.C.S. to Return to the World Series - As Yasiel Puig jubilantly raced around the bases, smacking his legs and flexing his biceps after a critical home run in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, it was hard to imagine that this Los Angeles Dodgers team was 10 games under .500 on May 16 and in third place in its division in August. For the past six years, the Dodgers, who defeated the Milwaukee Brewers, 5-1, on Saturday for a return trip to the World Series, have been a juggernaut in the N.L. They are consistently among the highest-spending teams in the major leagues, playing in the second-largest market, with marquee stars and an illustrious history. This year, however, was more of struggle. After many injuries and a sluggish start, the Dodgers rebounded in the second half, finishing with a flourish in September. They led the N.L. in run differential, yet needed a Game 163 to win the N.L. West for the sixth straight season. “We told everyone not to worry,” said Cody Bellinger, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the series. “We understood the talent that we had. Now we’re here.”

[The Washington Post] The Brewers took ‘unorthodox’ a long way. But they could not ride it all the way. - “I don’t think players always understand or always kind of relate to the legacy part of things,” Counsell, now the Brewers 48-year-old manager, said Saturday evening as he remembered the past, thought ahead to the future, all to explain what his 2018 team could not know until it reflects on its season with fresh eyes. “We know we’re doing something that’s cool and this has been fun, and we want it to continue. But how it’s going to look when people look back on it, it’s hard to think about that right now.” The season finished later that night, in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series, far deeper into the calendar than anyone would have thought when these Brewers first started playing back in the spring. So now this team’s legacy can be hashed out, as a group that could not beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games, but as one that can be remembered for what it did do rather than for what it didn’t.

World Series

[CBS Sports] 2018 World Series odds: Red Sox open as favorites to defeat Dodgers in Fall Classic - The 2018 World Series is now set, as the Los Angeles Dodgers will take on the Boston Red Sox beginning on Tuesday evening. The Red Sox had baseball’s best regular-season record, meaning they’ll host the first and potentially the last two games of the series, should it go seven. You might wonder what the bookmakers think about the series. Turns out they think the Red Sox are the favorites to win.

[Bleacher Report] World Series 2018: Dodgers vs. Red Sox Early Odds, Schedule and Preview - The 2018 World Series is finally set, with the Los Angeles Dodgers advancing from the National League Championship Series to take on the Boston Red Sox. After winning a franchise-record 108 games during the regular season, the Red Sox have carried that success over to the postseason. They have gone 7-2 in their two series victories over the New York Yankees and Houston Astros, putting them in prime position to win a fourth World Series title since 2004. The Dodgers are the first National League team to play in back-to-back World Series since the 2008-09 Philadelphia Phillies. After coming up short in last year’s Fall Classic against the Astros, they will look to end the franchise’s 30-year championship drought.