Dodgers News: Return to Texas Brings Back Good and Bad Memories for LA
The 2020 championship for the Los Angeles Dodgers was a special one. It meant that the team had finally broken their long title drought, and everyone could celebrate. LA had been so close a few times to winning it all but consistently fell short.
But the 2020 season was different in many ways. It had been a shortened season due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the postseason was mostly played in select locations or a semi-bubble. But that didn’t matter because the teams still had to show up and do the work to win the title. The Dodgers did just that but due to the circumstances surrounding them in the world, it was a very short lived celebration compared to what every other team in history has gotten.
Both players from the 2020 team and manager Dave Roberts spoke to Jack Harris of the LA Times about this and said that while it was great, they are hopeful to win another title and this time they’ll get to actually celebrate in the way they should. Infielder Max Muncy alluded to this with his thoughts.
“A lot of our motivation to get back and win is we weren’t able to celebrate with the fans,” Muncy said. “We weren’t able to celebrate with each other.”
Per The LA Times
Roberts gave his thoughts on the celebration and compared it to how he celebrated when he won the World Series as a player with the Boston Red Sox back in 2004
“We didn’t get to fully appreciate being world champions,” he said, noting he still hasn’t seen some members of the team since that day. “There’s a lot of guys that we didn’t get to all say our goodbyes to.”
Per The LA Times
Utilityman Chris Taylor chimed in as well and said even though they didn’t get to celebrate in the way that they wanted to, they will forever be champions.
“You always envision what it’s gonna be like when you win a World Series, and to have that celebration taken away, it’s frustrating,” Taylor said. “The main thing is we can say we won a World Series. The memories of the games and actually winning and all that is the most important thing. But yeah, you didn’t get the icing on the cake.”
Per The LA Times
Not only was the 2020 title a breakthrough for the Dodgers organization but long-time Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw as well. He had previously been criticized for his struggles in the playoffs throughout his career, but he was great during the title run. It was the cherry on top of his future Hall-of-Fame career and he echoed similar thoughts to Taylor.
“Ultimately, we can say we won, so that trumps everything,” Kershaw said. “But yeah, parades look fun.”
Per The LA Times
Kershaw also mentioned that the league officials were getting in the way of things as well.
“MLB tried to be kind of jerks about the whole thing,” he said. “Obviously, it was a little bit of chaos with all the COVID stuff.”
Per The LA Times
The hope is that the Dodgers can get back this season and finish the job. They want to experience winning a title and then having the proper celebration for themselves and with fans. The pandemic robbed everyone of this incredible experience and it just is unfortunate when you look back.
You can read the story from Jack Harris of the LA Times here.
Photo Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
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