Dodgers Officially Say Goodbye to Cody Bellinger
In the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, Jimmy Dugan (played by Tom Hanks) famously said, “There’s no crying in baseball.” He was wrong — there occasionally is crying in baseball. And more to the point, there’s often crying in baseball fandom.
Maybe you’re not a cryer, and that’s okay, too. But if your love of the Dodgers sometimes moves you to tears, yesterday might have been rough for you. L.A.’s social media team put together a pair of farewell posts for Cody Bellinger as his signing with the Cubs became official.
The first one wasn’t too bad. Just a picture and a thanks.
From Rookie of the Year to MVP to World Series Champion and everything in between. Thank you for everything, @Cody_Bellinger. We will miss you and the energy you brought to Dodger Stadium. Best of luck in Chicago! pic.twitter.com/DsCERwWLDS
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) December 14, 2022
Fifteen minutes later, as if to say, “We didn’t make that sad enough,” they came at us with a highlight video.
Thank you, 35. pic.twitter.com/xDBW5SCJY4
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) December 14, 2022
There are so many fond memories of Bellinger, but also so much heartbreak about how his time in L.A. ended the last two seasons. (And yes, I know “heartbreak” isn’t quite the right word, it’s a bit melodramatic, but I mean whatever the sports equivalent of heartbreak is.)
Bellinger won the Rookie of the Year his first season, NLCS MVP the next year, NL MVP the year after that, and then the World Series in his fourth year. He was on a trajectory to be the best player in baseball, and he was ours.
Now he’s not ours, and there are serious questions about whether he’ll ever be great again. Even though he’s playing for someone else now, we hope he can rediscover that magic he had his first few seasons, because there were few players as fun to watch as peak Cody Bellinger. Farewell, Cody!
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Baseball is a business and Cody was definitely taking advantage of the Dodgers! And conversely the Dodgers were stupid in overpaying Cody for three pedestrian seasons at the plate! Bye, bye Cody and good luck playing for the Little Bears! If you don’t perform in Chicago Cody you will be booed!
No more shift. He’ll be fine and 20 something home runs. Gets his confidence back, he’ll sign a longer term. Probably play for the DBags someday. Best of luck to you Coolby.
As long as belli doesn’t have the courage to change his swing he’ll never hit again. Pitchers take the to study swings of opposing hitters they figured out his hole and they have exploited it. And he doesn’t make changes. And the shift doesn’t mean jack if you can’t hit the ball.