Five months deleted from a story book ending, the Dodgers are already writing another script worthy of Hollywood.
He started last week in Japan, when the champions in title of the World Series were well received with fervor on the other side of the world. He continued in the opening homestand of this weekend; Whoever presented a sentimental celebration of banner banner at the Dodger Stadium on Thursday, then a ceremony of the emotional championship ring before the first launch on Friday.
In the middle of this backdrop, the dodgers could have been forgiven to have fought with a wooden mouth at the start of the season. Like countless champions before them, it would not have been surprising that their defense of the title begins with a slow first step.
But instead, these dodgers kissed the whole pump, absorbed all the circumstances and put their own triumphant stamp on the opening act of the season.
For the first time since 1981, they left for a 4-0 departure. Friday – in an 8-5 victory against the Detroit Tigers, which included a five -point rally and the winning home run in 10th round – they even started to revive last year’s magic.
“By far, the best opening week I have ever known,” said manager Dave Roberts.
“A bit of the impression that we take up a bit where we stopped last year,” said the third goal player Max Mancy. “There is still a lot of fight in this team.”
The Dodgers Mookie Betts Dodgers stop, on the far right, famous with teammates after hitting a three-point home run in 10th round against Tigers on Friday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Friday evening was not always intended to end so spectacularly.
At the beginning, the Dodgers rarely generated the start of Tigers Jack Flaherty, one of the few basic pieces of their race in the playoff series not to have returned, and did not score before a Home Run by Freddie Freeman in the sixth.
Later, the Dodgers wasted the opportunity for a more rudimentary victory. The new Tanner Scott lift skipped a stop in the ninth and needed his defense to throw another runner on the plate simply to force additional sleeves. In the 10th, the tigers quickly took an advance of 5-3 when the triple of two dillon dingler points landed just beyond an effort to dive from Michael Comforto in the left field.
But in a week which was so dedicated to honoring the success of the Dodgers in 2024 – when their World Series trek included a litany of injuries, a list in digital disadvantage and a close elimination at the start of the playoffs – this team orchestrated its own resilient response for the first time.
“It’s a kind of characteristic of our ball club,” said Roberts. “We don’t stop.”
“We wear it a little more than last year,” added Muncy. “You can have all the talent in the world but if you don’t have this gel in the clubhouse, then it won’t work.”
At the end of 10th, Conforto reduced the deficit by half with a double head, marking the automatic runner of the second. Will Smith came out of the bench and slapped a simple RBI through the inner field, linking the scoring to 5-5.
Shohei Ohtani kept the current rally, aligning a base on the right to put two runners on board. Then, just when he had two rounds earlier, when he broke 2-2 equality with a home run on the left, Betts came on the plate and delivered again, hitting an explosion no doubt and bankrupt.
Mookie Betts famous after hitting a circuit on the left in the 8-5 Dodgers victory against the Tigers on Friday evening.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“I just couldn’t have scripted better,” said Roberts. “It’s huge, especially given everything we have taken in the latter, call that, 10 days.”
No one was as wild as Betts has experienced.
In Tokyo, he could not play after losing more than 15 pounds while fighting a stomach virus. Until Tuesday, it was not clear if the 32-year-old star, who also embarked on a change of position at the Second stop, would be available for this series.
His first circuit stroke was so surprising for his teammates – since he did not play around 165 pounds, well below an already undersized stature to start – that Muncy said they had joked it “was probably the best major part he had at the moment”, noting how it was barely clear the fence in the left field.
When Betts appeared in the 10th, he worked a blow of eight passes before jumping on a change under the area. The ball took off its bat at 97 MPH. Even on a quick night in Chavez Ravine, he landed with several rows in the pavilion of the left field.
“He confused us, so we all got the wrong on this one,” said Muncy, laughing.
“It was not on my bingo card,” said Roberts with astonishment. “He just does special things … He won a ball game for us tonight.”
While Betts has rounded up the bases, he burst into a lively celebration that felt directly outside the stretch rebuke last October.
Part of the reaction, he explained later, was personal exaltation.
“Just the fight I have experienced, the ups and downs, the nights I cry just because I am sick, my wife will keep me somehow,” he recalls his two-week ordeal, “this is where this emotion comes from.”
But the rest of the emotion, he added, was simply “winning for boys”.
Such feelings helped to wear the Dodgers last fall – a key reason why, for about 30 minutes before the first launch on Friday, each member of the 2024 team in the building other than Flaherty (which will obtain their ring on Saturday) was called to a makeshift scene to receive their 14 karat and 300 diamond history.
“It’s my favorite,” said Betts, the only active position in MLB with three World Series championships. “I hope I can get more and that we can compare.”
To this end, the Dodgers already give an early validation to their status as favorites of the World Series with the best match of four matches of the franchise in 44 years.
“It’s a good thing to be a dodger, many interesting things happen,” said Austin Barnes, a veteran. “Play a lot of nice games. Go to Tokyo. Get rings. The opening day. They do things here. … So yes, it was a great week. But I have to continue.”
