DBD DAILY: The Dodgers Win the NL Pennant! Richard Muses

The Dodgers are the champions of the National League in 2024! A short postcard from Richard after the Dodgers beat the Mets 10-5 in game 6 of the National League Championship Series on Sunday night at Dodger Stadium. The Boys in Blue will play the New York Yankees in the 2024 World Series, which starts Friday night, at 5:08 p.m. (very specifically Pacific time) at Dodger Stadium.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Dodger Stadium, Sunday night. Top of the ninth inning, Blake
Trinan on the mound, Francisco Alvarez hits a chopper to second.
CT Three comes up with it. He tosses to Muncie
at first, and the game's over. Dodgers win. The Los

(00:29):
Angeles Dodgers are going to the World Series. Welcome to
Dodger Blue Dream Daily. I'm Richard Parks, the Third. It's Monday,
October twenty first, twenty twenty four. The Los Angeles Dodgers

(00:53):
are the champions of the National League. I don't love
the Dodgers because they win. I love them because I
love baseball. I loved playing it when I was a
kid growing up in Los Angeles. I loved collecting the cards.
I loved memorizing the stats on the back of the cards.

(01:14):
I loved the stories, particularly the stories you'd hear on
the radio and TV told by Vin Scully, the dodgers
longtime broadcaster, about the players and their lives, the ones
on the team and many of them already long gone
and dead, or the stuff of legend. I loved learning
the history of the game, a history that was being

(01:37):
added to year after year. Each time, a season that
could be consumed from start to finish like a good book.
And I loved the words that Vin Scully used, his
peculiar turns of phrase, squibber number, the little girl with
the curl deuces wild. I love the way language fit

(01:58):
neatly into the pace of a baby ball game. How
the length of the season gave you time to really
get to know the characters, to fall in love, and then,
of course, more often than not, have your heart broken.
And all these years later, I still love the Dodgers
for the same reasons, but also because they represent something
constant in a life experience that is ephemeral. I know

(02:23):
that long after I die, there will be men wearing white,
blue and red uniforms standing on grass, wearing little leather mits,
trying to hit a round ball with a wooden bat,
the hardest thing to do in sports. And that's comforting
because they are so giant. The Dodgers make me feel small,

(02:43):
but they're like me. They play the game that I played,
and they fail a lot while trying. And they do
it here in and for the place where I was
born and where I still choose to live. The faces change,
the stories are different, from you to year, but there
are always stories and they tend to hit the same

(03:04):
emotional notes. But this year things are slightly different. We
don't usually get to see the Dodgers make it this far.
They don't always win the National League Pennant, but last
night I got to see them do that in person
for the first time ever, and I'll never forget it.
I don't love the Dodgers because they win, but it's

(03:27):
impossible not to love it when they do. And now
the Dodgers are going to the World Series. They are
one of just two teams left, the best of the best.
It's the ultimate ending to the story of a season
in the starkest contrast, imaginable Los Angeles versus New York City,

(03:48):
Coast against Coast, Superstar against Superstar, dem bombs against the
damn Yankees. I've been waiting for this matchup my entire life,
and it's happening this year. The late great Dodgers manager
Tommy Lasorda famously said, the best possible thing in baseball

(04:09):
is winning the World Series. The second best thing is
losing the World Series. And now we're guaranteed one of
those two outcomes. It's kill or be killed. Survive and
conquer all, or go home with the agony and ignominy
of defeat. Either way, it's an ending we don't often

(04:30):
get to see, and I feel blessed do help tell
that story For those of you who have decided to
listen to this show. The world series Dodgers Versus Yankees
starts on Friday at five h eight, very specifically Pacific
time at Dodger Stadium. Ooh baby, I'm looking forward to

(04:54):
sharing it with you here on Dodger Blue Dream. Dodger
Blue Dream is written and produced by me Richard Parks.
Music in this episode by Jonathan Snipes. If you like
Dodger Blue Dream, please leave us a rating and a
review on Apple Podcasts or however you can, and if

(05:15):
you've already done that, please share the show with one
friend today. We'll be back soon with more episodes to
help get you ready for the world series. In the meantime,
feel free to check out our back catalog. Thanks for listening.