October 17, 2025 • 33 mins
The Dodgers are one win away from going back to the World Series? Yeah. Richard and Wes re-cap the first three games of the National League Championship Series, against the Milwaukee Brewers. The Dodgers are up 3-0 and tonight, Shohei Ohtani is on the mound for the Boys in Blue at Dodger Stadium.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's time for Dodger base. Oh boy, two outs, one
more needed if you're taking shot. Last night at Dodger Stadium,
ninth inning, two outs. Oh, look at these sad Brewers,
sad Joe's Dodgers. One out away from going up three
games to none in the NLCS.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, Okay, the Dodgers won it.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
How Fracky closes the door. Hello, Dodger blue dreamers. It
is Friday, October seventeenth, and things are good. The Dodgers
are up three zero over the Brewers in the NLCS.
They need one more victory and they're going to the
(00:54):
World Series. Next game is tonight at Dodger Stadium, where
Game three took place after the first two in Milwaukee.
And the story of this series so far has been
the pitching. The Dodgers pitching. The Dodgers starting pitching has
(01:14):
been incredible, historic, dominant. The team has dealt ace after
ace after ace in the first three games. Blake Snell,
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler glassnow have carried the team to
three straight victories. And we certainly expect that story to
(01:34):
continue tonight because we've got yet another ace in the hole.
Shohei Otani is going to be on the mound tonight
for the Dodgers in Game four, So the Blue crew
is beating up on the brew Crew. The Milwaukee Brewers,
the self described average Joe's as shucks, who accumulated the
(01:56):
best record in baseball over the course of the twenty
twenty five regular season, have been looking more like the
below average Joe's. Job's not finished, but some Dodger fans
are getting pretty cocky. To quote Blake Snell in a
rap that he recorded in twenty twelve at the age
of nineteen, you keep it amateur while I keep it pro.
(02:20):
In these first three games, that's kind of been the vibe.
You keep it amateur, I keep it pro, and you
don't need to be a weatherman to tell which way
the wind blow. I say, Dodgers in four, get out
the broom and let's sweep up. So today on the show,
we're going to recap the first three games of the
(02:40):
NLCS with a focus on our starting pitching, and then
last we're going to play a very special segment that
I produced for KCRW eighty nine point nine FM in
Los Angeles, the station of my childhood reached out to
me and asked me to tell this story of the
(03:00):
Dodgers twenty twenty five baseball season in seven and a
half minutes. And you'll get to hear what I did.
If you have not been following the season closely this year,
we'll get you caught up real quick. We got you covered.
So strap on in. It's DBD Dodger Blue Dream arm
Richard Parks. The Dodgers are one win away from going
(03:26):
back to the World Series.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, stay with us, all.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Right, let's take it back to Game one of this
NLCS Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Monday on the mound for the Dodgers.
Be to the Snell Snell Zilla.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
My whole life I've dumped at this moment.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
First name, Blake Snell was brought to the Dodgers over
the offseason with a five year, one hundred and eighty
two million dollar contract, and that's a big contract, specifically
in order to pitch in games like this one, high stakes,
everything on the line. Snell has had an amazing career.
(04:21):
He's won two Cy Young Awards, and he's pitched in
big games before, most famously in Game six of the
twenty twenty World Series, when Snell was on the Tampa
Bay Rays and he was facing the Dodgers. He had
an amazing start that day, and in what has become
a famously maligned decision, Rays manager Kevin Cash pulled him
(04:44):
after six in accordance with the third time through dictum
that you heard about on our Bullpen episode. The Rays
bullpen melted down. The Dodgers won the World Series that year,
which is what they're trying to do this year with
Blake Snell's help. And Blake Snell has never won a
World Series. His wife wanted to move to La so
(05:05):
there was that to draw him here, but also he
wants that ring, as we all do. And if you
just look at Blake Snell's twenty twenty five season, everything
has been leading up to this moment. He pitched sixty
one and a third innings during the regular season, even
in today's game, where pitchers don't go very deep into
(05:26):
games typically, and even with the Dodgers plethora of starting
pitching this year, that is a low number. A workhorse
starter would pitch more like two hundred innings in a year,
and he's at sixty one and a third. He spent
a lot of the season on the injured list, and
I think We can use scare quotes when we say
(05:47):
injured list, because to look at this cynically or realistically,
it seems like the Dodgers have been planning for things
to go this way. Didn't necessarily need Blake Snell to
help us win the ninety three games that we won
this year to win the nl West, but we do
want him in peak form at this moment. And so
(06:07):
as he came back from the injured list scare quotes
and started pitching again in September, you could see how
this plan was unfolding optimally for the Dodgers, and certainly
it has been working out pretty nicely. In the twenty
twenty five postseason so far, including this Game one, Snell
has a three to zero record with a zero point
(06:29):
eight six er, fifty two strikeouts, zero point five to
two whip. And this start in Milwaukee was just a gem.
We told you in our NLCS Starter Pack episode earlier
this week that we were going to look closely at
Blake Snell's start because Game one can be such a
tone setter, and it was. And how Blake Snell went
(06:53):
eight innings, struck out ten, and gave up one hit,
one blop single and quickly picked that runner off at
first and he gave up zero runs. That is insane.
What a game, What a game. Chopping it up with
Wes Avula, my co host post game.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Super Nerve wracking, you know I hate those games, right.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I know I was gonna say, you don't like those
low scoring pitchers duels.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
Not at all. But this one was good. Like the
Dodgers had them on. You can tell the Dodgers had
them on the fence a lot of the game, he says.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
The Brewers.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Second, here's Cup Snell and free look in the air,
lazy fly ball out to center field and Andy Payez
plucks it away and Blake Snell sets up six down.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
You want your ace to be like the dude, and
he was. He was like lights out, dude, that's how
agree it is. So today he was lights out.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No action in that bullpen can travers on the ground.
The third month, see gobbles it up and Blake Snell
goes through the seventh hitting, didn't throw it out.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Here comes Snell, the rings him up.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Blake Snell drops a big curve, caught him guessing they.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Had the one hit nothing and he was striking him out.
And they're not a team that strikes out. We told
you on our last episode that Blake Snell would have
to stay in the strike zone and to watch out
for walks because that's causing problems in the past. He
did not walk a single Brewer. We told you Snell
(08:28):
would have to control the running game against the Brewers.
That's been an issue for him in the past. And
the Brewers are super aggressive running team. Well, it's hard
to control the running game when you don't allow any runners.
And Snell did allow one runner, one only and that
runner Snell Zilla pipped him off.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And out till the first and he's got Dervin pick Cook,
snap roeby free of the second base and out.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
We told you the Brewers make a lot of contact,
and they do, but they didn't. Snell had his changeup
going so good, they just couldn't connect. He struck out
ten on two, three, four.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Look who crept up in this dough?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
How good was Blake Snell for the Dodgers In Game one,
he faced the minimum over eight innings, something that hadn't
been done in a postseason game since Don Larson's perfect
game in the nineteen fifty six World Series. After that,
one single in the third inning, Snell didn't allow another
batter to put the ball in the air. It would
(09:30):
have been a perfect game if not for this one hit.
And had Snell been allowed to finish the ninth inning.
But you wanted him to stay in for the ninth I.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
Did, and I think he did too, because he asked
him that question. He's like, well, I trust Doc, and
Buck made the right choice, I think, and all right, Trustwood,
Doc says, but I.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Mean he was at one hundred and one pitches.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
I can see him doing one fifteen though he.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Was so locked in. Snell's wife took the Instagram to
celebrate by posting a rap Snell made in twenty twelve.
Are listening to it right now? It's become legendary in
Dodgers fandom. The Dodgers Instagram influencer Dose posted a video
of himself lip syncing the entire thing, and we titled
(10:12):
this episode in tribute to it.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
I'm on every bud, It's just your show. You'll keep
it amateur? Why I keep it from I'm about my
business while you're about your joke. I'm about my pats
while you're about your you on the game, My buttons
comes in and the girls. Man, you don't make you in,
you make me drugs. My future is my and your
future is something. I'm on the getting my tag when
(10:36):
he broke through the wrist, look through my glassy man,
what's to h I see your boys? Now he's tearing
up his me. So I'm gonna hit you. Why God
leaves the verse? Raiser and Rich knock out? Now? Where
is my favorite.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Man?
Speaker 6 (10:51):
All about my hat?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I'm gonna keep it.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
One hundred, So hit me on my nexture? What joint
into the game, says any hit him with that figure?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
A man? My prime man on the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Want to look who clipped.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Up in the nome?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Thank you Snell?
Speaker 5 (11:05):
You know Snell Zilla. He was like, I'm redeeming myself
for an eight bench. He probably said something that could
not take me out in the sixth or the seventh,
because you know when that's what happened to Tampa Bay.
He was dealing the Dodgers. They took him out and
we won the World Series after they took him out,
and he was so pissed off because he probably would
have been liked out.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah. Instead, we saw Roki Sasaki's first week outing in
this postseason in the bottom of the ninth. Blake Trinin
had to come in to close it out, and it
was a little too close for comfort with the bases
loaded in the bottom of the ninth there but trying
and got the punch out to save the game for Snell.
(11:45):
It was the story of the two Blakes, which, if
anybody's counting, is the second Chinatown reference in the last
few episodes. But mostly this was Blake Snell's night. I
try to tell you he was different tonight.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
He showed eight innings face the minimum amount of matters.
That's the one and only Snell Zilla Blake. How did
it feel last night? My whole life, I've dreamt at
this moment, and to be able to go eight it
was probably the best part for me because I've always
the seventh was pretty special. I've always wanted to be
out there for God bless America, So to be able
(12:19):
to be out there for that was special for me.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
After Snell's dominant start in game one, it was impossible
to imagine Yoshinobu Yamamoto matching that performance in game two.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Dude, we can take two of them from over there, like,
let's go, let's just move forward, Go to the World Series.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You know, well, yeah, for sure, if we take Game two,
I mean it's it's over. Next up, let's recap Game
two with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the bump. So again, it
was impossible to imagine Yamamoto matching Snell. And then, after
a scoreless top of the first, on the very first pitch,
(13:00):
Yamamoto threw to the Brewers Jackson Churio postseason.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
On the first pitch, Jackson Cherio said, one of the
deep rights.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
And that one's gonna fly out of here.
Speaker 7 (13:14):
Cheerio with a.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Home run that started offensively for the Browards.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
We've told you that the Brewers, in spite of their
self appointed average Joe identity, are a very good baseball team,
and they had defeated the Dodgers in each of the
teams had to head matchups in twenty twenty five with
a perfect record of six wins to the Dodgers zero,
(13:45):
and in one of those losses, every Dodger fan who's
followed this season closely remembers Yamamoto had a bad outing,
an absolutely garbage outing in Milwaukee, when after retiring the
first two batters, he gave up five runs in the
first inning before being removed from the game after throwing
(14:06):
forty one pitches. He didn't even get through a single inning.
It was Yamamoto's worst start of the season, and after
the first pitch home run in Game two, we were
all thinking, oh no, it's going to be another one
of those today. You know, there's no way that Yamamoto
could top what Blake Snell did in game one in
(14:28):
his game to start.
Speaker 8 (14:29):
Right, Yeah, And you know, from when the game started.
As soon as the game started, I was like, oh see,
there it is. He can't top it. First pitch on run,
first pitch on run.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
We had to temper our high expectations.
Speaker 8 (14:45):
I mean, you can't expect that they're going to just like,
no hit another seven innings, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
But so on away.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Here's Caleb Durban now with free look, a base stealer
at first base. Very interesting to see if the Brewers
deployed the running game against Yamamoto and.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Then then called strike three. Yamamoto started dealing, and the.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
First strikeout for Yamamoto it is out number two, and
he got him back to the splitter. He goes and
he strikes out. Caleb Ortis takes off and the pitches
they called strike three, low throw needed.
Speaker 8 (15:25):
You know, after that first sitting. It's funny because you
can hear the announcers so like, well, since that first run,
you know, he's put down eleven in a row. It's like,
you know what I mean, it's like, oh, he's doing
something here.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
You know, it's cooking powers.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Roll over ground ball Tommy Edmund and Yamamoto puts up
another zero. He's retired eighth.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Street, and then the Dodgers answered offensively.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Had a high fly ball in the left field that
is way back there and that is gonna be a
gone home run.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
When Taskar Hernandez hit one out, we are tied.
Speaker 8 (16:01):
Dad had that beautiful swing, hit it out far. He
hit it really high and really far. So it was
good to see them, you know, really come back and
answer right back, like not just.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Bold and Yama just kept shutting them down.
Speaker 8 (16:15):
And every time it felt like they were getting some momentum, yeah,
would just shut it down just with another strikeout or
had a cold.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Strike three right on the edge. Impeccable command all night long.
Yamamoto with a sixth strikeout.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
After giving up that leadoff home run. Yamamota's performance was
arguably as impressive or even more impressive than the previous
nights from Blake Snow. And he did something that hadn't
been done for the Dodgers in two decades.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So try to finish this one.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Here it comes.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
The O two had a swing at a mess and
Yoshi Yamamoto with his crown jewel as a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
He completed the game game, he goes the distance.
Speaker 8 (17:06):
I think Doc regretted a little bit taking them out
because now it was probably like I could have done
that too, you know what I mean, like happy that
Ams did that, but he probably was like, I can
do that too, Let me do that next time.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
The average Joe's, known for their small ball approach, were
completely neutralized.
Speaker 8 (17:25):
It just completely deflated, like the heat that the Brewers got.
Because a lot of times what happens is when you
take out that picture that's been lights out. They get
a little hit there, they get a little hit here,
they get a little stolen base, they get a round
and it's like you don't want to let this team
back in at all, Like you want to keep your
foot on their neck until this series is done. Like,
ain't no letting off.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
You know how many aces do you have in your
team right now?
Speaker 4 (17:48):
I mean, all of them are throwing the ball amazing,
but we kind of knew that.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Speaking to the media after Game two, Dodgers pitcher Clayton
Kershaw invoked a famous baseball maxim that applies to this series.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
So good pitching beats good hitting any day of the week,
and you're seeing that right now.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
About good pitching beats good hitting, and it definitely beats
no hitting. You keep it amateur, I keep it pro.
(18:28):
As the series headed back to Los Angeles with the
Dodgers up two games to none, the Boys in Blue
plan to play their third and fourth ace cards, Tyler
glass Now for Game three and show Hey o'tani for
Game four and yesterday at Dodger Stadium. It was up
(18:49):
to glass Now to maintain the tone that had been
sent by Snell and Yamamoto in Milwaukee, and he did.
Expectations just keep getting exceeded every single night. Yeah, as always.
I hopped on the phone with Chef Wes just after
the game. Glasnow had a great start.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Yeah, you had a quality start for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
If it weren't for the two preceding starts, I think
that any fan would be saying that he was making
his payday with that start in the NLCS for sure.
Oh yeah, five and two thirds from Glasnow and then
he handed it over to the dogs and the Dogs
were the dogs.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Yeah, they did good. They did good, like Bessie did good.
Tryinon did good. And then Bonda came in for the
whole inning, right and just was.
Speaker 8 (19:43):
It was awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, he had a really nice one two three clean inning,
and then for the ninth inning, Kaibutsu the Monster Roki
Sasaki redeemed himself by shutting down the game with a
one two three inning in his first appearance since his
rocky outing in Game one when he couldn't get through
the ninth. Yeah, no, it was good.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
It was good to see him have that quality inning
because it's like he killed it against Philly in Game one.
The Brewers had his number, like, you didn't want that
to happen again, and that becomes where it's like, oh no,
this is like the Meltdom of the bullpen again. You know,
we're going through that same pattern. It was really nice
to see him get out of it, and.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Our offense got some good looks at the Brewers' bullpen
and they used.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
A lot of pictures, you know, So like we've seen
these pictures a couple of times. I think we've seen
the starting picture today every game at least one innings,
you know what I mean. So it's like, yeah, all right,
we're gonna have a number for a while. I don't
care how damn good the guy is.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You know, today we saw the Brewers more in it
than they have been this whole series.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Yeah, they look like more like the Brewers of the
regular season today, but not enough and not in key moments,
you know which. I'm okay with deer season Brewers. Like
I don't want to see them. Like I said earlier,
I was like, I want them to lose and just
kind of like quietly just drift off the cantcuon.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
So, while the Dodgers are poised to complete a four
game sweep over in the American League Championship Series, there's
a real series going on.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
Is a series split?
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Now?
Speaker 4 (21:23):
All right?
Speaker 5 (21:23):
I'm mistaken.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
It's split too too oo?
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Yeah, no, they can go to seven games, I don't care.
Let the Dodgers get some rest, let some of the
arms heel, let's go, man, But.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Yeah, I mean,
I agree with you, but can't get complacent, no, for sure.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
And I don't you know, that's why I like the
same thing when they were trying to like paint the
where the average joels that, don't you know, it's like,
get out of here with that. You guys aren't electricians.
They're trying to play it up like if it was
a WBC and you know what I mean, and they'd
have those teams like from Croatia where they'd be like, oh,
he's actually an elementary school teacher most of the year,
you know that, Like you guys are professional athletes. You
(22:01):
guys have the same opportunity that you know coming up
and playing ball. Your owners a billionaire as well, Like
he can spend some money. If that's the whole thing,
you know what I mean. It's like, yes, it's a
small market team. You know, the Brewers got a like
rabbit following where they're at. But it's not like you know,
say the Yankees, the Red Sox for the Dodgers.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
You know.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
But that being said, there's still a professional club and
they still had the best record, and they're still really
really capable and good. So I don't want to get
complacent either. I want to make sure that we just
shut them down them mom end it. You know that's
not now. Let them get back in any any little
hint of hope. You know, you want to take all
hope away from them, Like when they're thirsty, you want
(22:45):
to give them salt for their tongue. It's like, here's
some salt there. You know, you don't get no water.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Nothing, sorry, brewers, no water. Just Game four NLCS at
Dodger Stadium tonight at five thirty eight pm Pacific.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
And then are you going to try to go tomorrow?
Last minute?
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I mean, it looks like it's getting pricey.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Yeah, it looks quite pricey.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Friday night, Dodger Stadium, Shoho Tani on the mound for
Game four of the NLCS with a chance to sweep.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
Yeah, they'll think it's going to be on the price
side for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
By this time next week we'll be talking about the
World Series. It starts one week from today. After the break,
we will share a special piece I produced for my
local public radio station, summarizing the Dodgers regular season in
(23:44):
under eight minutes. Stay with us, Welcome back to the show.
(24:06):
All right now, as promised. We're going to play a
segment that I produced for my local public radio station,
Los Angeles's own KCRW eighty nine point nine FM. This
is something that I have had truly the honor to
do for the past couple years, which is to summarize
(24:26):
the entirety of the baseball season in under eight minutes.
This is stuff you know if you've been listening to
this show, certainly stuff that we've covered in particularly the
Weird Year episode. But if you're listening to this and
you have not been following the season, nor have you
been listening to this show, this segment is for you
(24:48):
a summary of the season, all the dramatic beats, both
on the field and off in the time it takes
you to hard boil an egg. So fill up the saucepan,
crank up the gas, prepare the ia bath, or however
you do it, and listen to this. On opening day
at Dodger Stadium, the rapper Ice Cube rolled onto the
(25:11):
field in a Dodger Blue Lowrider, the Commissioner's World Series
Trophy sitting shotguns Joe. The organization had maintained the roster
that won it all in twenty twenty four, and they'd
added some of the most coveted free agents on the market,
two time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and twenty
(25:32):
three year old Japanese rookie right hander Roki Sasaki, who
joined a team already stacked with stars, MVPs and the
Japanese babe Ruth Sho hey O Tani Vegas projected that
the Dodgers would win one hundred and five games this year,
a sportsbook record. If anyone could do it, the Dodgers
(25:52):
can do it. Then Dodgers were wicked. And the Dodgers
came out of the gates hot a sooner fan hear
us is back. They opened the season eight and zero,
the best start to a season for defending World Championship
winning team ever.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
But then, and I'm thrilled to welcome the twenty twenty
four World Series.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
President Trump invited the team to the White House to
celebrate their World Series win in early April. They lost
two of their next three, then four of their next five,
and it continued.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
Trying to forget this one?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Was this visit a curse?
Speaker 6 (26:32):
Obviously got really ugly towards the end.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
The best roster in baseball faltered continually when facing inferior opponents.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Did you say this with Mookie Bets.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
MVP Mookie Bets was sidelined early on with an undiagnosed stomach.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
Bug, who's lost twenty plus pounds.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And young Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, who's one hundred and
two mile per hour average fastball velocity made him one
of the most highly touted young pitchers in the game.
Suddenly no longer could reach triple digits. Nobody knew why.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
Ah, totally right now, I'm not throwing, so it's hard
to tell.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Sasaki went on the injured list indefinitely, and the vaunted
Dodger's bullpen, who had played such a pivotal role in
the team's twenty twenty four championship run, couldn't seem to
hold the lead.
Speaker 7 (27:22):
Tanner Scott blows his tenth save of the twenty twenty
five That's terrible.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I mean, I'm having the worst year in my life,
so it's not fun.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Baseball hates me right now.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
As local immigrant communities are impacted by ice arrests and raids,
the local sports teams off the field, there were even
more stressors as some fans looked to the team for
a stronger response to the ice raids. Still, the season
was studded with moments of competitive glory. The Ravine rises,
(27:51):
longtime Dodger Clayton Kershaw recorded his three thousandth strikeout Dude sixteen.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It was a.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Historic milestone that, due to changes in the style of play,
may never be reached again. And we got to see
Shohei Otani take the mound for the first time in
Dodger blue. It was a fulfillment of a promise from
Baseball's unicorn, who excels both as a hitter and as
a pitcher, as Babe Ruth did one hundred years ago,
(28:21):
and whose seven hundred million dollar contract with the Dodgers
set an all time record. All he did was pitch.
It didn't hit. Could be the best pitcher of baseball,
and Otani the pitcher, was electric and all the while,
the team maintained its first play status in the NL West.
That is until, in what has become one of the
(28:44):
most heated rivalries in sports, the San Diego Padres drew
blood on the ground right side.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
The San Diego Padres are alone atop the NL West.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
With just a month left of regular season play, there
were no guarantees that the Dodgers would win the National
League West. Recent changes to MLB's playoff format really reward
not the team that's best over the course of a
full baseball season, but more the team that gets hot
at the right moment. So, as August gave way to September,
(29:21):
the boys in Blue were looking for a spark to
ignite a well timed hot streak. Then, on September sixth
in Baltimore, in a game no Dodger fan will ever forget,
Dodgers ace pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto provided that spark, getting an
ovation an acknowledgement. But what Yamamoto can do what he
(29:45):
has already done. There hadn't been a no hit or
throne during the twenty twenty five season. Yamamoto was just
one out away from completing one, but then.
Speaker 7 (29:56):
Any right field hit deep back at the wall potesters
and wanted to go.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the
no hitter was dashed. The shutout too. At least the
game was in the bag. The team was up three
to one with just one out to go. All the Dodgers'
bullpen needed to do was record a single out rama
up the battle they couldn't tell quill star. As September continued,
(30:30):
starting pitchers returned from stints on the injured list, and
a healthy Dodgers starting rotation collectively accrued an all time
high strikeout rate. It was enough to carry a beleaguered bullpen,
and it felt like the team was finally starting to click.
Ground bout a third over to first. The Dodgers have
(30:52):
won the West. The Dodgers ended the season at ninety
three and sixty nine, just enough to win the division
for the twelfth time in thirteen years, and a star emerged,
Roki Sasaki. He'd found his triple digit velocity again. Sasaki's
nickname Kaibutsu translates to the monster.
Speaker 7 (31:16):
Softly and a sure bots is there. The Dodgers are
going to the National League Division Series.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
The Monster became our ace in the hole, coming out
of the bullpen to close out the deciding game of
the Dodgers Wild Card Series against the Reds, and again
in the Division Series against the Phillies, a series that
many saw as the two best teams in baseball facing off.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I think whoever wins Dodger Philly Series, that's a World
Series champion.
Speaker 7 (31:42):
Good stores, and the Dodgers are going to the Championship day.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Who cares if the Dodgers didn't play to their potential
all year long. They're getting hot at the right time.
Can it last? The Dodgers' opponents in the National League
Championship Series, the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Dodgers every time
they met during the regular season. And if you took
(32:08):
the Vegas odds for the Dodgers to win one hundred
and five games this year, you lost. No baseball team
has gone back to back in this millennium, but personally,
I would not bet against them or CACRW. I'm Richard Parks,
(32:30):
the third. All right, that was it. Hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back soon with
more Dodger Blue Dream. I can't wait to see what happens.
Dodger Blue Dream is written and produced by me Richard Parks,
(32:54):
the Third. My co host is Chef wes Avula. Original
music in this episode by William Ryan Fritch, Jonathan Snipes
and by me. This episode was story edited by Caitlin Esh.
Production assistance from Tyler Hill. Dodger Blue Dream is produced
in partnership with iheart's my Cultura podcast network. For more
(33:18):
podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
It's time for Dodger base. Oh boy, two outs, one
more needed if you're taking shot. Last night at Dodger Stadium,
ninth inning, two outs. Oh, look at these sad Brewers,
sad Joe's Dodgers. One out away from going up three
games to none in the NLCS.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Yeah, Okay, the Dodgers won it.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
How Fracky closes the door. Hello, Dodger blue dreamers. It
is Friday, October seventeenth, and things are good. The Dodgers
are up three zero over the Brewers in the NLCS.
They need one more victory and they're going to the
(00:54):
World Series. Next game is tonight at Dodger Stadium, where
Game three took place after the first two in Milwaukee.
And the story of this series so far has been
the pitching. The Dodgers pitching. The Dodgers starting pitching has
(01:14):
been incredible, historic, dominant. The team has dealt ace after
ace after ace in the first three games. Blake Snell,
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler glassnow have carried the team to
three straight victories. And we certainly expect that story to
(01:34):
continue tonight because we've got yet another ace in the hole.
Shohei Otani is going to be on the mound tonight
for the Dodgers in Game four, So the Blue crew
is beating up on the brew Crew. The Milwaukee Brewers,
the self described average Joe's as shucks, who accumulated the
(01:56):
best record in baseball over the course of the twenty
twenty five regular season, have been looking more like the
below average Joe's. Job's not finished, but some Dodger fans
are getting pretty cocky. To quote Blake Snell in a
rap that he recorded in twenty twelve at the age
of nineteen, you keep it amateur while I keep it pro.
(02:20):
In these first three games, that's kind of been the vibe.
You keep it amateur, I keep it pro, and you
don't need to be a weatherman to tell which way
the wind blow. I say, Dodgers in four, get out
the broom and let's sweep up. So today on the show,
we're going to recap the first three games of the
(02:40):
NLCS with a focus on our starting pitching, and then
last we're going to play a very special segment that
I produced for KCRW eighty nine point nine FM in
Los Angeles, the station of my childhood reached out to
me and asked me to tell this story of the
(03:00):
Dodgers twenty twenty five baseball season in seven and a
half minutes. And you'll get to hear what I did.
If you have not been following the season closely this year,
we'll get you caught up real quick. We got you covered.
So strap on in. It's DBD Dodger Blue Dream arm
Richard Parks. The Dodgers are one win away from going
(03:26):
back to the World Series.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
Yeah, stay with us, all.
Speaker 1 (03:45):
Right, let's take it back to Game one of this
NLCS Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Monday on the mound for the Dodgers.
Be to the Snell Snell Zilla.
Speaker 4 (03:57):
My whole life I've dumped at this moment.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
First name, Blake Snell was brought to the Dodgers over
the offseason with a five year, one hundred and eighty
two million dollar contract, and that's a big contract, specifically
in order to pitch in games like this one, high stakes,
everything on the line. Snell has had an amazing career.
(04:21):
He's won two Cy Young Awards, and he's pitched in
big games before, most famously in Game six of the
twenty twenty World Series, when Snell was on the Tampa
Bay Rays and he was facing the Dodgers. He had
an amazing start that day, and in what has become
a famously maligned decision, Rays manager Kevin Cash pulled him
(04:44):
after six in accordance with the third time through dictum
that you heard about on our Bullpen episode. The Rays
bullpen melted down. The Dodgers won the World Series that year,
which is what they're trying to do this year with
Blake Snell's help. And Blake Snell has never won a
World Series. His wife wanted to move to La so
(05:05):
there was that to draw him here, but also he
wants that ring, as we all do. And if you
just look at Blake Snell's twenty twenty five season, everything
has been leading up to this moment. He pitched sixty
one and a third innings during the regular season, even
in today's game, where pitchers don't go very deep into
(05:26):
games typically, and even with the Dodgers plethora of starting
pitching this year, that is a low number. A workhorse
starter would pitch more like two hundred innings in a year,
and he's at sixty one and a third. He spent
a lot of the season on the injured list, and
I think We can use scare quotes when we say
(05:47):
injured list, because to look at this cynically or realistically,
it seems like the Dodgers have been planning for things
to go this way. Didn't necessarily need Blake Snell to
help us win the ninety three games that we won
this year to win the nl West, but we do
want him in peak form at this moment. And so
(06:07):
as he came back from the injured list scare quotes
and started pitching again in September, you could see how
this plan was unfolding optimally for the Dodgers, and certainly
it has been working out pretty nicely. In the twenty
twenty five postseason so far, including this Game one, Snell
has a three to zero record with a zero point
(06:29):
eight six er, fifty two strikeouts, zero point five to
two whip. And this start in Milwaukee was just a gem.
We told you in our NLCS Starter Pack episode earlier
this week that we were going to look closely at
Blake Snell's start because Game one can be such a
tone setter, and it was. And how Blake Snell went
(06:53):
eight innings, struck out ten, and gave up one hit,
one blop single and quickly picked that runner off at
first and he gave up zero runs. That is insane.
What a game, What a game. Chopping it up with
Wes Avula, my co host post game.
Speaker 5 (07:16):
Super Nerve wracking, you know I hate those games, right.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
I know I was gonna say, you don't like those
low scoring pitchers duels.
Speaker 5 (07:23):
Not at all. But this one was good. Like the
Dodgers had them on. You can tell the Dodgers had
them on the fence a lot of the game, he says.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
The Brewers.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Second, here's Cup Snell and free look in the air,
lazy fly ball out to center field and Andy Payez
plucks it away and Blake Snell sets up six down.
Speaker 5 (07:41):
You want your ace to be like the dude, and
he was. He was like lights out, dude, that's how
agree it is. So today he was lights out.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
No action in that bullpen can travers on the ground.
The third month, see gobbles it up and Blake Snell
goes through the seventh hitting, didn't throw it out.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
Here comes Snell, the rings him up.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Blake Snell drops a big curve, caught him guessing they.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Had the one hit nothing and he was striking him out.
And they're not a team that strikes out. We told
you on our last episode that Blake Snell would have
to stay in the strike zone and to watch out
for walks because that's causing problems in the past. He
did not walk a single Brewer. We told you Snell
(08:28):
would have to control the running game against the Brewers.
That's been an issue for him in the past. And
the Brewers are super aggressive running team. Well, it's hard
to control the running game when you don't allow any runners.
And Snell did allow one runner, one only and that
runner Snell Zilla pipped him off.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
And out till the first and he's got Dervin pick Cook,
snap roeby free of the second base and out.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
We told you the Brewers make a lot of contact,
and they do, but they didn't. Snell had his changeup
going so good, they just couldn't connect. He struck out
ten on two, three, four.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Look who crept up in this dough?
Speaker 1 (09:08):
How good was Blake Snell for the Dodgers In Game one,
he faced the minimum over eight innings, something that hadn't
been done in a postseason game since Don Larson's perfect
game in the nineteen fifty six World Series. After that,
one single in the third inning, Snell didn't allow another
batter to put the ball in the air. It would
(09:30):
have been a perfect game if not for this one hit.
And had Snell been allowed to finish the ninth inning.
But you wanted him to stay in for the ninth I.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
Did, and I think he did too, because he asked
him that question. He's like, well, I trust Doc, and
Buck made the right choice, I think, and all right, Trustwood,
Doc says, but I.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Mean he was at one hundred and one pitches.
Speaker 5 (09:49):
I can see him doing one fifteen though he.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Was so locked in. Snell's wife took the Instagram to
celebrate by posting a rap Snell made in twenty twelve.
Are listening to it right now? It's become legendary in
Dodgers fandom. The Dodgers Instagram influencer Dose posted a video
of himself lip syncing the entire thing, and we titled
(10:12):
this episode in tribute to it.
Speaker 6 (10:14):
I'm on every bud, It's just your show. You'll keep
it amateur? Why I keep it from I'm about my
business while you're about your joke. I'm about my pats
while you're about your you on the game, My buttons
comes in and the girls. Man, you don't make you in,
you make me drugs. My future is my and your
future is something. I'm on the getting my tag when
(10:36):
he broke through the wrist, look through my glassy man,
what's to h I see your boys? Now he's tearing
up his me. So I'm gonna hit you. Why God
leaves the verse? Raiser and Rich knock out? Now? Where
is my favorite.
Speaker 3 (10:51):
Man?
Speaker 6 (10:51):
All about my hat?
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I'm gonna keep it.
Speaker 6 (10:53):
One hundred, So hit me on my nexture? What joint
into the game, says any hit him with that figure?
Speaker 3 (10:58):
A man? My prime man on the Lakers.
Speaker 1 (11:01):
Want to look who clipped.
Speaker 4 (11:03):
Up in the nome?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Thank you Snell?
Speaker 5 (11:05):
You know Snell Zilla. He was like, I'm redeeming myself
for an eight bench. He probably said something that could
not take me out in the sixth or the seventh,
because you know when that's what happened to Tampa Bay.
He was dealing the Dodgers. They took him out and
we won the World Series after they took him out,
and he was so pissed off because he probably would
have been liked out.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yeah. Instead, we saw Roki Sasaki's first week outing in
this postseason in the bottom of the ninth. Blake Trinin
had to come in to close it out, and it
was a little too close for comfort with the bases
loaded in the bottom of the ninth there but trying
and got the punch out to save the game for Snell.
(11:45):
It was the story of the two Blakes, which, if
anybody's counting, is the second Chinatown reference in the last
few episodes. But mostly this was Blake Snell's night. I
try to tell you he was different tonight.
Speaker 4 (11:59):
He showed eight innings face the minimum amount of matters.
That's the one and only Snell Zilla Blake. How did
it feel last night? My whole life, I've dreamt at
this moment, and to be able to go eight it
was probably the best part for me because I've always
the seventh was pretty special. I've always wanted to be
out there for God bless America, So to be able
(12:19):
to be out there for that was special for me.
Speaker 1 (12:23):
After Snell's dominant start in game one, it was impossible
to imagine Yoshinobu Yamamoto matching that performance in game two.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Dude, we can take two of them from over there, like,
let's go, let's just move forward, Go to the World Series.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
You know, well, yeah, for sure, if we take Game two,
I mean it's it's over. Next up, let's recap Game
two with Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the bump. So again, it
was impossible to imagine Yamamoto matching Snell. And then, after
a scoreless top of the first, on the very first pitch,
(13:00):
Yamamoto threw to the Brewers Jackson Churio postseason.
Speaker 2 (13:06):
On the first pitch, Jackson Cherio said, one of the
deep rights.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
And that one's gonna fly out of here.
Speaker 7 (13:14):
Cheerio with a.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Home run that started offensively for the Browards.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
We've told you that the Brewers, in spite of their
self appointed average Joe identity, are a very good baseball team,
and they had defeated the Dodgers in each of the
teams had to head matchups in twenty twenty five with
a perfect record of six wins to the Dodgers zero,
(13:45):
and in one of those losses, every Dodger fan who's
followed this season closely remembers Yamamoto had a bad outing,
an absolutely garbage outing in Milwaukee, when after retiring the
first two batters, he gave up five runs in the
first inning before being removed from the game after throwing
(14:06):
forty one pitches. He didn't even get through a single inning.
It was Yamamoto's worst start of the season, and after
the first pitch home run in Game two, we were
all thinking, oh no, it's going to be another one
of those today. You know, there's no way that Yamamoto
could top what Blake Snell did in game one in
(14:28):
his game to start.
Speaker 8 (14:29):
Right, Yeah, And you know, from when the game started.
As soon as the game started, I was like, oh see,
there it is. He can't top it. First pitch on run,
first pitch on run.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
We had to temper our high expectations.
Speaker 8 (14:45):
I mean, you can't expect that they're going to just like,
no hit another seven innings, you know.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
But so on away.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
Here's Caleb Durban now with free look, a base stealer
at first base. Very interesting to see if the Brewers
deployed the running game against Yamamoto and.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Then then called strike three. Yamamoto started dealing, and the.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
First strikeout for Yamamoto it is out number two, and
he got him back to the splitter. He goes and
he strikes out. Caleb Ortis takes off and the pitches
they called strike three, low throw needed.
Speaker 8 (15:25):
You know, after that first sitting. It's funny because you
can hear the announcers so like, well, since that first run,
you know, he's put down eleven in a row. It's like,
you know what I mean, it's like, oh, he's doing
something here.
Speaker 5 (15:36):
You know, it's cooking powers.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
Roll over ground ball Tommy Edmund and Yamamoto puts up
another zero. He's retired eighth.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Street, and then the Dodgers answered offensively.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
Had a high fly ball in the left field that
is way back there and that is gonna be a
gone home run.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
When Taskar Hernandez hit one out, we are tied.
Speaker 8 (16:01):
Dad had that beautiful swing, hit it out far. He
hit it really high and really far. So it was
good to see them, you know, really come back and
answer right back, like not just.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Bold and Yama just kept shutting them down.
Speaker 8 (16:15):
And every time it felt like they were getting some momentum, yeah,
would just shut it down just with another strikeout or
had a cold.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Strike three right on the edge. Impeccable command all night long.
Yamamoto with a sixth strikeout.
Speaker 1 (16:32):
After giving up that leadoff home run. Yamamota's performance was
arguably as impressive or even more impressive than the previous
nights from Blake Snow. And he did something that hadn't
been done for the Dodgers in two decades.
Speaker 2 (16:48):
So try to finish this one.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Here it comes.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
The O two had a swing at a mess and
Yoshi Yamamoto with his crown jewel as a Dodger.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
He completed the game game, he goes the distance.
Speaker 8 (17:06):
I think Doc regretted a little bit taking them out
because now it was probably like I could have done
that too, you know what I mean, like happy that
Ams did that, but he probably was like, I can
do that too, Let me do that next time.
Speaker 3 (17:17):
You know.
Speaker 1 (17:18):
The average Joe's, known for their small ball approach, were
completely neutralized.
Speaker 8 (17:25):
It just completely deflated, like the heat that the Brewers got.
Because a lot of times what happens is when you
take out that picture that's been lights out. They get
a little hit there, they get a little hit here,
they get a little stolen base, they get a round
and it's like you don't want to let this team
back in at all, Like you want to keep your
foot on their neck until this series is done. Like,
ain't no letting off.
Speaker 5 (17:45):
You know how many aces do you have in your
team right now?
Speaker 4 (17:48):
I mean, all of them are throwing the ball amazing,
but we kind of knew that.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Speaking to the media after Game two, Dodgers pitcher Clayton
Kershaw invoked a famous baseball maxim that applies to this series.
Speaker 5 (18:01):
So good pitching beats good hitting any day of the week,
and you're seeing that right now.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
About good pitching beats good hitting, and it definitely beats
no hitting. You keep it amateur, I keep it pro.
(18:28):
As the series headed back to Los Angeles with the
Dodgers up two games to none, the Boys in Blue
plan to play their third and fourth ace cards, Tyler
glass Now for Game three and show Hey o'tani for
Game four and yesterday at Dodger Stadium. It was up
(18:49):
to glass Now to maintain the tone that had been
sent by Snell and Yamamoto in Milwaukee, and he did.
Expectations just keep getting exceeded every single night. Yeah, as always.
I hopped on the phone with Chef Wes just after
the game. Glasnow had a great start.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
Yeah, you had a quality start for sure.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
If it weren't for the two preceding starts, I think
that any fan would be saying that he was making
his payday with that start in the NLCS for sure.
Oh yeah, five and two thirds from Glasnow and then
he handed it over to the dogs and the Dogs
were the dogs.
Speaker 5 (19:34):
Yeah, they did good. They did good, like Bessie did good.
Tryinon did good. And then Bonda came in for the
whole inning, right and just was.
Speaker 8 (19:43):
It was awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Yeah, he had a really nice one two three clean inning,
and then for the ninth inning, Kaibutsu the Monster Roki
Sasaki redeemed himself by shutting down the game with a
one two three inning in his first appearance since his
rocky outing in Game one when he couldn't get through
the ninth. Yeah, no, it was good.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
It was good to see him have that quality inning
because it's like he killed it against Philly in Game one.
The Brewers had his number, like, you didn't want that
to happen again, and that becomes where it's like, oh no,
this is like the Meltdom of the bullpen again. You know,
we're going through that same pattern. It was really nice
to see him get out of it, and.
Speaker 1 (20:24):
Our offense got some good looks at the Brewers' bullpen
and they used.
Speaker 5 (20:29):
A lot of pictures, you know, So like we've seen
these pictures a couple of times. I think we've seen
the starting picture today every game at least one innings,
you know what I mean. So it's like, yeah, all right,
we're gonna have a number for a while. I don't
care how damn good the guy is.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
You know, today we saw the Brewers more in it
than they have been this whole series.
Speaker 5 (20:52):
Yeah, they look like more like the Brewers of the
regular season today, but not enough and not in key moments,
you know which. I'm okay with deer season Brewers. Like
I don't want to see them. Like I said earlier,
I was like, I want them to lose and just
kind of like quietly just drift off the cantcuon.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
So, while the Dodgers are poised to complete a four
game sweep over in the American League Championship Series, there's
a real series going on.
Speaker 5 (21:21):
Is a series split?
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Now?
Speaker 4 (21:23):
All right?
Speaker 5 (21:23):
I'm mistaken.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
It's split too too oo?
Speaker 5 (21:27):
Yeah, no, they can go to seven games, I don't care.
Let the Dodgers get some rest, let some of the
arms heel, let's go, man, But.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Yeah, I mean,
I agree with you, but can't get complacent, no, for sure.
Speaker 5 (21:40):
And I don't you know, that's why I like the
same thing when they were trying to like paint the
where the average joels that, don't you know, it's like,
get out of here with that. You guys aren't electricians.
They're trying to play it up like if it was
a WBC and you know what I mean, and they'd
have those teams like from Croatia where they'd be like, oh,
he's actually an elementary school teacher most of the year,
you know that, Like you guys are professional athletes. You
(22:01):
guys have the same opportunity that you know coming up
and playing ball. Your owners a billionaire as well, Like
he can spend some money. If that's the whole thing,
you know what I mean. It's like, yes, it's a
small market team. You know, the Brewers got a like
rabbit following where they're at. But it's not like you know,
say the Yankees, the Red Sox for the Dodgers.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
You know.
Speaker 5 (22:22):
But that being said, there's still a professional club and
they still had the best record, and they're still really
really capable and good. So I don't want to get
complacent either. I want to make sure that we just
shut them down them mom end it. You know that's
not now. Let them get back in any any little
hint of hope. You know, you want to take all
hope away from them, Like when they're thirsty, you want
(22:45):
to give them salt for their tongue. It's like, here's
some salt there. You know, you don't get no water.
Speaker 1 (22:49):
Nothing, sorry, brewers, no water. Just Game four NLCS at
Dodger Stadium tonight at five thirty eight pm Pacific.
Speaker 5 (23:01):
And then are you going to try to go tomorrow?
Last minute?
Speaker 4 (23:05):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
I mean, it looks like it's getting pricey.
Speaker 5 (23:08):
Yeah, it looks quite pricey.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Friday night, Dodger Stadium, Shoho Tani on the mound for
Game four of the NLCS with a chance to sweep.
Speaker 5 (23:17):
Yeah, they'll think it's going to be on the price
side for sure.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
By this time next week we'll be talking about the
World Series. It starts one week from today. After the break,
we will share a special piece I produced for my
local public radio station, summarizing the Dodgers regular season in
(23:44):
under eight minutes. Stay with us, Welcome back to the show.
(24:06):
All right now, as promised. We're going to play a
segment that I produced for my local public radio station,
Los Angeles's own KCRW eighty nine point nine FM. This
is something that I have had truly the honor to
do for the past couple years, which is to summarize
(24:26):
the entirety of the baseball season in under eight minutes.
This is stuff you know if you've been listening to
this show, certainly stuff that we've covered in particularly the
Weird Year episode. But if you're listening to this and
you have not been following the season, nor have you
been listening to this show, this segment is for you
(24:48):
a summary of the season, all the dramatic beats, both
on the field and off in the time it takes
you to hard boil an egg. So fill up the saucepan,
crank up the gas, prepare the ia bath, or however
you do it, and listen to this. On opening day
at Dodger Stadium, the rapper Ice Cube rolled onto the
(25:11):
field in a Dodger Blue Lowrider, the Commissioner's World Series
Trophy sitting shotguns Joe. The organization had maintained the roster
that won it all in twenty twenty four, and they'd
added some of the most coveted free agents on the market,
two time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and twenty
(25:32):
three year old Japanese rookie right hander Roki Sasaki, who
joined a team already stacked with stars, MVPs and the
Japanese babe Ruth Sho hey O Tani Vegas projected that
the Dodgers would win one hundred and five games this year,
a sportsbook record. If anyone could do it, the Dodgers
(25:52):
can do it. Then Dodgers were wicked. And the Dodgers
came out of the gates hot a sooner fan hear
us is back. They opened the season eight and zero,
the best start to a season for defending World Championship
winning team ever.
Speaker 5 (26:13):
But then, and I'm thrilled to welcome the twenty twenty
four World Series.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
President Trump invited the team to the White House to
celebrate their World Series win in early April. They lost
two of their next three, then four of their next five,
and it continued.
Speaker 6 (26:29):
Trying to forget this one?
Speaker 1 (26:30):
Was this visit a curse?
Speaker 6 (26:32):
Obviously got really ugly towards the end.
Speaker 1 (26:35):
The best roster in baseball faltered continually when facing inferior opponents.
Speaker 5 (26:41):
Did you say this with Mookie Bets.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
MVP Mookie Bets was sidelined early on with an undiagnosed stomach.
Speaker 5 (26:48):
Bug, who's lost twenty plus pounds.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
And young Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, who's one hundred and
two mile per hour average fastball velocity made him one
of the most highly touted young pitchers in the game.
Suddenly no longer could reach triple digits. Nobody knew why.
Speaker 6 (27:05):
Ah, totally right now, I'm not throwing, so it's hard
to tell.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Sasaki went on the injured list indefinitely, and the vaunted
Dodger's bullpen, who had played such a pivotal role in
the team's twenty twenty four championship run, couldn't seem to
hold the lead.
Speaker 7 (27:22):
Tanner Scott blows his tenth save of the twenty twenty
five That's terrible.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
I mean, I'm having the worst year in my life,
so it's not fun.
Speaker 4 (27:29):
Baseball hates me right now.
Speaker 1 (27:30):
As local immigrant communities are impacted by ice arrests and raids,
the local sports teams off the field, there were even
more stressors as some fans looked to the team for
a stronger response to the ice raids. Still, the season
was studded with moments of competitive glory. The Ravine rises,
(27:51):
longtime Dodger Clayton Kershaw recorded his three thousandth strikeout Dude sixteen.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
It was a.
Speaker 1 (28:00):
Historic milestone that, due to changes in the style of play,
may never be reached again. And we got to see
Shohei Otani take the mound for the first time in
Dodger blue. It was a fulfillment of a promise from
Baseball's unicorn, who excels both as a hitter and as
a pitcher, as Babe Ruth did one hundred years ago,
(28:21):
and whose seven hundred million dollar contract with the Dodgers
set an all time record. All he did was pitch.
It didn't hit. Could be the best pitcher of baseball,
and Otani the pitcher, was electric and all the while,
the team maintained its first play status in the NL West.
That is until, in what has become one of the
(28:44):
most heated rivalries in sports, the San Diego Padres drew
blood on the ground right side.
Speaker 7 (28:53):
The San Diego Padres are alone atop the NL West.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
With just a month left of regular season play, there
were no guarantees that the Dodgers would win the National
League West. Recent changes to MLB's playoff format really reward
not the team that's best over the course of a
full baseball season, but more the team that gets hot
at the right moment. So, as August gave way to September,
(29:21):
the boys in Blue were looking for a spark to
ignite a well timed hot streak. Then, on September sixth
in Baltimore, in a game no Dodger fan will ever forget,
Dodgers ace pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto provided that spark, getting an
ovation an acknowledgement. But what Yamamoto can do what he
(29:45):
has already done. There hadn't been a no hit or
throne during the twenty twenty five season. Yamamoto was just
one out away from completing one, but then.
Speaker 7 (29:56):
Any right field hit deep back at the wall potesters
and wanted to go.
Speaker 1 (30:04):
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, the
no hitter was dashed. The shutout too. At least the
game was in the bag. The team was up three
to one with just one out to go. All the Dodgers'
bullpen needed to do was record a single out rama
up the battle they couldn't tell quill star. As September continued,
(30:30):
starting pitchers returned from stints on the injured list, and
a healthy Dodgers starting rotation collectively accrued an all time
high strikeout rate. It was enough to carry a beleaguered bullpen,
and it felt like the team was finally starting to click.
Ground bout a third over to first. The Dodgers have
(30:52):
won the West. The Dodgers ended the season at ninety
three and sixty nine, just enough to win the division
for the twelfth time in thirteen years, and a star emerged,
Roki Sasaki. He'd found his triple digit velocity again. Sasaki's
nickname Kaibutsu translates to the monster.
Speaker 7 (31:16):
Softly and a sure bots is there. The Dodgers are
going to the National League Division Series.
Speaker 1 (31:22):
The Monster became our ace in the hole, coming out
of the bullpen to close out the deciding game of
the Dodgers Wild Card Series against the Reds, and again
in the Division Series against the Phillies, a series that
many saw as the two best teams in baseball facing off.
Speaker 3 (31:38):
I think whoever wins Dodger Philly Series, that's a World
Series champion.
Speaker 7 (31:42):
Good stores, and the Dodgers are going to the Championship day.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Who cares if the Dodgers didn't play to their potential
all year long. They're getting hot at the right time.
Can it last? The Dodgers' opponents in the National League
Championship Series, the Milwaukee Brewers beat the Dodgers every time
they met during the regular season. And if you took
(32:08):
the Vegas odds for the Dodgers to win one hundred
and five games this year, you lost. No baseball team
has gone back to back in this millennium, but personally,
I would not bet against them or CACRW. I'm Richard Parks,
(32:30):
the third. All right, that was it. Hope you enjoyed it.
Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back soon with
more Dodger Blue Dream. I can't wait to see what happens.
Dodger Blue Dream is written and produced by me Richard Parks,
(32:54):
the Third. My co host is Chef wes Avula. Original
music in this episode by William Ryan Fritch, Jonathan Snipes
and by me. This episode was story edited by Caitlin Esh.
Production assistance from Tyler Hill. Dodger Blue Dream is produced
in partnership with iheart's my Cultura podcast network. For more
(33:18):
podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.