The world according to Jim:
• Maybe the Dodgers should have stopped at 99. That 100-win postseason jinx we wrote about a week ago now stands at 11 such seasons without a parade at the end.
Read more Where the Dodgers’ roster stands heading into the offseason
But beyond history and hexes and whatnot, the four-game collapse against the Milwaukee Brewers led to suggestions that an older group, with an extended workload the last three seasons, just ran out of gas. Keep in mind those overseas trips to South Korea and Japan at the start of the 2024 and ’25 seasons, as well as playing the last game of the baseball season in ’24 and ’25 as the calendar flipped from October to November.
Did it catch up to them? It might have. Should that take away from Milwaukee’s victory. No. The Brewers were the better and more resilient team from start to finish. …
• Yet there are plenty of arguing points surrounding this playoff failure, and I’m sure we will be hearing a lot in the coming days about how the Dodgers acceded too readily to Shohei Ohtani’s wishes, and how Manager Dave Roberts really should have put his foot down.
That would conveniently overlook the two balls Shohei barreled up in the last two games – a 113.5 mph line drive single in Game 3, his hardest hit ball since April 5, and another 113.1 mph rocket Thursday night for a three-run homer off Dustin May – suggested that Roberts’ sense that Ohtani was about to break out of his slump was on course. …
• Then again, that home run came an inning after Ohtani had flailed at a 1-and-2 cutter from lefty Shane Drohan. You see whatever confirms your suspicions, I suppose. …
• Another bit of ancient history to expand on what we discussed previously: The 1899 Brooklyn Superbas finished 101-47 and, with no World Series or opposing league at the time, could be considered the champions of baseball. They repeated in 1900, finishing atop the eight-team National League with an 82-54 record. Should current Dodger management find a way to acknowledge those back-to-back champs as well?
• The American League opened for business in 1901, and the leagues launched what we know now as the World Series in 1903 with Boston beating Pittsburgh. There was none in 1904, because New York Giants owner John Brush and Manager John McGraw considered it beneath them to play the champions of the new league. But Brush relented in 1905, and October hasn’t been the same since. …
• The hope here is that by this time next year we will be watching and talking about real, live baseball and not still stewing over labor relations. There’s going to be saltiness between the Players Association – which has never acceded to a salary cap and vows that it never will – and the small-minded owners who consider a cap as the solution to all their ills and are willing to throw the game overboard to get it. …
• No, I didn’t say small-market. …
• One alternate non-cap solution, which came up in a conversation with our Angels beat writer, Jeff Fletcher, would make the current luxury tax system more punitive than it is now and possibly involve loss of draft picks. That’s sort of the same model the NBA introduced with its “apron” system, where various payroll levels trigger different levels of penalties – and has in fact discouraged teams from spending. …
• Meanwhile, players are not only determined to avoid a cap but also seem to be afraid that another ownership target might be guaranteed contracts. …
• Beyond the labor pains, we have the potential effect of federal investigations and lawsuits involving Dodgers owner Mark Walter and his insurers’ business practices. Will he have to sell the Dodgers, as he did the Lakers? If so, the team’s “golden era,” as Andrew Friedman put it, could come to a screeching halt. …
Read more Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani intends to pitch again in 2027
• The chilling alternative: The 2020s version of Frank McCourt. …
• Boy, is this ever going to be a fun Hot Stove League. …
• If in fact we have a Milwaukee-Cleveland World Series, there’s got to be an homage to the 1989 movie “Major League,” right? Remember, the plot was that the downtrodden Cleveland club was driven to excel out of fear that the owner was going to move the team to Miami. But the game scenes were actually shot in old Milwaukee County Stadium.
And the voice in the announcer’s booth for that movie was none other than the late Bob Uecker, the beloved voice of the Brewers before his death in January of 2025. At the very least, they could start the games – in both cities, preferably, but definitely in Milwaukee – with Uecker’s signature line from the movie: “Juuust a bit outside.” …
• The quiz, then: Which former Dodger was part of the production of “Major League?” Answer below. …
• A reminder: Milwaukee is MLB’s smallest market and the Brewers’ payroll is ranked 21st for competitive balance tax purposes, according to Cot’s Contracts. Their opponent in the World Series will be either 26th (Cleveland) or 23rd (Tampa Bay). So, again, don’t fall for the “competitive balance” argument for a salary cap. …
• Quiz answer: Steve Yeager, the Dodgers’ longtime catcher and one of the tri-MVPs of the 1981 World Series, was a technical advisor on the film. His job was not only to make sure the actors in uniform actually had enough skills to pass as real ballplayers but to run them through a brief training camp to make sure they were in condition to play those scenes.
Also, Yeager had a cameo in the film as Yankees third base coach Duke Temple. And any time the script called for actor Tom Berenger to make a throw from behind the plate, Yeager put on a mask and handled the duties. …
• For what it’s worth: According to one survey of NHL ticket prices, the Kings (0-3-2 as of Friday morning) are listed as “mid-range” on the expensive-to-cheapest scale, while the Ducks (4-2) are in the “budget” category. …
• Meanwhile, didn’t it seem like that league’s season crept in quietly so as not to disturb anyone? Starting the 84-game regular season on the last day of September, as the Kings did, is too early.
Or maybe it’s just the issue of trying to attract attention in this market. …
• Another factor: The NHL doesn’t have a national television partner able, or willing, to make a big deal out of the start of the season. The NBA has the benefit of NBC, which is airing a tripleheader on its opening day/night Tuesday – including a 3 p.m. Eastern time tipoff for Boston at Detroit.
I’m not sure day basketball has quite the same allure as day baseball, but at least it should get noticed.
Read more Analysis: Dodgers’ NLCS defeat raises questions about team’s aging core