Corey Seager, LA seek doubledouble.
LOS ANGELES – This is an unfortunate time for people who despise Los Angeles and its sports teams, and it could be getting worse.
Much worse.
For starters, the Los Angeles Lakers on Oct. 11 won their first NBA title in a decade.
As if that weren’t bad enough for folks who love to chant “Beat LA!” the Los Angeles Dodgers are in the World Series for the third time in four years.
Now it’s starting to feel like 1988, when the Lakers won the NBA championship, the Dodgers won the World Series and Los Angeles became the envy of the sports world as the first and only city to have the NBA champions and World Series champions in the same calendar year.
Get ready for more of the same, said Mychal Thompson, a member of the Lakers championship team in 1988 and an avowed Dodgers fan.
“For the next three or four years, they could be going for double-doubles,” Thompson said. “In-N-Out (Burger) should sponsor these teams.”
Even LA’s detractors have to acknowledge the facts, namely the Lakers have superstars in LeBron James and Anthony Davis and the Dodgers have an ultra-talented roster that features All-Star outfielders Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger.
But for LA haters, there’s still hope.
For the city to celebrate a championship double, the Dodgers will have to end a 32year World Series title drought, which has become more vexing in recent years.
The Dodgers lost the 2017 World Series to the Houston Astros and lost the 2018 World Series to the Boston Red Sox. After failing to advance beyond the National League Division Series in 2019, the Dodgers are facing the Tampa Bay Rays in the 2020 World Series.
“Now that they get another shot at it, it would be pretty dis
appointing for everybody in the organization if they can’t finish this one off,” said Orel Hershiser, the former Dodgers pitcher who was the MVP of the 1988 World Series. “Maybe it’s the perfect scenario to write the next chapter.”
By that, Hershiser was referring in part to the Lakers’ winning the 2020 NBA Finals, as they did in 1988, when Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy led the Lakers past the Detroit Pistons.
Four months after the Lakers beat Detroit in Game 7, the Dodgers won the World Series title with a victory over the Oakland Athletics in Game 5. It was in Game 1 that Kirk Gibson limped to the plate and hit a pinch-hit home run that lifted the Dodgers to a stunning victory over the mighty A’s.
“I feel bad when people bring up ’88 for the current guys be
cause they’ve heard it so much, and how many ways can you answer the questions?” Hershiser said. “How many ways can you spin the stories, other than, ‘We haven’t gotten it won yet?’ ”
The Lakers felt their own burden, having failed to make the playoffs since 2013 as James entered his second season with the Lakers.
But Thompson, the former Lakers post player, said he and former Lakers teammates Michael Cooper and Byron Scott envisioned a new era for the Lakers and Dodgers during conversations at Lakers games before the coronavirus pandemic temporarily shut down sports.
“We always talk about the Dodgers because they were getting ready to go to camp and we knew how deep this team was,” Thompson said. “We saw how the Lakers were basically running the NBA. They had the No. 1
team outside of Milwaukee, so we knew the Lakers were going to get to the Finals.
“We’d talk about 1988, and we could see a repeat of that year because both teams are so strong.”
Indeed, James and Davis proved too much for the competition inside the bubble at Disney World in Florida. And the Dodgers, down three games to one against the Atlanta Braves, rallied and beat the Braves 4-3 in Game 7 of the NLCS.
“We’re going to the World Series!!!” tweeted none other than Magic Johnson, who helped lead the Lakers to the 1988 NBA title, along with four others, and now is now a part owner of the Dodgers.
Said Thompson, the former Laker, “We see Magic and we tell him, ‘You’re going to get that baseball ring one of these days.’ This could be the year.”
Dodgers 12, Padres 3 (Dodgers win series 3-0)
NLDS: BRAVES vs. MARLINS at Minute Maid Park, Houston uGame 1: Braves 9, Marlins 5 uGame 2: Braves 2, Marlins 0 uGame 3: Braves 7, Marlins 0 (Braves win series 3-0)
WILD-CARD ROUND
American League
uGame uGame 2-0)