Last night was our first dance of the year. About halfway through it... one of my students came up to me with tears in her eyes. She was absolutely heartbroken that her boyfriend wanted to hang out with his friends instead of her. I let her vent... and eventually her friends came along to cheer her up. I was grateful for that, because I'm not exactly an expert on middle school romance. Now had she had her heart broken by a sports team... then I could definitely relate to that.
I had to deal with the fact that the A's were leaving Oakland the entire 2024 MLB season. More recently... I had to deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers delivering a gut punch to the San Diego Padres. Not gonna lie... that really hurt.
Heartache is just part of being a fan... and it's something that we all have to deal with. But that's not the focus of tonight's post. Tonight I wanted to honor, celebrate, and congratulate the 2024 World Series Champions and their fans by ranking my five favorite Los Angeles Dodgers from this season.
#5: Yoshinobu Yamamoto
2021 Topps NPB #128
The Dodgers have a way of landing Japanese pitchers. Nomo. Kuroda. Maeda. Darvish. Ohtani.
2024 Topps #553
It's not surprising that Yamamoto ended up signing with them too.
#4: Mookie Betts
2019 Topps Chrome Refractor #50
I was a fan of Mookie when he was in Boston...
2024 Topps #250
and my fanfare has followed him over to the West Coast.
#3: Freddie Freeman
2024 Topps #102
The same can be said of Freddie.
2020 Topps 206 Piedmont Back #7
But honestly... I prefer seeing him pictured with the Braves.
#2: Clayton Kershaw
2013 Topps 1972 Mini #TM-23
I've got a thing for lefties... and for a decade or so, Kershaw was one of the best in the game.
2024 Topps #351
It didn't take long before I started following him and collecting his cards. And for the longest time, he was my favorite Dodgers player. Until this guy showed up...
#1: Shohei Ohtani
2020 Topps 1951 (Blake Jamieson) #16
Are you surprised? He might have struggled against the Yankees... but his popularity is higher than ever.
2024 Topps #500
Ohtani is one of those generational guys who is both exciting and likable. He's easily my favorite current Dodger and right up there with Fernando Valenzuela as my all-time favorite Dodger.
Speaking of heartache... I'm guessing my student will recover from her boyfriend ditching her before any of us are finished mourning the loss of El Toro.
Happy Saturday and sayonara!
