But the rumors are that there’s one obvious choice for his services. That team? The Los Angeles Dodgers.
It honestly makes too much sense. And while we’re at the very beginning of the process, it’s a good time to go over why the recent World Series champions are the favorites to sign yet another big name:
1. The Dodgers have been scouting Roki Sasaki for years
That’s per the Los Angeles Times. If Sasaki wants to know which teams have interest and perhaps which ones already have a relationship with his reps, the Dodgers have been there.
2. His Team Japan teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are Dodgers
It’s probably comforting to have those two as teammates, plus they can tell Sasaki how awesome the organization is.
3. The Dodgers have the most money left in their bonus pool this year
The dodgers just so happening to have more of their bonus pool available than any other team in the league, the same year they landed yamamoto and ohtani, kinda makes you wonder how long they’ve known about Sasaki wanting to come over this offseason.
4. If the Dodgers have a six-man rotation, that’d be nice for a pitcher used to throwing once a week
Echoing what Andrew Friedman said during the postseason, Brandon Gomes today said "it's a fair bet" the Dodgers will run a six-man starting rotation next year.
LA traffic doesn’t move for anybody. Not even champions.
They say the traffic in Los Angeles is some of the worst in the world. It can take you hours just to move a few miles.
The Los Angeles Dodgers can officially attest to that.
LA Traffic doesn’t move for anything — not even championship parades. The Dodgers championship parade is supposed to be underway in Los Angeles, but the team’s busses for the festivities are literally stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.
If we didn’t have visual evidence of this, it’d be hard to believe. But it’s really happening. The team is about to be late for its own championship parade because LA is always gonna LA.
That’s right, on Friday, November 1 2024 — the late Fernando Valenzuela’s birthday! — fans are getting a parade in downtown Los Angeles and then a separate celebration at Dodger Stadium. It should be an amazing day for fans who didn’t get a parade in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.
But if you’re here, you may be wondering: what time do the festivities start?
The answer: it’ll be at 11 a.m. Pacific, which is 2 p.m. Eastern. Enjoy and have fun, Dodgers fans!
There are definite, real-world lessons USC football, Lincoln Riley, and AD Jennifer Cohen can take from the Dodgers’ World Series championship.
The reality of Major League Baseball is different from the reality of college football in many obvious ways. The biggest difference is that baseball involves the marathon regular season, with 162 games. The Los Angeles Dodgers just won their first “full season” World Series title since 1988. Football, in contrast to baseball, has the sprint with 12 games plus the playoff. A baseball team can struggle or lack necessary pieces (or both) for 95 games but then pull the trigger on a deadline deal in late July and turn things around. College football teams can’t make a “trade deadline” deal in mid-October and save a season. For USC football, that option wasn’t available anyway (even if it existed), because the season was already dead in mid-October.
We readily acknowledge that MLB competition and college football are wildly different. However, any champion in pretty much any sport can teach a lesson or two about how to build — and become — a winner. What can USC football learn from the world champion Dodgers?
We’re not going to make this complicated.
The Dodgers invest in excellence everywhere. They don’t pinch pennies. USC has made investments in facilities and paying a defensive coaching staff. That’s important and should be acknowledged. Jennifer Cohen has done significant and valuable things to help USC be competitive.
However, USC doesn’t have an airtight operation. Many in the college football industry think the Trojans aren’t maxing out in a few key ways:
General manager
Offensive line coach (Josh Henson)
NIL
transfer portal acquisitions
recruiting in the state of California, particularly Mater Dei
That’s five key areas where USC is unquestionably not doing the best it can.
Again, we have acknowledged that college football doesn’t have an equivalent of the MLB trade deadline midway through the season. The Dodgers were able to make big pickups at the deadline. USC can’t make midseason acquisitions, but it didn’t do nearly as well in the portal as it could have or should have, and that’s a clear point of differentiation between the Trojans and Dodgers.
Oregon and its NIL operation set a Dodger-level standard. USC gets outgunned by the Ducks in the portal, much as the Dodgers outgunned the competition (the Blue Jays) for Shohei Ohtani and (Mets, Yankees) Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Dodgers beat out other teams for Tommy Edman, Jack Flaherty, and Michael Kopech. All three of those guys were instrumental in delivering a title to the Dodgers.
USC has to re-evaluate its program and make sure it is doing the absolute best it can in every facet of operations. Clearly the Trojans are falling short in a few crucial ways. Upgrade those weaknesses in the offseason, and let’s see where the chips fall in 2025.
Patrick Mahomes continued his war of words with ex-#Chiefs WR Gehrig Dieter when the #Yankees lost to the #Dodgers in the World Series.
Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has always been an avid baseball fan and took his affinity for the game to a new level by buying a minority share of the Royals in 2020.
Earlier this month, the star quarterback went viral for giving former Chiefs wide receiver Gehrig Dieter, a lifelong New York Yankees fan, a hard time during the Royals’ ALDS run.
Though New York would ultimately take the series and defeat the Royals before punching their ticket to the World Series, Mahomes and Dieter continued sparring about the Yankees on Twitter throughout the MLB playoffs.
When the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated New York in the World Series last night, Mahomes took one last jab at his former teammate:
This was a real Hollywood ending for the Dodgers, and the ad captured that.
If you have ever attended a Los Angeles Dodgers victory, one thing is always the same: You’re going to hear Randy Newman at the end of the game.
After the Dodgers won the 2024 MLB World Series, even though the clinching game was in New York and not Los Angeles, that much remained true thanks to an assist from Nike.
The brand made a perfect Hollywood-themed commercial for the Dodgers, including Newman’s “I Love L.A.” as its soundtrack. It was a perfect needle drop that fans of the team would recognize from just its first few notes.
Nike leaned into the Los Angeles vibes even more, though, by giving it an end credit sequence theme.
All of the players got their names rolling down the screen like a movie was ending, including some very cool photos and memories of the postseason as well.
This was a real Hollywood ending for the Dodgers, and the ad captured that.
If you’re both an L.A. Dodgers fan and a golfer, you’re in luck. We searched the internet for a few of our favorite LA Dodgers golf items, including a golf bag, putter head cover and a few apparel pieces.
Johnnie-O and TravisMathew both offer an extended Dodgers collection and are worth checking out.
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Johnnie-O – Los Angeles Dodgers Walsh Striped Jersey Performance Polo
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New Era – Los Angeles Dodgers 2024 World Series Champions Side Patch Low Profile 59FIFTY Fitted Hat
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Good morning, Winners! Thanks so much for reading the Morning Win today. We appreciate your time. Happy FTWeen! Ok. Sorry. That’s corny.
Let’s talk about this World Series, man.
It looks like the morons who tried to snatch off Mookie Betts’ glove in Game 4 are actually the luckiest (yet, simultaneously, the dumbest) Yankees fans in the world. They didn’t have to watch their team forget how to play baseball in Game 5.
The top of the fifth was an absolute nightmare. Aaron Judge couldn’t catch anymore. Anthony Volpe forgot how to throw. Gerrit Cole didn’t think it was important to cover first base. Maybe most importantly, Aaron Boone decided it was the perfect time to just vibe out? It was truly bizarre.
But that’s also the perfect way to describe the series. ESPN’s win probability formula gave New York an 88.7 percent chance of winning the game then, much like the Yankees had a 96.5 percent chance of winning Game 5. Both leads were blown. What could’ve been a 3-2 series lead is, instead, a Dodgers’ World Series win.
That’s devastating. New York basically just handed the Dodgers a dynasty.
And I know what you’re thinking. “Dynasty? It’s way too early to talk about dynasty.” But, folks. Is it really? This Dodgers team is good. It will be good for the foreseeable future. The version of this team we saw this year isn’t even the best it will be.
Let me remind you that LA just won it all with Shohei Ohtani batting 2-for-15 in the series. Let me also remind you that he hasn’t pitched all season. The team’s starting rotation will get one of the best arms in baseball next season without actually adding anyone.
They’ve got some key guys hitting free agency, but Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Tyler Glasnow, Freddie Freeman and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are all under contract through 2027 at the very least. The core of this team isn’t going anywhere.
So I suggest we buckle in, folks. Yes, it’s a little early to talk about dynasty. Baseball is a bit random and anything can happen from year to year. But this certainly feels like it could be one in the making.
Now that Ohtani has finally won it all without having shattered some obscure record, he’s free to live his life again. Here’s Charles with more:
“For years while on the Los Angeles Angels, Shohei Ohtani would do amazing, miraculous things and the team would somehow continue to lose. It inspired a meme back in 2021 — @matttomic posted on X (formerly Twitter) this statement: “every time I see an Angels highlight it’s like “Mike Trout hit three homes runs and raised his average to .528 while Shohei Ohtani did something that hasn’t been done since ‘Tungsten Arm’ O’Doyle of the 1921 Akron Groomsmen, as the Tigers defeated the Angels 8-3′”
But Ohtani struggled mightily in the World Series and hurt his shoulder. Yet the Dodgers still won.”
I’m so glad we can finally let this rest. I bet Ohtani is, too.
Bronny did the thing
Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images
Bronny James scored his first NBA bucket while the Lakers were getting blown out by the Cavaliers.
But it’s the how here that makes me chuckle. He put a bit of flare on his dad’s signature move to get it done. It was one of those patented LeBron James stepback jumpers that wasn’t really a step back.
It really does run in the family. The Cavaliers let Bronny cut down the net where he scored his first points. That’s a pretty cool gesture from an organization that didn’t have to do that. What a nice moment.
Even though Los Angeles also won the World Series during the shortened 2020 season, the organization was not able to celebrate with its fans due to COVID-19 restrictions. This year, however, everyone who wants to join the festivities will have a chance to do so in sunny Southern California.
There is a lot to look forward to about the festivities surrounding World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and a very strong supporting cast.
This year, Los Angeles will host its parade for the Dodgers on Friday, November 1.
That is also the birthday of the late Fernando Valenzuela, who died earlier this year. The former Dodgers star pitcher, who won NL Rookie of the Year and NL Cy Young while also making six All-Star appearances and winning two World Series titles of his own, was 63.
