Dodgers players and coaches are likely still confident going into Friday’s game against the Boston Red Sox. But what about their fans?
I suspect the Dodgers uniformed personnel will be far less nervous or anxious Friday night than their fan base.
Players go through this often over the years, and they have conditioned themselves to stay positive, stay in the moment, remember that momentum only goes as far as that day’s pitcher, etc. Some of them might even be aware that 10 previous teams have come back from 2-0 deficits to win a World Series (and three of those have worn Dodger uniforms).
The fans? That 30-year wait for a World Series championship hangs heavily around their necks, and I’m guessing the events of this week in Boston brought back bad memories and a “here we go again” mindset. They may be the ones most in need of, um, therapy.
“I think when you’re down 0-2, being fatalistic is a natural mechanism,” said Scott Goldman, the president-elect of the Association for Applied Sports Psychology, in a phone conversation. “Look, the Red Sox only have to win two of the next five, where the Dodgers have to win four of five. It’s just a harder challenge.”
The trick, if you’re a fan? Maybe it’s to embrace the challenge. Relish what has become an underdog status among the national pundits. Consider the trash talk you’ll be able to unleash on your relatives in New England, or the Red Sox fan in the next cubicle, if they should pull it off (though you’ll probably want to keep that to yourself for now).
“Fans love an underdog,” Goldman said. “So instead of being fatalistic, be unabashedly hopeful. Talk about every upset that’s ever occurred. This is the making of a great story, and you can say, ‘I didn’t jump ship.’
“There’s a Martin Luther King quote, that the measure of a man is not where he stands in good times but in times of challenge. I may be mangling the quote, but anyone can be a fan of the best team or the team that’s winning. The true fan sticks with a team through good times and bad. Part of what makes the pleasurable moments so pleasurable is the painful moments.
“If you’re a real fan, losing hurts. If it didn’t hurt, then how passionate are you?”
Fair enough, but 30 years is 30 years. Fans are tired of referencing 1988 as the last time the Dodgers handled the Commissioner’s Trophy. I’m guessing that watching the Astros accept it at Dodger Stadium a year ago was agonizing enough, thank you.
If fans need any more firing up, consider: The columnists from both Boston papers are pretty much expecting a Red Sox celebration in L.A. and a parade early next week.
I guess they’ve taken their cue from Big Papi. During the Fox pregame show before Game 1, analysts Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez played it straight, but when it came to David Ortiz – that bastion of impartiality, wearing a Red Sox helmet a couple sizes too small for him, with a group of Red Sox fans chanting his name in the background – the question wasn’t who would win but in how many games.
“Two!” he blurted out.
No, it doesn’t work that way. Game 3, when the teams change ballparks (and rules), can be a different animal.
If you’re a Dodger fan, you can hang your hat on 1981, when the Dodgers lost the first two in New York. Fernando Valenzuela threw what seemed like 200 pitches in Game 3 – actually it was 149, with 72 in the first three innings, according to the Baseball Reference website – in a complete game victory, and the Dodgers went on to beat the Yankees in six.
Or 1965, when the Minnesota Twins pummeled Don Drysdale in Game 1 and beat Sandy Koufax in Game 2 in Minnesota. Claude Osteen shut out the Twins 4-0 in Game 3, and Koufax won Games 5 and 7.
Or 1955. The Brooklyn Dodgers lost two at Yankee Stadium. Johnny Podres pitched a complete-game victory in Game 3 at Ebbets Field and then fired a 2-0 shutout in Game 7 in the Bronx for the franchise’s first World Series title.
True, the odds aren’t great. In 114 World Series, 51 teams have taken a 2-0 lead. Of the previous 50,40 went on to win the series. So the Dodgers have a 20 percent chance, right?
Also worth noting: No one’s done it since 1996, when the Yankees lost Games 1 and 2 in Atlanta and came back to win in six. I’m guessing John Smoltz remembers that one.
Since then, 10 teams have taken 2-0 World Series leads and went on to win. So maybe the Dodgers are due.
But I’ll guarantee this: If Walker Buehler goes out Friday night, in the latest Most Important Game Of His Career, and pitches the Dodgers back into this thing, expectations will change.
Until then, people throughout SoCal are channeling Lloyd Christmas.
jalexander@scng.com
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