The 39-year-old second baseman announced his retirement in July. Utley wasn’t on the Dodgers’ roster in October, but his impact on their success the last three years will be difficult t…
LOS ANGELES — Temperatures hovered in the mid-40s this week as Chase Utley took batting practice in Boston’s Fenway Park. His pant legs were rolled up to his knees. His calves were uncomfortably bare.
Utley went with the same look as he took batting practice and fielded ground balls Sunday prior to Game 5 of the World Series, his last day as a major league player.
The back of Utley’s baseball card was completed weeks ago. His final game in a major league game came on Sept. 30 in San Francisco. He struck out against Giants pitcher Steven Okert in his only at-bat. Utley was not included on the Dodgers’ postseason roster for any of their three postseason series, but he continued to travel with the team.
Utley, 39, pre-empted any suspense about his future by announcing his retirement in July. After the Dodgers’ season ended Sunday with a 5-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox, Utley took a few minutes to reflect on the end of his career.
“It has sunk in,” Utley said. “It’ll probably sink in a little bit more as the days go on, but I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited about it. I’m not nervous about it. I’m proud of how I’ve handled myself over my career. Those are all things I can look back on.”
When Utley arrived in a 2016 trade, he already had a World Series ring on his resumé – won in 2008 with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Dodgers gave him two more chances to win another ring in his final three seasons. Each time, they lost the deciding game of the World Series on their home field.
“From my perspective, I wanted them to win for themselves, to experience things I had an opportunity to experience,” Utley said. “There’s no better feeling than being the best team in the world. We fell short again this year, but like I said, those guys should hold their heads high and be proud of what we did this year.”
For the record, Utley played 386 regular-season games as a Dodger and another 22 in the playoffs. He batted.232, a shadow of the perennial MVP candidate he was in Philadelphia.
Yet from the outset, the Dodgers’ trade for Utley was never to be defined by his tangible production at the plate or in the field. The front office wanted a leader in the clubhouse, and by all accounts Utley delivered.
To that end, it’s impossible to quantify Utley’s impact on the Dodgers’ three straight NLCS appearances, and their first four World Series wins since 1988.
Utley, who starred at Long Beach Poly High and UCLA, came to the Dodgers having lost a World Series too, in 2009. Even to the end, his grasp on the difference between a win and a loss was as strong as anyone’s in a sullen clubhouse Sunday night.
“You need a few breaks to go your way,” Utley said. “Obviously you need to have some talent. Some timely pitching and hitting, but you never know once you get to the postseason. Once you get to this stage, seven games, you never know.”
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