Letters: Dodgers' World Series championship was worth the wait

Blake Snell's exit from Game 6 of the World Series certainly helped the Dodgers.

Oct. 30, 2020 5:03 PM PT

Hallelujah! Our beloved Dodgers are the World Series Champions for the first time since I was but a boy.

At last … only tears of joy.

Michael Lee Manous
Upland

I decided early in the playoffs that I would not second-guess Dave Roberts this year and let him manage without my help. He did such a good job that I will try really hard to give him a free hand in the quest for a repeat championship. Hopefully, all the backseat managers in Dodgers nation will do the same.

Mike Belson
Studio City

Thanks to the sterling performance by the Dodgers bullpen in Tuesday’s Game 6, from now on, Wednesday, Oct. 28, should be known as Walker Buehler’s Day Off.

Joe Kevany
Mount Washington

Congratulations to the L.A. Dodgers and especially Clayton Kershaw. You went from the guy the Dodgers couldn’t win the World Series with to the guy they couldn’t win it without.

John Tsutsui
Hurricane, Utah

The superb postseason coverage by photographers Robert Gauthier and Wally Skalij fully captured the emotion and spirit of the Dodgers’ unforgettable World Series run, and then some. When the 32-year drought was busted halfway across the country and most fans could only get as close as the couch section, their indelible images brought it all back home. As a photographer myself, these guys are MVPs in my book, and, this Dodger fan, for one, is deeply appreciative.

Jim Brock
Los Angeles

I think we all should send Christmas cards to the Boston Red Sox to thank them for letting Mookie Betts go.

Suzanne Garcia
Chino Hills

Just wondering if the Dodgers have reached out to Kevin Cash as of yet, requesting the size of his finger for the World Series ring he so justly deserves.

Larry Herrera
Redondo Beach

When I was an 8-year-old boy in L.A. in 1988, I jumped up and down as Dempsey ran out to Hershisher. I’m now 40, living in the UK, and jumping up and down at 3:45 a.m. watching a called third strike and Barnes running out to Urías. Same feeling emotionally, although it will probably hurt more the next morning.

Geoff Kertesz
Surrey, England

To semi-quote Vizzini from “The Princess Bride:”

“Kevin Cash, you’ve fallen for one of the three classic blunders! The first, never get involved in a land war in Asia. The second, never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line, but only slightly lesser known: Never remove a former Cy Young pitcher, who was dominating the competition with only 73 pitches in the sixth inning of a World Series elimination game.”

Gary J. Grayson
Ventura

Great win for the Dodgers and the city. However, it was the longest speech ever by an owner.

Kevin Flynn
Simi Valley

Dodgers fans, wait till next year ... oops, force of habit.

PJ Gendell
Beverly Hills

“In a year that has been so improbable, the impossible has happened.” #thisonesforvin

William David Stone
Beverly Hills

From Seager’s clutch hitting to Mookie’s overall greatness. From the dynamic defense, redemption for Kershaw, and the discovery of Urías as our new closer, it was hard to deny this would be the Dodgers championship year.

It seems like forever since 1988, but if 2020 can be remembered for anything good, the Dodgers winning the World Series and the Lakers getting their championship rings will keep me smiling for a long long time.

Marty Zweben
Palos Verdes Estates

Please, to the Anti-Dodgers Marching and Chowder Society: Do NOT attempt to tarnish this world championship with your self-appointed “asterisk” because it was a 60-game season. The Dodgers won 43 of their 60 games — equivalent to 116 wins in a full season! Add to that the craziness of the postseason set-up with virtually no days off, neutral fields, handful of fans, and it is an even greater accomplishment. Bottom line is baseball didn’t need another 100 games to see the Dodgers were clearly the best team in baseball. So, that asterisk can stay with the 2017 Astros.

Jim Miller
San Gabriel

Turner bobbled the play

From everything I’ve read, Justin Turner is a terrific person and a wonderful teammate. However, I was astounded to see him come back onto the field after the Dodgers’ win in the World Series after just testing positive for COVID, hugging teammates and even removing his mask for a crowded team photograph. What part of the precautions for this deadly pandemic do the Dodgers and Turner not understand? I know that professional athletes don’t always want to be held up as role models. But what are the millions of us watching the postgame celebration supposed to think when someone who has JUST been diagnosed with this deadly disease disregards all the precautions we have been living with for the last seven months?

Jack Nelson
Los Angeles

I am totally disappointed with Justin Turner’s display of total disregard of the MLB protocol rules for the pandemic for self gratification along with fellow teammates who felt that he did nothing wrong. I understand his frustration of not being able to celebrate with his teammates but it is what it is. Other celebrations such as weddings, religious functions, graduations etc., were done with little fanfare or not at all and no one would knowingly allow a person diagnosed with the coronavirus to participate in these events. If he wanted to take a picture with the team, a separate photo could have been taken in isolation and photoshopped into the team picture.

Jeff Hershow
Woodland Hills

I believe that the MLB should punish Justin Turner the way they did the 2017 World “Champion” Astros with the most severe and harsh … admonishment!

Larry Joe
Irvine

Justin Turner’s act, breaking quarantine to join his teammates in the on-field celebration stands as a terrible example, a poor role model. Certainly bad symbolism. Yet the following is also true: His act was not premeditated. His act was not calculated for personal gain.

In the high drama of the moment, emotion overwhelmed good judgment. The moment, while long desired, was neither scheduled nor planned. Nor was his act. He joined teammates with whom he had been in closest contact, indeed that very day, and for many weeks prior. All “bubbled” together, in some sense like one large family.

I think we can empathize even when we cannot sympathize. I hope we can find some understanding for this human weakness.

Bob Wieting
Simi Valley

It’s eating away at them

In 2019 student-athletes on the football team at UCLA, a state-supported public university, gorged their way through $5.4 million in steak, salmon, Cornish game hens, “imported” BBQ from Arizona, etc. while the university athletic department reported a deficit of $18.9 million. Meanwhile, one in six children in the U.S. is hungry. The word you’re looking for is “obscenity.”

Elizabeth Alexander
Ojai

Apparently the only missing ingredient from the UCLA football training table is winning.

Wes Wellman
Santa Monica

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