There is no real sense in getting upset about the Los Angeles Dodgers, for more or less the same reasons that there is no real sense in getting upset about the weather. Both are awe-inspiring and annoying in about equal measure, but there is only so much that can really be done about either. In this case, I guess, "reasonable expectations about how much fun the World Series might be" are the equivalent of carrying an umbrella. In both cases, there is nothing to do but talk about it, and this week, returning champion guest Justin Halpern took a break from making award-winning television programs to do just that.
After a brief overture in which Drew told a story about his teen son getting into a car accident and learning a valuable lesson about car insurance, and an even briefer subsequent bit in which Justin and I roasted Drew for telling it, we got down to talking some damn baseball, and pretty much stayed at it for the next hour. Justin is an avowed Padres fan and Dodgers hater, and he made an impassioned case for the Dodgers being Too Good. Drew and I pushed back on it somewhat, but this was finally a matter not of the Dodgers doing anything wrong so much as a question of whether a team that has made itself this close to perfect is also any fun to watch.
We talked about that, and the brief moment when a great Sal Frelick catch made it seem possible that the Brewers' team-of-destiny energy could triumph over the Dodgers' seamlessly optimized dominance, and the experience of watching the Dodgers obliterate both the Brewers' flimsy magic and, in Justin's view, the magic and randomness inherent to baseball. We considered the questions of whether the Dodgers have too many guys and are making it seem too easy, but also how and why they got there, and what this means for baseball (the consensus here was that it's probably good) and people who like watching baseball (this one was more mixed). Justin was also at The Shohei Game with his young (Dodgers fan) son, where he had a not-that-great time despite being wowed by Ohtani's loud and uncanny homers, and bearing witness to some of the coolest baseball shit in history. Again: Rational has got nothing to do with it.
After the break, we talked about the Toronto Blue Jays, what they've gotten right and what chance they realistically have against the Dodgers, and the importance of sturdy connective tissue even in the most expensive and star-driven lineups. Justin also blessed us with a rant about the broader Savannah Bananas experience, which we all considered with a very different type of awe than that we brought to the Dodgers conversation. What is a team that combines megachurch vibes, grindset motivational speeches, evangelical homoeroticism, really? What would a baseball team made entirely out of influencers be like? The answer we settled upon was: the definitive 2025 Cultural Product, for better and worse.
Justin had to leave before we opened the Funbag, which was a shame because the question of which celebrity has been comped the most at bars and restaurants was an interesting one, and the question of whether all famous people know each other was one that Justin would have had an easier time answering than either of us.
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