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I know the enjoyment should be tempered and diluted, a lesser version of what draws me to baseball in the first place. Watching the Dodgers lose is exponentially less satisfying than watching the Giants win. But it's been over a week since I watched the Giants play. Just like putting your head under a gas station faucet after a week of camping can feel like a day at the spa, so go the adventures of the New York Mets against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Mets are up 2-1 in the National League Division Series. They need to win one of the next two games to advance to the NLCS. They need to beat one of Clayton Kershaw or Zack Greinke to do it. We here at Seaver Stories applaud the Mets for a job well done so far, and encourage their future efforts. Curtis Granderson, future random Giant, has been a marvel. Yoenis Cespedes, future random Giants rumor, is a cult hero going platinum. Good going so far, Mets.
Now don't screw this up.
If the Dodgers advance, if they make it to the NLCS, part of the narrative will be how they came back against strong odds. How Kershaw escaped the gravitational pull of his postseason legacy and triumphed. How Dodger Stadium rocked and rolled throughout the bonkers Game 5.
If the Dodgers don't advance, we get to hop around like drunk eight-year-old sociopaths, screaming "three in five, three in five, three in five" for at least another year. Clayton Kershaw will have another five months to wonder if there's something wrong with him. Then the season will start. And maybe the postseason will roll around again and all of those worries will crush his spirits and general sense of purpose. Tommy Lasorda will be sad.
Of those two scenarios, I prefer the latter.
I'm actually a big Kershaw fan, as I remind you in every one of these posts, but I still dream about his head filled with doubt and insecurity. That's because my head is filled with doubt and insecurity, and adding another member to the family would be so warm and fun. And also because the Giants winning a lot recently helps that doubt and insecurity. It makes me feel like I did something right, which doesn't make sense, but neither do sports. So I don't want the Dodgers to take that away from me.
This is the same post that a Dodgers fan could have written before Game 3 of the 2012 NLDS or Game 5 of the 2012 NLCS, and it would look sad and hilarious in retrospect. Don't take this as crowing or end-zone dancing. This is not a bat flip of a post. Just a fan being honest about his schadenfreude.
It would be pretty cool if the Dodgers lost, is all.
Go Mets.