Reading · Comments From Coach Mike

“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it the most, it stops.”

From “The Green Fields of the Mind” – A Great and Glorious Game: Baseball Writings of A. Bartlett Giamatti

The 2025 MLB season ended last night with the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the Toronto Blues in the seventh game in extra innings 5-4. The Dodgers have now won back-to-back World Series Championships. My congratulations to the Dodgers’ organization, players, staff, and fan base.

It was going to happen no matter what. As I mentioned in my last post, I dread the end of the season and yes, my “blue funk” has started. It was a great series. The best in recent memory. Defensive gems (who knew Vlad Guerrero, Jr. had a great arm), small ball bunts / moving runners over, the home runs (which everyone loves, NOT me), great pitching (starting and relief), extra innings twice, and a little bruhaha last night when Andres Gimenez of the Blues Jays was hit by Dodger reliever Justin Wrobleski (for the lip readers out there, he had a few “words of wisdom” for Gimenez), the benches cleared (it didn’t amount to anything, nor was the pitch that hit him lethal in any way, but I couldn’t remember a recent series when that occurred). Will Smith, the Dodger catcher set a new Series record by catching all 73 innings of the seven games (which included 18-inning game Monday). Simply amazing.

That 18-inning Game 3 (yes, I stayed up for all 6 hours and 39 minutes of it, even though I had to train the monks at St Procopius Tuesday) was unbelievable. Some facts, besides the innings played and length of time: 609 pitches were thrown (Dodgers: 312, Blue Jays: 297), 19 pitchers used, 25 position players used, 37 runners left on base, Shohei Ohtani went 4-4, with two doubles – two home runs and five walks, Will Klein, one of the Dodgers’ relief pitchers went 4-innings and didn’t give up a run, and Freddie Freeman hit the walk-off home run to end the game.

It would have done my heart my heart good to see two smaller market teams in the Series. I was hoping for a Seattle Mariners / Milwaukee Brewers series, or as Mark, an old high school classmate of mine mentioned a Milwaukee Brewers / Blue Jays series (he called it a Great Lakes Series) which would have been fine as well. I was rooting for the Blue Jays, I just didn’t want to see a big market, huge money (pitching staff alone, Ohtani $70 million, Glasnow $32.5 million, Snell $28.4 million, Yamamoto $18.3 million, and Kershaw $16 million) spending team like the Dodgers win.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto of the Dodgers was named the Series Most Valuable Player, well deserves for his Game two pitching performance and his 2.2 scoreless innings in relief in Game 7. I probably would have given it to Will Smith, but I’m partial to catchers. I went to bed before the post-game ceremonies as I just couldn’t stomach having to see Rob Manfred center stage. January of 2029, when his contract is up, he plans on stepping down; it can’t happen soon enough for my taste.

Time will pass and I will feel better. The game isn’t gone; it’s just taking a break. The off-season will have trades, signings and other “hot stove” activities which aren’t near as exciting, but it will give hope. Then magically, even though all dates are “To Be Announced”, there will come a day probably between February 12^th and the 15^th, that we will hear those words that will warm my heart, “Pitchers and Catchers Report”.

Bart Giamatti really captured it perfectly with the partial passage I quoted above. I usually share that on social media as well. It sums it up so well, my heart truly breaks, just like the hurt feelings of my childhood, the crushes of my teen years and the full-blown relationship break-ups of my twenties. But baseball will be back, it always returns. The heartbreak isn’t lessened by the knowledge of its return, it doesn’t soothe the loneliness or fill the void of time that I invest in my baseball relationship, but the certainty is still there.

“Comments From Coach Mike” will of course continue throughout the lonely winter months as well. A variety of topics will be discussed. Look for some new features and the continuance of players’ stories, records, my votes for the Hall of Fame Class of 2026, reminiscence of my childhood, and other subjects. If you have any questions, suggestions, or comments, please voice them; I always like to hear your ideas and feedback.

Thanks for your continued support!

~ Coach Mike

The Season’s End – 2025

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