There are years when your desire or ability to follow them fluctuates, particularly when you live a few thousand miles away, as I do.
After a year of pandemic and mostly dismal baseball (but green shoots if you squinted: 12-9 to finish! Verdugo! Dalbec! Houck!) I craved a full season of baseball I could pay attention to. And, finding myself still working from home, 4:00 was a nice time to begin winding down the work day in Los Angeles.
I didn’t need much. 85 wins and some progress from our young players would have been fine. But, as it turned out, these guys exceeded all expectations and were exceptional company as the spring turned to summer and then autumn crept in. I was able to, and wanted to, follow them more closely than any team since 2013 and that attention was rewarded.
There was delight at what we had found, and equally importantly what the MFY lost, in Whitlock with the murmurs beginning in spring training. There was the found money of a 9 game streak on the heels of being swept by the lowly Os. There was the comical Kriske walk off game. The Renfroe game against Tampa. The crazy comeback against the Tigers with a key dribbler from Franchy. The Arrauz game against Cleveland. The Travis Shaw game. Verdugo walking off the Tribe on a Saturday at Fenway. Schwarber crushing the Mets and the yellow jersey streak. Raffy turning the tide against the Nats on the last day of the season. Bogie’s bomb against Cole to set the tone. Nick Pivetta holding the line so Vaz could walk off Tampa. Kique becoming absolutely molten. Nate being Nate.
And the goddamn laundry cart. Godspeed guys, you were great company in 2021.