Why I Won't Be on TV Tonight

I had a ticket for a baseball playoff game, but then the game dematerialized.

A reader texted me a few days ago to say he has season tickets for the Los Angeles Dodgers and didn’t have anybody to go with him to the third game of the first round Wild Card series against the Reds. (There are four rounds of baseball playoffs, and the best-of-three-games Wild Card round would be called the octofinals in high school debate.)

Oh, and the seats are in the first row behind the Dodgers’ dugout. So, like if you want to see whether Max Muncy is developing a bald spot, this is your chance.

The view from a few rows further back

Uh, sure, I said. If the Dodgers don’t sweep the Reds in two, I’d love to go see Shohei Ohtani start the deciding game.

But that led to a moral dilemma. After the Dodgers beat the Reds 10-5 in game one, should I root for the Reds in game 2 so that there would be a game 3 for me to go to?

After all, I’ve been a Dodger fan since I was six in 1965 when Sandy Koufax threw a shutout in the 7th game of the World Series on two days rest. My prize possession was a Sandy Koufax baseball card that said he lived in my general neighborhood. When I showed the other kids on the block my Sandy Koufax card, they became convinced he lived in the scary-looking house on the corner with the ominous cypresses. (I replied, “Don’t stars usually live up in the Hollywood Hills?” but none of the other six-year-olds took my silly notion seriously.)

So, who should I root for?

Of course, it doesn’t matter which team I pull for while walking the dog.

But it doesn’t feel that way. That’s a big reason spectator sports are so popular. It feels important.

Anyway, I rooted for the Dodgers and they won 8-4, sweeping the series in two games. On to Philadelphia!

So, this evening you won’t be able to see me on TV sitting behind Freddie Freeman.