Baseball and Game 3 of the 2025 World Series

I used to think baseball was boring. I always loved movies about baseball but at some point in college my brother and I started rooting for the Anaheim Angels since I went to school near Orange County. Around this time I also watched like so many baseball movies and the game got to me. Bull Durham came into my life and that was it for me and baseball. For-ev-er. I also finally understood all the rules and strategy but more importantly the romance. The history. The romance of baseball and the agony of defeat and the euphoria of a win. 

We started attending any baseball game in person we could when we were out of town. In 2010 Man-D and I went to visit Ali in Boston and went to a Red Sox game and I got to see the green monster live. Fenway is a cathedral of baseball, the brick, the history... a real ballpark.

Matt and I got to go to Wrigley AND US Cellular field on the same 4th of July trip in 2013 which was so special since his grandpa played minor league for the Cubs. We got to see the Bartman seat and hear the train engineer amidst the cubs (at the time) continual losing streak "And here's where you get off to see the Cubs lose." Matt called his grandpa from Wrigley emotional as hell. And the Cubs lost, ha.

I never DIDN'T root for the Dodgers and will never speak ill of any team from Los Angeles, L.A. is home and I will defend it to the death. I felt like being a slightly bigger Angel fan was a betrayal to my Mexican roots and in 2012 actively gave in and on a baseball road trip with 3 other baseball girlies to watch the Angels play the As in Oakland and the Dodgers play the Giants in San Francisco, I bought my first LA hat and hoodie. I wore Dodger blue in the Giants stadium. I dunno what you know about baseball rivalries but that's bravery, people get shanked for less. 

We moved to Burbank in 2012 proper and I basically told Matt we'd have to be full blown Dodger fans now that they were closer. He got himself an LA hat, committed. My man will also root for all the LA teams, he's that man my man. He kept up with the Angels and rooted for them when he could and on the day his grandfather died, after the service once of his cousins said "Hey... Shohei Ohtani is pitching tonight. We should go. He's one of the greatest of all time we should go see the game, all of us. Grandpa would have wanted it that way." My friends... Shohei Ohtani pitched 6 innings, threw 10 strikeouts AND hit two home runs. Sound familiar?! We were there. He did that. He's always been that guy. 

By then I actively did not consider myself an Angel fan and was definitely a Dodger girl. Red hats, no thanks. And man, what a time to be an Dodger fan. They won the World Series in 2020, then 2024, and here they are in the World Series AGAIN. Last year's Game 1 when Freddie Freeman hit that walk off Grand Slam I said to myself this series is over. Whatever happens, how do you come back from that level of baseball? That kinda storybook insane you'll never believe this happened kinda ending. A WALK OFF GRAND SLAM in a WORLD SERIES? Impossible. But they did.

This year.... The first game was a bloodbath that took all the wind out of my sail and I avoided watching Game 2 out of stress and would just be refresh the scores on my phone. By Game 3 I was ready to watch again and had NO idea what was coming at us on that fateful Monday night in October. No one did. No one could have.

By the first game we learned who these Blue Jays were and how formidable they were. I'll admit, I was cocky, we have hella bats. But these Jays ho-ly crap. Kirk scares the bejeezus out of me. I don't like that Clement one. And Vlady Jr... no sir. No wonder they're in the World Series, damn, they are good.

Matt and I watched game in agony. I was on a text group with my girlie baseball girls and my other girlie baseball girl and my brother. My brother said of Game 3, these teams are so evenly matched. No one was giving in and no one was getting a run. Pitcher duels. Batter duels. Ohtani got two home runs and the Blue Jays manager was not taking any chances and walked him intentionally FOUR times, setting a postseason record of 9 times on base in a single game. After 7 innings with a tie of 5-5, no one got a hit for 10 innings. TEN INNNGS. Every inning after the 7th was agony with each team getting a hit or two and unable to bring a run home. The amount or runners left on base left was historic: 37 combined runners, six more than in any other game in postseason history. A new Dodger pitcher Will Klein who had previously only played a max of 2 innings delivered an insane performance with 4 shut out innings cementing his legend status. He didn't even look tired at the end and like he could have gone another one. 

We got to the 15th inning and Matt was done. I turned the TV back on. Sorry babe, I won't be able to sleep not knowing, I gotta stay up. 17th inning and I turn it off again. Then on again. I watch TikToks while the Jays bat and pace when the Dodgers are at bat. I make incantations for Shoehei to hit it in the 17th. Come on 17 in the 17th. Nada. 

Finally finally... 11:50p, Freddie Freeman does it again. Incredibly. A walk off home run for the second time in a World Series game, also a new record. I couldn't believe it as I watched it. I was standing 2 inches from the TV and watching that ball go right over the fence in disbelief. Is it finally over? Is this 6 hour, double game finally over? Once I saw the huge smile on Freddie's face I knew it was true. 

At this point I dunno what will happen or how this series will end. But we're watching baseball history no doubt. What a game. How can you not be romantic about baseball?