ON BEING A DODGER FAN IN THE FALL OF 2005

Once again it's my pleasure to refer you to Jon Weisman and Sunday's edition of Dodger Thoughts, in which he takes the opportunity to eloquently describe what he describes as "the loser's dividend," that is, the possibility of what baseball can be for a fan of a team whose sub-.500 season status is sealed, who have watched the Giants sleep for three-quarters of the schedule, only to wake up and play spoiler to the Padres' prospects for a division title and the already wounded pride of the Dodgers and their fans. It is now, until the end of the season on October 2, purely baseball for Dodger fans. Weisman describes attending two games this past week that were as enjoyable for him as watching them this past week on TV have been for me, regardless of the final result, and separate from all the worry over "will they or won't they?" This article is as close to a cherry on top of a disappointing season as there is likely to be, a season which began so strongly for the Dodgers, a season, as Vin Scully might say, in which the Dodgers rode the elevator from the penthouse to the cellar. Well, not quite the cellar, thanks to our friends in Colorado. But looking at how well the Rockies played the Dodgers this year, and how strong their largely young team looks to be in 2006, one shouldn't be taking any promises of there being that Denver cushion at the bottom of the National League West in 2006 with too much assurance. As Weisman writes in another column, Paul DePodesta's plan was never intended or expected to be a one-season cure-all, and certainly enough went wrong, with injuries, misbehavior and substandard ballplaying, to ensure that 2006 may be just as rough a ride. As the playoffs and the World Series approach, it's a good time to remember, all Fox Sports hype to the contrary, that what's at stake here is not of earth-shaking importance, and what we will be witnessing in October are not contests of gladiatorial pomp and circumstance, nor can they, with any good sense or sensitivity, be compared to war (though somebody with a considerable lack of sense will undoubtedly step up and do just that before the final out of the Series). It is simply, and with all its complexity, playoff implications or not, the wonderful game that Abner Doubleday probably did not invent, and to be able to see it in person on the major league level is a privilege in which many around the country cannot indulge. Los Angeles Dodger fans, join with fans of the Royals, the Devil Rays, the Giants (he said pointedly, even as the distance between them and first place is only three games), the Mets and every other team whose playoff hopes are now or soon will be officially dashed and just enjoy what the game has to offer. The road to 2006 begins in six days.