By Jon Weisman
Most postseason games since last World Series appearance
44 Oakland A’s (1990)
39 Atlanta Braves (1999)
39 Los Angeles Dodgers (1988)
Today, the Dodgers will move past Atlanta for the most National League playoff games since last appearing in the World Series. In 11 days or less, they could pass Oakland for the most in the Majors.
This, to say the least, is a sword with at least two edges. It sure beats sitting at home and watching year after year, as the Dodgers did between 1989 and 1995 or between 1997 and 2003. But the so-close-yet-so-far treatment can be just punishing.
Nearly five hours before today’s NLDS first pitch against the Cardinals, the tension is higher than it’s been since last October. This isn’t a do-or-die game, as much as you might want it or as frustrating as it might be to lose it. No team is dead in a five-game series after one game. Yet already, you can probably feel your knots are in knots. Every pitch is impossibly fraught with importance.
Here in Los Angeles, the Lakers used to make this look easy, automatic. After of decades of disappointment, the Kings have found the glory. For the past 25-plus years, the Dodgers and their fans have pined for it.
You don’t wave a wand. You win by executing the most mundane tasks at the most important times. You place a bat on a ball, you locate a pitch, you position a defender within millimeters of the right spot, or you lose.
It is irrational to have such enormous hopes and dreams ride on margins so infinitesimal. And yet, here we go. Again.
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