Each week, Boston Globe Today Sports host and Globe sports columnist Christopher L. Gasper provides commentary on a notable sports topic in the segment “Write or Wrong?”
We all know that the Los Angeles Dodgers, with some familiar faces in Mookie Betts, manager Dave Roberts, and Ryan Brasier won the World Series, defeating the New York Yankees. But, Red Sox fans can also claim to be big winners of this World Series — and not just because the Yankees lost.
The Dodgers’ blueprint for capturing their second World Series in five seasons debunks a false choice that has been framed by the folks at Fenway Park since they set about on the path of sustainability in 2020, the same season they traded Betts to the Dodgers and LA won the World Series in a COVID-shortened season. That reality was as evident as the victory champagne soaking Mookie and Co., in the Dodgers’ clubhouse.
Watching this World Series, which was predestined to field the most expensive champion in baseball history no matter who prevailed, surpassing the 2018 Red Sox, the implications for the Sox during a pivotal offseason became clear. So did what they need to do to get back to relevance, the playoffs, and championship contention, finally paying off the patience that fans have exhibited through gritted teeth during a rebuild that has lagged on longer than the Fenway Faithful anticipated. Emulating the efficiency of the Tampa Bay Rays and the Moneyball Oakland A’s is admirable and understandable, but those teams never won a World Series.
The Dodger Way is the proper model for the Sox for millions of reasons.