Thank you to everyone who sent in questions for our year-end Dodgers Mailbag. I couldn’t access all of them, but I hope to make mailbags a regular feature in 2022.
We come to this week’s questions.
Q: When [the] Texas Rangers next game at Dodger Stadium? And rightly or wrongly, do you think there will be boos for Corey Seager? -Chris (uschris0304 in comments)
Corey Seager, former Rookie of the Year with the second-most home runs by shortstop in Dodgers history, and who won the Series MVP in the NLCS and World Series by breaking a 32-year franchise championship drought, moved on, signing a 10-year, $ 325 million contract with the Rangers that was finalized on Dec. 1.
Interleague matches are scheduled on a rotating basis, with each team playing in a particular division every three years. The pandemic has shaken that up a bit with regionalised schedules, with the Dodgers playing only against the NL West and AL West teams in 2020.
The Dodgers faced the Rangers in Arlington in 2020 and Los Angeles in 2021. AL Central is on the agenda for the Dodgers in 2022, AL East is expected to take their turn with the NL West teams in 2023 That means the Dodgers and Rangers would then play during the regular season in 2024, and depending on where that series is (or if they play two two-game series), both teams might not replay. at Dodger Stadium before 2027.
However, Dodger Stadium hosts the All-Star Game in 2022 on July 19, which could be Seager’s first game in Los Angeles. Anytime Seager returns there may be boos, but I guess they’ll be drowned out by the massive cheers from the Dodgers fans.
Q: How do you see the construction of 5 places (or 6?) In the rotation formed at the start of the season? -WhiteDevil67 (in comments)
The pitch remains a priority for the Dodgers once the offseason resumes. They need to add at least one more starting pitcher, most of the cavalry – Dustin May, Ryan Pepiot, Bobby Miller, Landon Knack, et al – not having to contribute in the majors at the start of the season.
A standing slap means relying on one of Mitch White or Andre Jackson in the opening rotation, or maybe both if the club decides on a six-party rotation. The latter only seems likely if COVID protocols are adopted to allow expanded lists, as was the case in 2020.
Walker Buehler and Julio Urías are at the top of the rotation, and then it comes down to where to put everyone, including Andrew Heaney, who signed a one-year, $ 8.5 million contract in November in as a free agent.
Clayton Kershaw remains the primary target, with the ball in his court as to whether he wants to return to Los Angeles or throw down the road from his home in Texas. A return from Kershaw, while uninsured, always seems more likely than not, so I guess these five openings for the Dodgers’ rotation once the season begins:
Walker Buehler
Julio Urias
Clayton kershaw
Andrew Heaney
Tony Gonsolin
Q: When will Spring 2022 officially begin training? -Catherine (la Bleue, in the comments)
Normally, before the lockout, the collective agreement required that the earliest date that pitchers and receivers could be invited to attend spring practice was 43 days before the start of the regular season. In 2022, with an opening day scheduled for March 31, that means reporting dates could not be set until February 16.
Spring practice games are scheduled to begin on February 26. But that was all before the lockout, which might take a peek into things.
As a point of reference, the 1990 lockout lasted until March 18, just 15 days before the originally scheduled opening day. The MLB postponed the start of the regular season by a week, allowing for a rushed three-week spring practice. Putting the same schedule to 2022 would mean spring training that would start on March 9.
But the 1990 lockout began in February, with most of the offseason moves already over. This year there are still dozens of unsigned players, so MLB players and owners should come to an agreement at least a few weeks before early March to get the season to start reasonably on time.
As worrying and boring as the current dormancy may seem, the fear of missing out on games should provide enough momentum for negotiations to intensify after the New Year. So while the drive to get there will likely be bumpy and a general pain in the ass, I think the regular season always starts on time.
But this question was about the exhibition period, which I think will be somewhat truncated, so I’m guessing March 3 will be the start of spring training.
Q: Which vacation movies are essential to watch and which are overrated? -Catherine (la Bleue, in the comments)
I grew up in a “Christmas Vacation” and “A Christmas Story” home, so maybe I’m biased in that regard. But I still find them both heartwarming and hilarious. “Elf” has since entered this unmissable pantheon.
Here are the movies I watched this Christmas season last week, which I consider essential:
‘Christmas holidays’
“A Christmas story”
‘Elf’
‘Alone at home’
‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’
“The Muppets’ Christmas Carol”
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
I would also put It’s “A Wonderful Life” and the stop-motion animation “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” and the “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” animation to this group as well, although I didn’t have them. not yet watched this year.
If anyone wanted to add ‘Santa Claus’ as an essential, I wouldn’t argue. Some would also consider “The Nightmare Before Christmas” in this category, but I never got into it. I love ‘Die Hard’ and if you want to pretend it’s a Christmas movie, congratulations on your interest.
This season, too, I watched ‘Fred Claus’ for the first time. It took a while to develop, but it went well. One of my childhood favorites was “Yogi’s First Christmas,” which was first televised in 1980. I saw it again this week, and it holds up. I certainly didn’t remember that it was 94 minutes, nor that Cindy Bear had of them musical numbers in the film. These are not complaints.
Although not from a movie, Richie Cunningham’s “Happy Days” scene inadvertently spotting a lone Fonzie spreading mayonnaise on bread as a box of ravioli heats up on a hotplate the night before. Christmas was a perfect distillation of 2020, which has been isolated for so many people.
Thanks again for the questions, and please enjoy any movies you want this week and beyond.
Comments are closed.