Johnny Damon says that the dodgers will again win the World Series in 2025
Johnny Damon explains why he thinks that dodgers and yankees are faced with a revenge match, but why the first is an easy choice to win again.
Sports seriously
Peoria, Arizona – The pain has calmed down. The bitter memories have faded.
However, none of this will never be forgotten.
THE San Diego Padres will tell you that they should have won the World Series last season. They should have been those who have the parade and a ring ceremony. They had the Dodgers of Los Angeles on the strings. They were only a victory by overthrowing the powerful Dodgers to go to the series of championships in the National League.
The Padres managed 2 games at 1 in the NL division series for the best of five, with match 4 in front of their frenzied fans in Petco Park. Then their offense suddenly disappeared. The Padres, which scored 21 points in the first 20 sleeves of the series, have been excluded in the last 24 rounds.
Just like that, it was over.
“I can tell you that it was rough,” said Padres director Mike Shildt, “really rough. It left a very bad taste and a real void because there was so much investment. This feeling will never disappear.
“We can win the next two or three world series, and it will always be there. But I’m glad it is there for me, and I’m glad it is there for our group.
“We were there. We had them. I do not want to dwell on it to the point where it goes beyond me or us, but there is an advantage which is there now and an eager for us to compete. ”
The Dodgers, who had lost eight of the 13 regular season games against the paadres, echo the same feelings, believing all along that the paadres would be the greatest threat to their title World Series. They have been proven to be correct, blundering the New York dishes in the NLC and crossing the Yankees in the World Series for the title.
“This series against the paadres,” said the dodgers, Michael Kopech, “was the most intense series of all time. They were so good. If we had lost against them, I am convinced that they would have been those who will win the World Series. ”
Without a doubt, the real series of the world last season was this NL division series, the one that the dodgers continue to celebrate, and which will forever haunt the paadres.
“I hate losing, I really do it,” said USA Today Sports. “We had them. We had them. But we failed. When you lose against the champions, it stings. You see them winning everything, it’s like: “Damn, it could have been us, right?”
“You soak it, and after that, you have to return the switch. You have no choice. But it is the beauty of baseball. Tips become more difficult every year. That’s why I love this game so much, it makes you hungry. ”
Said Xander Bogaerts, who goes from the second goal to the Copstrame. “I mean, it stinks. We had a very good luck. A great chance. I thought we were a better team. We just didn’t win. ”
Padres are convinced that they can be back and meet the dodgers again in the playoffs, but there is also a cruel verification of reality. The Dodgers went out and spent $ 450 million during the winter and will have the highest payroll in 390 million dollars. The days of free wheel spending of the Padres have stopped while trying to keep their scheduled wages of $ 207 million below the luxury tax threshold, spending only $ 8.5 million in free agent contracts for the 2025 season. They did not seriously try to keep the free agents at Jorickson ProFar, Tanner Scott, Ha-Seong Kim, Higashioka and Donovan Solano. They were crushed when 23 -year -old Japanese sensation Roki sasaki I chose the dodgers on them, despite Yu Darvish and the former Japanese star Hideo Nomo, making convincing arguments for San Diego at their meeting.
There was even afraid of having to exchange the starters Dylan stops or Michael King or the triple champion of the strikers Luis Arraez. Instead, they are not only in a paadres uniform, but they signed the veteran Nick Pivetta to a $ 55 million contract over four years. This gave the paadres a huge confidence that they can return to the playoffs, giving them at least one further stress, King and Arraz share as free agents after the season, with 845 million dollars remaining on contracts for Machado, Fernando Tatis and Xander Bogaerts.
“I think it’s really an exciting period to be a paddor, and I’m just grateful to help them continue what they have done here,” Pivetta said, who has spent the last four full seasons with the Boston Red Sox. “There is a lot of hunger in the clubhouse. I watched their series against the Dodgers. It’s fun to see these two organizations getting each other with each other. ”
It is the version of South California of the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry, but perhaps in a more difficult division.
“Our division is now by far the best division of baseball,” said Machado. “Back. We have four teams that could make the playoffs.
“The dodgers are (bleeping) good, guy. But we are delighted to shoot them. There is nothing better than having a championship team in your division that you can eliminate. ”
Padres realize that they must take a rear seat at the star range of Dodgers. They do not have a nine potential starters and five closers on their pitch staff. They are not Scheduled to win 103 gamesOr even approach 93.
“But no one has chosen us to do what we did last year either,” said Bogaerts. “We were one of the best baseball teams at the end of the season.”
In addition, when the paadres gathered last spring, they didn’t really know what they had either. They exchanged stars Juan Soto. They didn’t know who closed. They did not know who completed their rotation. They did not know how Jackson Merrill would get out in the outside or bogaerts on the second goal. And they had a new manager at Shildt.
However, they were there, almost winning the NL West, and frightening the daytime fires of the Dodgers.
“Last year it almost seemed that we had to find our identity,” said King. “You have just exchanged one of the best baseball players (SOTO). (Yu) Darvish and Joe (Musgrove) and I were the constituent elements of the starting rotation, and I am a question mark because I had only nine starts. There were question points throughout the team.
“But then we started to register for a team, we had an impressive deadline (acquire Scott and Jason Adams readers), and could have beat the dodgers. Thus, the confidence that you get this translates into this year.
“Obviously, we have unfinished business, but it’s much more fun to come to a wardrobe because you are in competition in a very good team instead of just seeing if we are going to be a very good team.”
Padres still have question points at the back of their rotation, their depth of enclosure and their alignment. We do not know if this is not the case where the king will always be with them on the day of opening. Ultra-aggressive GM AJ Preller continues to listen to commercial offers on Cess and King so as to lose pay while remaining competitive.
But there is a strong conviction that the paadres will take immediately in October.
“It is not necessarily confidence in what we are going to do,” said Machado, “but the confidence we have on each other. We know each other so well. We just have to go there and compete and be on the same wavelength. When you are not on the same wavelength, you have individuals who do things differently, and that leads you in the wrong direction. ”
The paadres certainly crossed this in 2023, having the most talent and the largest baseball stars, but fell completely flat and missed the playoffs. They separated from the manager Bob Melvin who left for San Francisco and exchanged Soto to the Yankees. A year later, they won 93 games, lost the NL West by only five games against the Dodgers and gave them everything they could manage.
Now here they are with fundamentally the same nucleus, hoping that the $ 2 million peloton of Conner Joe and Jason Heyward can replace ProFar in the left field, and a GM with a relaxation finger to remove something big.
“AJ is a ready man,” said Machado. “AJ will do anything to help us win now. He has always done so since I got here. You know he’s going to make some movements.
“We are in a good place, guy, and we are going to go for this thing. You will see. ”
In addition, there were more uncertainties a year ago than at that time. The paadres did not know that the recruit Jackson Merrill, who had never played at the Field Center before in his career, would become a star. Cessing was still used by the Chicago White Sox until the end of spring. Arraez played for the Miami marlins until May. Closer, Robert Suarez had only one career stop. And Machado, recovering from an elbow operation, was limited to DH’s tasks.
So why not believe again?
The Padres believe that the experience of last season will be beneficial. They know what to expect now. They know the urgency of every moment. And they know the pain of the speed with which it can end.
“Listen, we competed, we did not decide anyone, and the moment was not too big for anyone,” said Shildt. “We are now in a place where there is a firm base, a clear identity and a real conviviality. We have no more confidence with confidence.
“We have unfinished business and we are hungry to have this opportunity again.
“Really, we can’t wait.”
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