Merry Christmas to all our readers! To say that 2021 was a roller coaster of a season would be an understatement. The return from the first World Championship in decades saw injuries rip through the roster the whole year, but the team still gave us plenty of excitement with a courageous playoff run.
As 2022 approaches, there’s a similar sense of uncertainty as the previous two seasons. This time around, though, fans contend with the threat of the first work stoppage in over 25 years. While neither the players nor the owners seem to be budging as the calendar changes to a new year, everyone remains hopeful for an agreement before Opening Day.
No question, the Dodgers have one of the most dedicated fan bases in baseball, even during a transaction freeze. Because of your constant support in this space, we’ll be embarking on our eighth year of operation. If it wasn’t for the loyalty of our dedicated fanbase, we would probably have fizzled out many years ago.
For sure, it’s been a blessing to have an open canvas to share our thoughts and report news about our favorite team and its minor league affiliates. Both Andy and I feel privileged and humbled to have been here from the beginning. Because of the commitment from our audience, we continue to grow, establishing new viewing records with each passing year—even with all the madness in 2020 and 2021.
Personally, I would like to thank Andy and José for all their hard work. Admittedly, there was a point not so long ago when I thought about taking a sportswriting hiatus, but a few chats with Andy convinced me to hang around just a little longer.
We would like to extend thanks to our friends and supporters who invest so much time in providing their thoughts and insights in the comment sections. They have given us limitless ideas for stories; and there have been plenty of times when these folks have helped us correct quite a few oversights and inaccuracies. We’d be lost without you.
Special thanks also to our partner sites, who generously include our content and reporting while unselfishly spreading the word of the Dodgers to thousands of readers around the world. Without these relationships, our audience would be only a small percentage of what it is now.
Although there was a slight surge of signings before the CBA’s expiration at the beginning of the month, there’s still a lot of roster-building work to be done. While there’s a decent core of players already in place, there are still plenty of personnel decisions that need to be made once the league lifts the freeze.
As always, if anyone has a topic to recommend, a question about a post, an idea about improving our site or just a general inquiry, please contact us. And, if you haven’t been following our weekly baseball card giveaways, make sure you tune into our Twitter page each Sunday for all the action.
In addition, if there are any aspiring writers out there who’d like to share their thoughts on this site, please reach out to us.
Here’s to hoping all our viewers have a fantastic start to 2022 and that the Dodgers make yet another strong postseason run.
Happy Holidays Dennis, Andy and Jose. Thanks so much for keeping this site going. We’ve had a few new commenters lately and I hope that 2022 will bring even more new voices.
A special thanks for keeping this place an oasis of civility. It’s great to have a place where we can share and exchange ideas without insulting each other.
Happy Holidays to everyone. Dennis, thank you, Andy, and Jose for your insightful articles on the Dodgers. Also thank you to the people that comment on this site they are very knowledgeable have a passion for baseball and the Dodgers, Happy Holidays to Bear, Jeff, Scoop, and the other people that make this a fun blog to read and have a dialogue with our comments. It doesn’t matter if people agree with my comments it is the dialogue and trading guesses, and that is all anyone can do is make a WAG on what the Dodgers are thinking and planning to do.
For Next Year I am hoping baseball can agree quickly to a new CBA and we can have Spring Training Baseball. I am not hopeful for it but that is my wish…
Happy Holidays Tmax.
Here’s hoping your wish comes true.
Read an article this week that stated in a poll of 20 something Baseball Execs and managers none of them believed Bauer would pitch in the MLB possibly ever but not for the next year or two. I had initially thought he was gone but then as the DA has not pressed charges and with some of the recent decisions from the MLB I thought the Dodgers would have the unenviable decision to either let Bauer Pitch or pay him off and take the HUGE hit to their budget.
Now I am uncertain and like everyone else hoping the DA does SOMETHING so baseball can then interview Bauer and make a decision…
Totally ridiculous that it’s taken the DA so long to decide what they plan to do.
I sincerely hope everyone had a great Christmas. Despite the wet weather ours was great. I hope the powers that be in the MLB and MLBPA get their stuff together and end this nonsense. My Christmas list includes a great rebound year for Belli, health for the entire team, the Bauer mess resolved once and for all and Freddie Freeman in Dodger blue. I don’t think that is too much to ask for. Merry Christmas to all the writers and posters here.
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday, my three grandsons are here with me, so life is great.
Many thanks to Dennis, Andy, and Jose for having a place for all of us Dodger fans to read and talk with each other.
Heading home to Colorado next Monday. It has been a nice visit here.
Have a safe trip home Bear. Sorry we couldn’t get you nicer weather while you were here.
The good news is as soon as you get back, the strike will be settled. Well maybe not right away but definitely within the next 6 months or so.
Thanks Jeff. Yeah, within 6 months is about right
A little light reading on the history of Christmas.
https://www.history.com/topics/christmas/history-of-christmas
What comes first, a baseball agreement or a Bauer decision? Neither looks looming.
Game after game effected by Covid. I got a buddy who believes we will all get it eventually. It’s evolving. We aren’t.
I endure winter. Have for decades. Getting less patient with it every year.
Thanks for the link, Scoop. Taught me a few things I hadn’t known previously and I subscribed to the newsletter.
I’m expecting a Bauer decision, at least by the D.A. if not MLB, before the CBA is finalized. I absolutely can’t figure out why this has taken so long. If they haven’t been able to figure it out by now, they should all resign. Sounds like politics/economics/favors are involved here somehow.
You say you are “enduring” winter. My good man, you live in Orange County where there is no winter. How would you like to be enduring winter in North Dakota? Or for that matter, in PA, where Dennis and Andy hang out? Now that I’ve taken you to task, I’m going to stay inside all day so I don’t get rained on. I’ve gotten extremely lazy and fragile in my golden years. At least I’ll be comforted by the fact I won’t be shoveling snow off my driveway tomorrow.
I lived 7 years in NW Wisconsin. Left there in late 2003. Lived in Northern California for decades and Northern Arizona for 11 years. Yes, winters here in SoCal are easy compared to that, but it’s cool and very wet here and, there is no baseball in winter.
The older I’ve gotten the less tolerant I’ve become to cold. I’m a shorts and t-shirt guy, sitting here now in sweats under a blanket.
I just heard the Sierras might set a record for snowfall but it will only put a dent in the drought. Apparently we need a few consecutive years of this to fix our problem.
Sweats and a blanket sounds very familiar to me.
But hang in there, before you know it you’ll be in shorts and a tee shirt again and they’ll be playin’ ball. Of course that will be 2023 but time flies at our age.
I read somewhere the DA should make an announcement sometime first quarter 2022. I doubt the CBA will get signed until it delays or cancels Spring Training although I hope I am wrong.
On the Covid front my best friend is in charge of a Hospital in LA County. He told me last night they admitted 29 Covid patients, they all had Omicron. Some of the people had been vaccinated but no boosters. They have not had any patients die that have been fully vaccinated. He told me to keep up with vaccinations as Omicron is incredibly contagious although not quite as lethal in symptoms. But he said what if the next variant is like Omicron only more deadly? Be careful out there. Like most of you I am older, 70. I worked too long & hard too throw away my last years by not being smart. I want to see more of the world and Dodgers. Hang in there.
” Like most of you I am older, 70. I worked too long & hard too throw away my last years by not being smart. I want to see more of the world and Dodgers. Hang in there.”
My thoughts exactly, but better said.
Has Worpress changed? I can no longer “Like” a comment unless I go through an extra sign in process. Both from my computer running Firefox or my iPhone running 15.1 IOS.
At 70 you may be one of the younger guys here, Tmax. 🙂
Don’t worry about the “Like” function. I know you love everything I say anyway.
I totally love everything you write jefe! You da man. Yeah, T-Max is a mere yout as they would say in Brooklyn….LOL….Happy New Year to to you all. I am leaving the land of the left and returning to the caring arms of the Rockie Mountains. Where Rocky Mountain high has a whole different meaning……..
Thanks for the nice words Bear. The lower elevation of L.A. must have adversely affected your ability to distinguish good writing from bad.