What happened to the LA Dodgers?

[(vikm)]

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:

It's been a LONG time since the Dodgers were "the" Dodgers - since 1988, to be precise. We're talking about a franchise that produced FIVE CONSECUTIVE National League Rookies of the Year in the early '90s yet couldn't manage to make it past the first round of the playoffs in any of those years.

Between the organization's long-term failure to bring a championship back to L.A., the circus that is the McCourt divorce and the recent attack at Dodger Stadium that put a baseball fan into a long-term coma, a lot of Angelinos are seriously down on the Dodgers.

I think it's a bit of a stretch to say they haven't been the Dodgers since '88 but I can appreciate what you're trying to say.

Perhaps a lot are down on the team. Up until the last season or so, record ticket sales continued to show that there are more than enough still supporting the team even if others jumped ship (many bandwagoned to the Lakers when they were winning). It's clearly the McCourt issue along with the economy that has attendance down this year. Unorganized boycotts (which I can proudly say I'm partaking in) are having a great effect.

Just because the Dodgers haven't won a championship since '88 doesn't mean they've lost what made them great as an organization (regardless of the lack of production during years when stud ROY's were produced like Todd Hollandsworth ).

As a fan with Brooklyn ties living in LA and having been fortunate to see great things over the years at the Ravine (from Gross's no-hitter to Finley's granny) I've seen changes over the years. Admittedly, it's not the same as '88 but nothing is. I'd suggest it had more to do with the sale of the team by O'Malley years later than anything else. They are still the Dodgers, though. At least to me and millions of others they are. As I mentioned, their history alone will allow them to continue on being "The Dodgers" barring any further destruction in years to come.