Dodgers Win World Series in 2020 COVID Season

Social distancing restrictions were still in place for COVID-19 for this game at Dodger Stadium on May 29, 2021. (Photograph by Scott Carter.)

 

The Los Angeles Dodgers began the 2020 regular season – finally – on July 23. A worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with prolonged negotiations on how the games could safely be played, delayed Opening Day by nearly four months. Not until summer had taken hold and August was nearly a week away did major-league baseball finally start, albeit not in the typical fashion

Dodger Stadium sat nearly empty as the home team met its longtime rival the San Francisco Giants. No one hailed the beer man or ordered even a single Dodger Dog. Rather than 50,000 fans filing into the ballpark and cheering for big hits and strikeout pitches, “a few thousand” cardboard cutouts – featuring photos of fans or, in some cases, the dogs and cats of fans – filled the seats, including those of Hollywood celebrities Mary Hart, George Lopez, Rob Lowe, and Bryan Cranston.1

Los Angeles Times columnist Bill Plaschke wrote about this most unusual of openers. “The coronavirus transformed this traditionally festive occasion into something that felt like a sandlot game played in the middle of a ghost town. There was no joyous noise. There was no popcorn smell. There was none of the annual sweaty buzz of a crowded concourse celebrating a spring rebirth.”2

Keith Williams sang “a wonderful national anthem,” Plaschke continued, but instead of standing next to home plate, “he was a mere speck somewhere beyond the center field fence.” During a pregame ceremony, players stood six feet apart – socially distanced – on the foul lines, and “instead of waving to a crowd that wasn’t there, they mostly looked down at their hands.” Even the ever-upbeat Los Angeles third baseman Justin Turner acknowledged, “There’s a lot of strange going on right now.”3

Several months earlier, in December 2019, “a cluster of patients” in Wuhan, China, underwent treatment for a pneumonia-like illness. On January 7, 2020, Chinese public health officials blamed the outbreak on a “novel coronavirus.” The World Health Organization (WHO) began referring to the virus as 2019 nCoV or COVID 19. By January 19 four countries (China, Thailand, Japan, and South Korea) had reported coronavirus cases. On February 6 Patricia Dowd of San Jose, California, became the first US resident to die from COVID-19.4

Worldwide COVID deaths reached 1,013 on February 10,5 the date pitchers and catchers reported to spring training in Arizona and Florida. Other players reported February 14, and Cactus League and Grapefruit League games began on February 22. Six days later, WHO officials elevated the global COVID-19 threat level from “high” to “very high.”6

The Dodgers arrived at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona, with hopes of winning a World Series for the first time since 1988, the year of pitcher Orel Hershiser’s magical run and Kirk Gibson’s epic homer off Oakland A’s reliever Dennis Eckersley. Los Angeles secured a pennant but lost the World Series in 2017 to the Houston Astros and in 2018 to the Boston Red Sox. In 2019 the Dodgers won 106 games before losing the Division Series to the eventual champion Washington Nationals.

LA had traded for one of baseball’s superstars on February 10. The Red Sox sent outfielder Mookie Betts along with pitcher David Price to Los Angeles in exchange for outfielder Alex Verdugo, catching prospect Connor Wong, and infield prospect Jeter Downs. Betts, a six-year veteran and four-time All-Star, won the American League MVP award in 2018, the year he posted a 10.7 Baseball-Reference WAR. Dylan Hernandez wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “The Dodgers heard the cries of their fans, and now they have an all-world outfielder in Mookie Betts. … A franchise that valued roster balance finally splurged on a superstar.”7

By March 11, the number of COVID-19 cases had reached 118,000 in 114 countries, with 4,291 deaths. The WHO declared a COVID-19 pandemic.8 Most of the sports world shut down over the next few days. The NBA and NHL suspended their seasons, while the NCAA canceled both the men’s and women’s basketball tournaments as well as the College World Series, still nearly three months away.

Major League Baseball decided on March 12 to delay the 2020 season by at least two weeks. The Dodgers kept their spring-training complex open although players could go home if they chose. Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, said team employees based in Los Angeles should begin telecommuting. He expected Dodger Stadium renovation work to continue.9

On March 16 MLB pushed back the start of the regular season until mid-May at the earliest. Over the next few weeks, series planned for 2020 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and in London were canceled.10

The federal government discouraged gatherings of 10 people or more, and restaurants and bars closed. Nonessential workers stayed away from the office. Government officials wanted “as few people as possible in close contact with one another in order to slow the pandemic.” On March 22 the New York Times reported, “The United States is already falling into deep contraction: It is producing far fewer goods and services now than it did a month or a quarter ago.”11 The next day, the World Health Organization reported 300,000 COVID-19 cases worldwide.12 By March 25, the United States had recorded nearly 55,000 cases, with 781 deaths.13

Dodgers infielder Max Muncy and his wife, Kellie, binge-watched Lost and other TV programs during the quarantine. Ace pitcher Walker Buehler and his future brothers-in-law completed some remodeling projects, while utility man Chris Taylor did a little surfing. Manager Dave Roberts shucked 100 oysters as part of a belated Mother’s Day present for his wife, Tricia.

Betts bought groceries for customers at a Nashville, Tennessee supermarket and pizza for employees. He also worked with a nonprofit to help people obtain face masks, hand sanitizers, and similar products.14

On May 26, a COVID-19 testing site opened at Dodger Stadium. About 6,000 Angelenos could be tested there every day, making it three times larger than any other testing site in Los Angeles County. Mayor Eric Garcetti said, “Dodger Stadium is a place where Angelenos usually rally around a common goal of victories on the field – and today it is uniting us around a mission to save lives.”15

Negotiations had begun in mid-May between MLB and the Players Association on how to complete a modified, shortened season. The two sides debated COVID testing frequency, protections for high-risk players, and sanitation protocols. Players, for instance, wanted to shower at the ballpark, something owners worried might spread the virus.16

Arguments also broke out over the proposed length of the season. Owners wanted a sprint – maybe just 50 games – while the players hoped for something much longer. In mid-June, Commissioner Rob Manfred said, “I’m not confident” about a season starting. Tom Goldman, a sports reporter for National Public Radio, said players were “through trading proposals. They’re angry. … Players don’t like (a 50-game season). They want more games, which translates to more money.”17

On June 23 a 60-game schedule was approved, plus an expanded postseason to include 16 teams. No fans would be allowed at games. Spring training “2.0,” or, as some called it, “summer camp,” would begin July 1, and players would earn a prorated amount of their full salary, or 37 percent for a 60-game schedule. (The Players Association had proposed a 114-game season on May 31 and, after the owners’ rejection, countered June 9 with an 89-game season. The owners also had wanted to pay players 70 percent of their prorated salaries due to financial worries because of all those empty seats.)18

Games would be played using the minor-league rule for extra innings, having a runner on second base to begin each half-frame. That runner would be the player who made the final out the previous inning. A designated hitter would be used in all games.

Each side agreed to several health and safety protocols – no high-fives, hugs, or fist bumps, and no chewing or spitting tobacco or sunflower seeds. Baserunners, fielders, umpires, and coaches would be required – as much as possible – to keep safe social distances from one another.19 Players also agreed to have their temperatures checked multiple times every day and be tested for COVID-19 several times a week. Anyone testing positive would be quarantined until they had two negative tests.

Eager to get going, players reported to Dodger Stadium “in waves” on July 3.20 First, their temperatures were taken. Once on the field, they were separated into three groups. Dave Roberts wore a mask throughout the practice, as did all the team’s coaches. Dodgers President Stan Kasten expected the season to proceed unless the number of positive COVID tests surpassed “an acceptable level of incidents.”21 Later that day, MLB canceled the 2020 All-Star Game, scheduled for Dodger Stadium. Baseball awarded the 2022 game to the Dodgers.

In late June, the Dodgers had submitted a list of 51 players eligible for the 2020 MLB season. The list included everyone on the 40-man roster plus all the non-roster invitees. Players not on the active roster were assigned to the team’s alternate site at the University of Southern California, about six miles from Dodger Stadium, where they could get individual instruction from a handful of coaches and stay fresh if needed on the Dodgers. (MLB canceled the minor-league season on June 30.)

Not surprisingly, some players around the league opted out of the 2020 season. Among them were Giants catcher Buster Posey, Nationals third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, and the Dodgers’ Price, who released a statement through social media that read in part, “I have decided it is in the best interest of my health and my family’s health for me not to play this season.”22

Inevitably, there was talk that any World Series won in such a shortened season would be a “diminished” championship. Turner and Clayton Kershaw disagreed. “People are going to say whatever they’re going to say, but if there’s an opportunity to win a championship, we’re going to show up every day and work toward that goal,” Turner said.23 Kershaw said, “To say there’s an asterisk on it or things like that, I don’t think that’s fair. … I think if you win this season, it’s going to feel good no matter what.”24

Although MLB gave permission for radio crews to travel, the Dodgers opted to keep all their broadcasters in Los Angeles. Joe Davis would do television play-by-play for most of the games, while Hershiser would offer his analysis, at Dodger Stadium. The pair would call games off a universal monitor that they would not manage, “giving them little control over where to steer the broadcast.” Davis said, “How can you call it with conviction? I don’t know.”25

Charley Steiner and Rick Monday would handle radio broadcast chores, Steiner doing play-by-play and Monday providing analysis. Rather than sitting side by side in a ballpark broadcast booth as they had in past years, Steiner would work games from his home in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, while Monday and producer Duane McDonald would be stationed at Dodger Stadium. “I’m a low-hanging curveball in the day of COVID-19,” said Steiner, who was 71 years old and diabetic. The Dodgers built Steiner a makeshift booth at his house, complete with three flat-screen televisions, including one with a feed from the TV broadcast truck. Early on, Steiner said, “I’m doing something in my career that I never thought humanly or technically possible.”26

Many wondered what a major-league game would look like without fans. More to the point, what would it sound like? Quiet. Maybe too quiet. “There’s going to be crowd noise pumped in, but it’s not going to be the same,” Joe Davis said. “I don’t think there’s any way for anybody to truly appreciate how weird it’s going to be.”27 Buehler worried that the broadcasts might pick up his salty language from the pitcher’s mound.28

Tim Neverett shifted between television and radio broadcasts. A native New Englander, Neverett joined the Dodgers broadcast team in 2019. During the quarantine, while hiking near the White Mountains in northern New Hampshire, with his wife, Jess, he decided to chronicle the 2020 baseball season, whenever it began. “I said (to Jess) ‘I think I should journal it every day because it’s going to be such a unique experience.”29 That journaling turned into the book Covid Curveball, published by Permuted Press in 2021.

On July 22, the day before the season began, Betts signed a 12-year contract extension worth $365 million, including a $65 million signing bonus. “I’m here to bring back some rings to LA,” Betts told the Times. “I know that the Dodgers are going to be good for a long time.”30

Betts went 1-for-5 against the Giants with a single and run scored in his Los Angeles debut. He struck out twice. Dustin May, a young fireballer with a shock of curly red hair, got the starting pitching assignment for the Dodgers in place of an injured Kershaw. The Dodgers broke a 1-1 tie with five runs in the seventh inning and two more in the eighth to win 8-1. Enrique “Kiké” Hernández, who knocked a two-run single in the seventh, added a two-run homer the following inning. During a pregame video conference call, Justin Turner had said, “This is a day that if I’m being completely honest, I wasn’t 100 percent sure we were going to see happen this year.”31

The next day the Dodgers won 9-1. Turner, Muncy, and Will Smith each drove home two runs. Ross Stripling pitched seven innings and struck out seven. The Giants got even over the next two days, taking both games.

As fate and schedule makers made it, the Dodgers began their first road trip of the shortened season in Houston. On November 12, 2019, The Athletic broke a story that confirmed many rumors: The Astros illegally stole signs throughout the 2017 season and the postseason, including against the Dodgers in the World Series.32 Houston’s general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A.J. Hinch were suspended for the 2020 season. No players were disciplined, and MLB decided against vacating the Astros’ World Series title.

Thanks to a five-run fifth inning, the Dodgers won the first game, 5-2. A benches-clearing exchange broke out in the sixth inning after Los Angeles reliever Joe Kelly threw some close pitches to Houston infielder Carlos Correa, one of the culprits named in the cheating scandal. “The sequence was a reminder that that the Dodgers were not going to let the Astros’ cheating in 2017 slide,” Jorgé Castillo wrote in the LA Times.33 Los Angeles won the second game, 4-2, in 13 innings on an Edwin Rios two-run homer.

Being on the road meant taking extra precautions. There was no going out to restaurants after games. Instead, players called on hotel room service for meals. “We are doing what we can to make this season happen,” outfielder Joc Pederson said. “Wearing mask and gloves on the plane is one thing. Don’t use the remote control or pick up the phone at the hotel is another. We have to take every precaution to stay safe. … Some people think this thing (COVID-19) is fake, but it is definitely real.”34 Players were being tested for the virus every 48 hours. Through July 24, only the Miami Marlins had any positive tests.35

The Dodgers won five of the remaining seven games on the trip, facing the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. Kershaw made his 2020 season debut on August 2 and looked great on the road versus Arizona. He threw 5⅔ shutout innings and the Dodgers prevailed, 3-0.

Unfortunately, the number of COVID cases around MLB began to creep up. Another Marlins player tested positive for the virus as did two St. Louis Cardinals. The Philadelphia Phillies also had some positive tests. Commissioner Manfred told Tony Clark, head of the Players Association, “Get your players in line now or we risk having to shut the season down.” The Dodgers “re-emphasized the rules” and decided to go “above and beyond MLB’s protocol.” Offensive coaches could not remain in the dugout while the Dodgers were in the field, and defensive coaches could not be there when the team was batting. A player not in the game could not sit in the dugout.36

LA knocked off the Padres 11-2 on August 13 as Betts belted three home runs, added a single, and had five RBIs. Mookie also scored four times. It was the sixth three-homer game of Betts’s career, tying him with Sammy Sosa and Johnny Mize for the most ever. “I put in so much work,” Betts told the Times. “I work a lot. To see some success is definitely a sigh of relief. But I have a lot more work to do.”37 Los Angeles improved to 13-7 and moved into a virtual tie with the Rockies for first place. Neverett could sense some tension evolving in this season. “One win equals 2.7 wins in a normal season,” he wrote in Covid Curveball. “A single loss is like 2.7 losses. Many games now, even without fans in the stands, can have a postseason feel.”38

Neverett stayed during the two-month season at the downtown Bonaventure Hotel. Rick Monday, a Florida resident in the offseason, set up his home away from home much closer to the ballpark. The former big-league outfielder (241 career home runs for the Dodgers and other teams) rented an RV in 2020 and – with the team’s permission – parked it outside Dodger Stadium.

Often, Neverett and Monday pulled up some chairs outside the RV and enjoyed a beer or two after the game. At least one time, a coyote joined the party, or at least wandered onto the parking lot and looked Neverett right in the eye. “I found it weird that I was standing, basically a long par five from downtown Los Angeles, but there was a coyote just hanging out close to the stadium having a staring contest with me,” he wrote. Coyotes roam around in the upper reaches of the hills surrounding the ballpark. “Rick Monday can hear the coyotes howling every night from his camper in Lot E, he tells me,” Neverett wrote. “He hears the owls also, but he tells me the sprinklers coming on and hitting the side of his camper at 4:30 a.m. is the only sound that bothers him.”39

Neverett explained some of the difficulties in broadcasting baseball games during the year of COVID. “It was challenging in a lot of ways, mostly when the team was on the road,” he said. “We had very limited contact with the players. There were some prearranged opportunities with a player or two pregame on Zoom and then we had a manager’s meeting on Zoom each day. We could not go on the field, in the dugout or near the clubhouse. … With empty stadiums and artificial crowd noise and cardboard cutouts of fans (we only saw the backs of them, and they were all plain white pieces of cardboard), it was really hard to replicate what it feels like to be in a stadium with fans. It was artificial, but it was the best we had and what we had to deal with.”40

The Dodgers ended the first half of their schedule by knocking off the Rockies, 11-3, on August 23 and improving to 22-8. Betts drove home three runs, as did Hernández. The game was dedicated in memory of former Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant on what would have been his 42nd birthday. Bryant had died in a helicopter crash on January 26 in Calabasas, California, along with his 13-year-old daughter, Gianna, and seven others.

“Bryant was ever present from the start,” Jack Harris wrote in the Times. Highlights of his basketball career were posted on the Dodger Stadium scoreboard between innings. Former Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully narrated a pregame video tribute. “We lost Kobe a little too soon,” “Kiké” Hernández said. “For us to be a part of something like that before the game is really meaningful. I’m glad that we … were able to win that game for him. It’s probably one that I’ll always remember.”41

Over the next 15 games, six at home and nine on the road, the Dodgers went 10-5 and improved to 32-13 but led the NL West by just 3½ games over the San Diego Padres. The Astros came to town for a two-game series starting September 12, and Dodgers fans greeted them as expected. Many stood near the ballpark entrance on Vin Scully Avenue, off Sunset Boulevard, and banged trashcans as the Houston team buses rolled by. Some fans held signs mocking the former champions. Dave Roberts supported the protest. “I loved it. I loved it,” he said. “I think they have every right to do whatever they feel to express their feelings, and I thought it was great.”42 The Dodgers lost the first game, 7-5, and won the second, 8-1. Chris Taylor drove in a combined five runs.

As he had the past few years, Taylor often stuck his hands into the air and shook his fingers following a hit, acting as though his hands hurt from being jammed. Teammates in the dugout mimicked the gesture, which meant “barrels are overrated.” Taylor even shook his fingers after a hard hit. He did it more than ever in 2020. Other players did similar gestures. “That kind of stuff is important when there are no fans in the stands,” Taylor said. “We have to create energy somehow. That’s our way of making the game fun.”43

The regular season ended at home. LA won two out of three games against Oakland and took all three versus the Angels, prevailing in the finale, 5-0. A.J. Pollock hit two home runs and May earned his third win.

The Dodgers finished with a major-league-best 43-17 won-lost record (a 116-win pace over a 162-game schedule). They won the NL West by six games over the runner-up Padres. Pollock and Betts tied for the team lead with 16 home runs, while Corey Seager led in RBIs (41) and matched Turner for the highest batting average (.307). Kershaw won the most games (six), struck out the most batters (62), and posted the lowest ERA among starters (2.16). Kenley Jansen saved the most games (11).

“For 60 games, (the Dodgers) plowed through the opponents placed in front of them, inferior foes west of the Mississippi in both leagues, from beginning to end, and avoided a Covid-19 outbreak to complete the demolition without a hitch,” Jorgé Castillo wrote in the LA Times. Even so, Pollock said, just a few paragraphs later, “When the season’s closed out, and we start the playoffs, none of it means anything and we start over, and everything goes back to zero.”44

The Dodgers began their postseason run at home, where they won the first two games of a best-of-three Wild Card Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Betts drove in three of LA’s seven total runs. After that, it was off to Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, the first-year home of the Texas Rangers.

Baseball had decided in early September to schedule the later postseason rounds in neutral-site “bubbles” as a way to limit travel and protect players’ health. According to reporter Matt Snyder, MLB wanted to “avoid teams playing in their actual homes.”45 That made Globe Life an ideal choice. The Rangers struggled throughout the 2020 season and finished in fifth place. Dodger Stadium meanwhile, hosted one other playoff series in 2020, an American League Division Series between the Houston Astros, of all teams, and the Oakland A’s. Houston prevailed three games to one.46

The Dodgers’ traveling contingent, which included family members in some cases, spent 25 straight days at the Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas. Once again, snacks and meals were ordered through room service. According to reporter Pedro Moura, “Players could swim, play ping-ping, play video games, play cornhole.” They could not, however, play golf on the resort’s immaculate course. Instead, they “convened on one balcony (overlooking the 18th hole), chipped balls toward the hole, and asked a young player to scamper out undetected and recover them.”47

LA beat the Padres in the NL Division Series and edged the Atlanta Braves in the league Championship Series. Muncy hit two home runs and had six RBIs in seven games against Atlanta pitching. A socially-distanced crowd watched the action. Approximately 11,500 tickets went on sale for each game at Globe Life, which seats 40,300.48

The Dodgers took six games to knock off the American League champion Tampa Bay Rays in the World Series, again at Globe Life, and once again in front of a sparce crowd.49 Seager batted .400 with two home runs and earned Most Valuable Player honors. “This team was incredible all throughout the year, all throughout the postseason, all throughout (the quarantine),” Seager said. “We never stopped.” Kershaw said, “I’ve been saying ‘World Series champs’ in my head over and over again.”50

As for asterisks, Roberts said, “There should not be an asterisk. I stand by that.”51 Times sportswriter Jack Harris pointed out that while the season was shorter than ever, the playoffs were longer. No team had ever won 13 games in one postseason.52 Also, while Dodgers boasted the game’s best record, they got none of the benefits (no home-field advantage, for instance, with a full ballpark and a raucous crowd). “There was less travel, but more stress,” Harris wrote. The Dodgers won a championship while a global health crisis raged. “I think for us, off the field was a bigger challenge,” Kiké Hernández said. A native of Puerto Rico, Hernández hadn’t seen his family “in a really long time. … Besides baseball, the most challenging part was dealing with the daily life as it is.”53

Baseball went back to a 162-game schedule in 2021, with some restrictions still in place for the early going. Before the home opener on April 9, the Dodgers held a ring ceremony with a limited, sold-out crowd of 15,036 (and no cardboard cutouts). Players were introduced by their childhood baseball heroes, who presented special messages on the video board. Jimmy Rollins introduced Betts, for instance, and Chase Utley introduced outfielder Cody Bellinger.

Will Clark, former star first baseman for the Texas Rangers and other teams, introduced Kershaw, who grew up in the Dallas area. Presented his ring, the pitcher exclaimed, “Woo-hoo! Let’s see this thing!” He put on the championship jewelry – featuring 232 diamonds and 53 sapphires – and thrust his left fist into the sky as fans applauded.54

Dodger Stadium returned to full capacity on June 15. More than 52,000 attended a game pitting the home team against the Philadelphia Phillies. Betts went 3-for-5, drove in a pair of runs, and led the Dodgers to a 5-3 victory. Betts hadn’t played in front of fans at Dodger Stadium since he was with the Red Sox during the 2018 World Series. “Finally playing in a full Dodger Stadium on the right team is definitely something I’ve been looking forward to,” Betts said afterward. “And being able to play a good game was the cherry on top.”55

The Dodgers boasted a 106-56 won-loss mark in 2021 but still finished one game behind the Giants in the NL West. They beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-1, in the wild-card game and got their revenge by knocking off San Francisco in the Division Series. The Braves ended the Dodgers’ season in the NLCS, winning in six games. The Dodgers led the majors in regular-season home attendance with a mark of 2,804,693.

GLEN SPARKS has many fond memories of going to Dodger Stadium. While he now lives far away from California, he still follows the team that plays its home games in a ballpark that sits on a hill. Sparks is a graduate of the Santa Monica Little League program and has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Missouri. He worked at a newspaper for several years and wrote a full-length biography of Hall of Fame shortstop Pee Wee Reese, published in 2022 by McFarland. He has co-edited several books for SABR (including this one) and has written many articles. He is married to his wife, Pam.

 

Notes

1 Jorgé Castillo, “Betts Money in the Opener,” Los Angeles Times, July 24, 2020: B6.

2 Bill Plaschke, “It’s More Like an Echo Park,” Los Angeles Times, July 24, 2020: A1.

3 “It’s More Like an Echo Park.”

4 David Debolt, Fiona Kelliher, and Jason Green, “‘She Held the Family Together’: San Jose Woman Is First Known U.S. Covid-19 Death,” San Jose Mercury News, April 23, 2020, https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/23/she-held-the-family-together-san-jose-woman-is-first-known-u-s-covid-19-death/.

5 https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html.

6 Adriana Rodriguez, “Coronavirus Updates: WHO Increases Risk to ‘Very High,’ Tells Government to ‘Wake Up,’ USA Today, February 28, 2020.

7 Dylan Hernandez, “Dodgers Give Fans Star They Wanted,” Los Angeles Times, February 11, 2020: D1.

8 https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.ht.

9 Jorgé Castillo and Maria Torres, “MLB Players Are Allowed to Return Home,” Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2020: D6.

10 Dayn Perry, Katherine Acquavella, and R.J. Anderson, “Timeline of How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Impacted the 2020 Major League Baseball Season,” CBSSports.com, July 26, 2020. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/timeline-of-how-the-covid-19-pandemic-has-impacted-the-2020-major-league-baseball-season/.

11 Jim Tankersley, “The U.S. Shut Down Its Economy. Here’s What Needs to Happen in Order to Restart,” New York Times, March 22, 2020. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/us/politics/coronavirus-economy-shutdown.html.

12 “Coronavirus Timeline: Tracking the Critical Moments of Covid-19,” NBC.com, https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/coronavirus-timeline-tracking-critical-moments-covid-19-1154341.

13 “Coronavirus Timeline: Tracking the Critical Moments of Covid-19.”

14 Jorgé Castillo, “Playing Country Hardball,” Los Angeles Times, July 18, 2020: D2.

15 “Dodger Stadium Housing New Covid 19 Test Site,” MLB.com, May 26, 2020, https://www.mlb.com/news/dodger-stadium-housing-covid-19-test-site.

16 R.J. Anderson, “MLB Players Union Responds to Coronavirus Safety Proposal for 2020 Season,” cbssports.com, May 21, 2020, https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-players-union-responds-to-leagues-coronavirus-safety-proposal-for-2020-season/.

17 Tom Goldman, “Major League Baseball and Players Argue over the Start of the Season during Pandemic,” All Things Considered, NPR.org, June 16, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/16/878853031/major-league-baseball-and-players-argue-over-the-start-of-the-season-during-pand.

18 “MLB Players Union Responds to Coronavirus Safety Proposal for 2020 Season.”

19 For a look at how major-league umpires worked during the pandemic, see Bill Nowlin, “Major-League Umpiring during the Pandemic of 2020,” Baseball Prospectus, April 8, 2021. https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/66026/major-league-umpiring-during-the-pandemic-of-2020/.

20 Jorgé Castillo, “Finding It Hard to Mask Their Excitement,” Los Angeles Times, July 4, 2020: D5.

21 “Finding It Hard to Mask Their Excitement.”

22 Alden Gonzalez, “Dodgers Pitcher David Price Says He Won’t Play 2020 Season, ESPN.com, July 4, 2020, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/29410895/dodgers-pitcher-david-price-says-play-season.

23 Jorgé Castillo, “Dodgers Say Forget Asterisk,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2020: B7.

24 “Dodgers Say Forget Asterisk.”

25 Jorgé Castillo, “Pandemic Has Broadcasters on Road to Nowhere,” Los Angeles Times, July 19, 2020: B11.

26 Jorgé Castillo, “It’ll be a home run for Steiner,” Los Angeles Times, July 21, 2020: B7.

27 Castillo, “Pandemic Has Broadcasters on Road to Nowhere.”

28 Off Air with Joe and Orel podcast, May 21, 2020, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-7-walker-buehler-dodgers/id902521814?i=1000490177865.

29 “Los Angeles Dodgers Broadcaster Tim Neverett Chats About His Book ‘Covid Curveball,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MACevtip0XA.

30 Bill Plaschke, “L.A.’s New Contract Player,” Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2020: A1.

31 Plaschke, “It’s More Like an Echo Park.”

32 Ken Rosenthal and Evan Drelich, “The Astros Stole Signs Electronically in 2017 – Part of a Much Broader Issue in Major League Baseball,” The Athletic, November 12, 2019.

33 Jorgé Castillo, “Kelly’s Close Calls Lead to Benches-Clearing Spat,” Los Angeles Times, July 29, 2023: B6.

34 Tim Neverett, Covid Curveball: An Inside View of the 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers World Championship Season (New York: Permuted Press, 2021), 49.

35 Neverett, 49.

36 Neverett, 61.

37 Jack Harris, “Betts’ Smashing Night Leaves Mark,” Los Angeles Times, August 14, 2020: B7.

38 Neverett, 73.

39 Neverett, 77.

40 Twitter/X exchange between the author and Tim Neverett, December 3, 2023.

41 Jack Harris, “Dodgers’ Slam Show Honors Kobe,” Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2020: B9.

42 Jorgé Castillo, “Jansen Is No Relief for Dodgers,” Los Angeles Times, September 14, 2020: D3.

43 Off Air with Joe and Orel podcast, September 24, 2020, https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-24-chris-taylor-dodgers/id902521814?i=1000492397807.

44 Jorgé Castillo, “Finale Is Just the Beginning for Dodgers,” Los Angeles Times, September 28, 2020: D1.

45 Matt Snyder, “MLB considering two playoff bubbles and neutral-site World Series at Rangers’ Globe Life Field, per report,” cbssports.com, September 8, 2020. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-considering-two-playoff-bubbles-and-neutral-site-world-series-at-rangers-globe-life-field-per-report/

46 https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/2020_Postseason.

47 Pedro Moura, How to Beat a Broken Game: The Rise of the Dodgers in a League on the Brink (New York: Public Affairs, 2022), 198.

48 Mike Axisa, “MLB Will Allow Fans to Attend 2020 World Series, NLCS at Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field,” cbssports.com, https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-will-allow-fans-to-attend-2020-world-series-nlcs-at-texas-rangers-globe-life-field/.

49 The Dodgers went the entire 2020 season without a player testing positive for COVID-19 until the sixth game of the World Series. A lab doing the COVID-19 tests for Major League Baseball reported that Justin Turner’s test one day earlier was inconclusive. The result of Turner’s test on the day of Game Six was positive, and Turner was pulled from the game in the eighth inning. The popular third baseman later went back onto the field to join the celebration after the Dodgers won the Series against the Tampa Rays. ESPN, “Justin Turner of Los Angeles Dodgers Pulled from World Series after Positive COVID-19 Test,” ESPN.com, October 28, 2020, https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/30206824/justin-turner-los-angeles-dodgers-pulled-world-series-positive-covid-19-test.

50 Jorgé Castillo, “’We Won a World Series,’” Los Angeles Times, October 28, 2020: D2.

51 Jack Harris, “Shorter Season Didn’t Make Winning Title Easier,” Los Angeles Times, October 28, 2020: D6.

52 The Texas Rangers became the second team to win 13 games in a single postseason when they qualified as a wild card and went on to win the 2023 World Series. 2023 MLB playoff bracket: Scores, results as Rangers win first World Series with defeat of Diamondbacks – CBSSports.com.

53 “Shorter Season Didn’t Make Winning Title Easier.”

54 Mike DiGiovanna, “Dodgers Receive Rings That Are Fit for Kings,” Los Angeles Times, April 10, 2021: D4.

55 Bill Shaikin, “Huge Reopening Crowd Treated to Thrilling Win,” Los Angeles Times, June 21, 2021: B10.