The Los Angeles Dodgers Are in the Postseason Again, but Will Their Fans Get Invested in the Plot?

LOS ANGELES — Stacks of Los Angeles Dodgers National League West division championship baseball caps have been sitting on the shelves of the team store at Dodger Stadium for nearly three weeks now, collecting dust. As fans trickle in and out on a midweek afternoon, looking for gear to buy before Game 1 of the NL Division Series on Saturday against the Arizona Diamondbacks, they walk past the shelves as if they are filled with plant-based hot dogs and unsalted potato chips.

“I don’t want to buy a division championship hat; I want to buy a World Series championship hat,” said Frank Lopez, a lifelong Dodgers fan and contractor from Los Angeles. “I don’t want to commemorate another season where we fell short again if we don’t win it all. I’ll wait.”

An Instagram post of the $39.99 caps on the store’s official Instagram page only has two comments. The first one reads, “Who buys these? Division Champs don’t mean (poop emoji). Sorry not sorry.” The second reads, “Don’t really like those hats.”

You’ll have to excuse Dodgers fans if they aren’t throwing the team a parade for winning 100 games and a division title, which would be cause for celebration in most cities. 

The Dodgers are in the midst of an unprecedented run in the franchise’s storied history. They have won the National League West division title 10 of the past 11 seasons and will play in their 11th straight NLDS this weekend. They have won at least 100 games in the past four complete seasons and were on pace to win a record-tying 116 games in the pandemic-shortened season in 2020, when they won their only World Series since 1988 in the distant Texas “bubble” where they also played the NLDS and NLCS. Last season, they won 111 games, the most by an MLB team in over 20 years, but lost to the 89-win San Diego Padres in the NLDS.

As I left Petco Park in San Diego last year after the Padres defeated the Dodgers in three straight games and ended their season despite finishing 22 games behind them in the standings, I wondered if, at some point, the annual October letdowns would take its toll on Dodgers fans and a traditionally fickle Los Angeles sports fan base. As much as fans love watching the Dodgers during the regular season, was the pain and disappointment of another inevitable postseason collapse worth getting invested?

While the buzz of the first game of the postseason in Los Angeles isn’t quite what it has been in the past, attendance at Dodger Stadium is as strong as ever. The Dodgers averaged 47,371 fans per game this season, which is a slight dip from the 47,672 fans averaged for last year’s historic regular season, but it’s more than the team averaged in any season from 2008 to 2018. Saturday is a jam-packed sports day in Los Angeles and the cheapest ticket to see the Dodgers play Game 1 of the NLDS ($86) is more than the get-in price to see USC-Arizona football at the Coliseum ($60), UCLA-Washington State football at the Rose Bowl ($60) or Kings-Golden Knights hockey at Crypto.com Arena ($20) on the same day.

“Regardless if the Dodgers win or lose in the postseason, it is so special,” said Serena Sanchez, a Dodgers fan and healthcare worker from Los Angeles. “It’s October baseball! We as fans are so blessed to be able to get here year after year. The memories and experiences are priceless. My mindset going into the postseason now generally is less expectations, just vibes, no matter what, we ride until the end and will always bleed blue no matter what the outcome is. I always have to pray for the best, but also expect to have my heart broken again. It’s actually gotten easier.”

While Los Angeles has a reputation for being a fair-weather sports town, that is not the case with the city's two most beloved teams – the Dodgers and Lakers. They are 1 and 1A when it comes to the hearts of Los Angeles sports fans, and there is a Grand Canyon-sized chasm before you can debate the rest of the professional and collegiate teams on a list that fluctuates depending on how well they are doing. A Dodgers game, however, represents the beautiful diverse tapestry that makes up Los Angeles more than a Lakers game does. That is largely due to the cost and accessibility of tickets when you are playing 81 regular season games in a 56,000-seat stadium instead of 41 regular season games in a 20,000-seat arena.

Every Dodgers fan also has pre-game traditions and rituals when going to Dodger Stadium that makes the experience so much bigger than the result and brings them back season after season. For years, I would go to Phillipe’s, the inventor of the French dip sandwich, and get a beef dip prior to games with my dad. I later transitioned to the flaming margarita and taquitos at El Compadre down the street from the Dodger Stadium entrance.

It was at El Compadre this week where I found Dodgers season ticket holders Kenny Nutt and his wife, Heather, watching postseason baseball on TV while they waited for their Dodgers to take the field again. Kenny was wearing a Max Muncy jersey while Heather wore a Kike Hernandez jersey as they batted around the team’s chances this October over chips and salsa.

“I’m actually happier this season than I was last season,” Kenny said. “The expectations were too high last year and I think it went to their heads and they choked and lost to the Padres. This year, they seem more down-to-earth and they’re not thinking they’re all that. They’re playing together and you’re seeing the top guys like Mookie and Freddie having amazing seasons and you’re seeing other guys step up like J.D. Martinez, David Peralta, Miguel Rojas and Jason Heyward. If you take one of those guys out of the equation, they’re not where they are right now.”

Heather added, “It’s easy to be a Dodgers fan in the regular season and it has not always been easy to be a Dodgers fan in the postseason. But I think we have a good chance with this team. They don’t have that arrogance this year that I think they did last year. You can see the fans really getting behind this group.”

They aren’t alone in highlighting Martinez, Peralta, Rojas and Heyward, all players who were on other teams last season, as reasons they think this team might be able to do what past Dodgers teams could not. While the Dodgers have been prohibitive favorites in recent years, making anything less than a World Series title feel like a failure, that was not the case this season. After losing Trea Turner, Justin Turner and Cody Bellinger, and not making any big moves, the Dodgers were expected to win about 90 games, finish second in the division to the Padres and battle for a Wild Card spot. Instead they have overachieved, and some fans are hopeful they can continue that in the postseason as well.

“This is one of my favorite Dodger teams of all time,” said Dodgers season ticket holder and comedian Chuck Martin, who was a writer and producer on Arrested Development. “Everyone thought the ‘Fraudres’ would win it all but they didn’t even make the playoffs. We have two MVP candidates, we hit historic milestones for the franchise and I have a feeling the fans of other teams throughout the playoffs are going to get really sick of seeing ‘The Freddie’ dance.”

If the Dodgers can get to their first World Series at Dodger Stadium since 2018, the buzz around the team in Los Angeles will grow louder as more celebrities come out to support Hollywood’s favorite team.  

“[Dave Roberts] has done a great job of dealing with injuries and I think the team has played above its talent level so I’m hoping they keep finding ways to win in the postseason,” said Dodgers fan and actor Omar Benson Miller, who is best known for his work on CSI: Miami, Ballers and The Unicorn. “I wish we still had Corey Seagar and I hope they play less analytics and more by feel. But with this potentially being the last ride for Clayton Kershaw, I’m looking for the guys to sprinkle some Hollywood magic on October and come out victorious.”

It would be the storybook ending to a full season that Dodgers fans have been waiting a long time to enjoy.