Jim Alexander: Well, that spring we were all anticipating kind of fell flat, didn’t it? Lakers: Gone. Clippers: Gone. Kings: Gone. What we have left are the Dodgers (who almost certainly will battle, and maybe even slay, their own playoff demons come October), the Angels (who almost certainly won’t) and the Sparks (who knows, and we’ll discuss that). Also the local club in Major League Rugby, which I had no idea existed until a couple of weeks ago. I mentioned that in this morning’s column on team owners and what they can do better, and this morning I received an email from one of their representatives, reaching out.
See, people do read our stuff.
But, the Dodgers: Fans were grousing when they lost three straight series and went through a 5-9 stretch last month. I mean, what kind of SuperTeam was this, anyway? The folks are feeling better, assuredly, after their weekend sweep of the Braves (who are good) and another sweep of the Marlins (who really aren’t). Now the team goes to San Diego and San Francisco, and maybe we’ll find out some things. Or maybe not.
What we know for sure: Shohei Ohtani is not only the best player in the world but he’s even better while playing with a team that has something to play for. Teoscar Hernandez, who hit his 10th homer Wednesday, was an underrated and inspired acquisition. And a pitching rotation that seemed early on to have some gaping holes is good now and could be great, or at least really good, by October.
Tyler Glasnow, who pitches Friday night in San Diego, is an ace. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is pitching like the guy who kept winning the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young Award. Walker Buehler is back. Clayton Kershaw will be back for the second half. Bobby Miller will be back at some point. The young guys, like Gavin Stone Wednesday against the Marlins, are starting to assert themselves.
And this should be a really good bullpen by the time all their pieces are back. Which, I realize, is an assumption. Everything, all the time, in every sport depends on health, and baseball is no different.
SuperTeam? Maybe, maybe not. Capable of winning a World Series? Quite possibly, though stuff happens between now and then. But they will give us a reason to pay attention all through the summer. Not every baseball territory is that lucky. (Sorry, Orange County.)
Whaddaya think, Mirjam?
Mirjam Swanson: I’ve gotten the sense sometimes that L.A. baseball fans get numb to all the regular-season winning. Or even jaded, considering how sensationally so many summers have gone only to peter out in the playoffs. Personally, I’d hope the joy of the journey would keep folks attention, because it’s a long season and, you’re right Jim, a lot of baseball cities don’t get even to taste regular-season success.
But, yeah, even by the Dodgers’ standards, this regular season seems special. That 5-9 stretch seems like a long time ago already with the way the team is hitting and pitching AND FIELDING!
And, most of all, Ohtani is Ohtani. Can’t take your eyes off the guy. And he’s off to a special start, even by his own incredible standards. He had what was, for him, a first-35-games-best total of hits (52), runs (30), total bases (98), and batting average (.364), on-base percentage (.426) and slugging percentage (.685).
Every other day, seems like, he makes more history. Couple nights ago, per MLB.com’s Sarah Langs, Ohtani became the first Dodger (since at least 1901) with a .370 batting average and more than 25 extra-base hits in his club’s first 37 games since the expansion era (1961).
The full list:
2024 Shohei Ohtani
2017 Ryan Zimmerman
2008 Lance Berkman
2000 Todd Helton
1994 Albert Belle
1965 Willie Mays
1964 Willie Mays
And, of course, Ohtani is crushing the ball, hitting 450-foot bombs that leave his bat at a MLB season-best 118.7 mph, or sending it 464 feet (second-longest in 2024) …
No matter how disillusioned the Dodgers’ postseason letdowns have left you, if you’re a fan of the team (or a baseball fan?), you’re tuned in for Ohtani.
Jim: I said this when he was an Angel: There should be a phone app, an Ohtani Alert, so that we could make sure we were watching every time he stepped to the plate. It’s even more true now. And if you’re in the top rows in the outfield, you’d better be paying attention because the ball might come your way.
When he hits the ball right, it just has a different sound, like a cannon blast. The only guys I can think of in the past who had that trait: Vladimir Guerrero Sr. and Manny Ramirez.
Incidentally, we’ve gotten this far without discussing what manager Dave Roberts refers to as “the interpreter situation.” Ippei Mizuhara’s intent to plead guilty to federal charges of bank fraud and “subscribing to a false income tax return,” as the Associated Press story put it, should at last put an end to that story. (Although Ippei has now been linked to one of the stars of “Real Housewives of Orange County.” Hoo boy!)
OK, I’ve been thinking about this Clippers flameout at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks (who in turn were thumped 117-95 by Oklahoma City in Game 1 of their series). Are we reaching a point where the Clippers 213 Era (the teaming up, more or less, of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George) will go into the dustbin right on top of the Lob City Era of Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and the rest?
It’s strange and almost cruel (unless you’re a Laker fan, but if you’re a Laker fan you have your own problems). But Lob City was part of the Donald Sterling era, that larger stretch of time when the Clippers often were a laughing stock and deservedly so. Drafting Griffin, trading for Paul and hiring Doc Rivers as coach brought the franchise closer to being a real NBA organization, but Steve Ballmer’s arrival hastened the process. These Clippers have a traditional, low-drama professional front office, as well as an owner who cares, is willing to spend money, and tangibly demonstrated both with the Intuit Dome (and I’m anxious to get in there and see what it’s all about).
These Clippers are trying, hard, and yet can’t get past those playoff hurdles, predominantly because of injuries to key players. (That may be the bottom line throughout sports: If you don’t have health, you generally don’t have a chance.) I’d say they’re snakebit, but is there another explanation I’m not seeing?
Mirjam: Agreed: It’s injuries. Their best player has a knee that won’t cooperate. Not many teams are going to win with their biggest star sidelined. That’s just a fact.
I don’t know whether this iteration of the Clippers should reasonably be expected to reach the mountaintop without Kawhi Leonard, but I’ve seen a lot of fans commenting about how they preferred the defunct and snake-bitten Lob City teams to this version. Because those were fun to watch, at least.
As I type today, Clippers fans are picking apart Podcaster Paul George’s latest Podcast P episode, because they expected so much more from him this postseason, both in terms of performance and fire. James Harden is something of an acquired taste, I’d say, and though he played relatively well against Dallas, his style of play didn’t seem to inspire enough enthusiasm among his teammates or their fans this time around. Whatever the going narrative is, let’s be real: Of course Russell Westbrook didn’t love going to the bench – and conversely, Clippers fans didn’t love seeing him brick open looks (really, really, really open looks) as defenders crowded his more adept shooting teammates.
The Clippers are old and slow and uninspiring, but the way the NBA’s current roster-building rules are set up, they don’t have much choice but to run it back, or to try. I mean, if PG walks, the Clippers can’t just replace his contract; they don’t have cap space to spend max money on a top free agent (who would be PG, btw). And trades? What A-lister could they possibly get for a broken-down Kawhi?
But they will have a shiny new arena, and I’m with you, Jim: Can’t wait to see how that feels and what it means for this organization and its long-suffering yet still dedicated fans.
Jim: I just had a thought. Really, it occurred to me just this moment. What if the Sparks moved their operations back to Inglewood, and into the Intuit Dome, in 2025? They might have to alter their team colors, because purple and gold (with a dash of light green) probably would clash with the color scheme in the home of the Clippers.
But given the issues with home venues this spring – which seem to have concluded with the announcement that three home games originally ticketed for the Pyramid in Long Beach, including the heavily anticipated visit of Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, will be relocated to the big building in downtown L.A.– and the higher profile that the WNBA seems destined for, maybe it’s worth considering. After all, the first game in the history of the league took place down the block at the Forum, June 21, 1997. A crowd of 14,284 attended, L.A.’s Penny Toler scored the first basket in league history, and the New York Liberty beat the Sparks, 67-57.
Seriously, my guess is that this season’s games were going to be moved downtown anyway the moment the playoff departures of the Lakers, Clippers and Kings opened up those dates, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise. It was a welcome development, obviously, because Clark may be the biggest draw in sports right now. (Or at least the biggest non-Ohtani draw.) I just wonder – if the Kings/Lakers/Clippers were still playing, if the Sparks might eventually have sought out Honda Center to stage that game. Playing it in the Pyramid, which seats maybe 5,000, would have been a cruel joke.
I guess the question is whether the Sparks, with the addition of first-round picks Cameron Brink and Rickea Jackson (and third-rounder McKenzie Forbes from USC) will be able to keep up on the floor. It’s been since 2020, in the Wubble in Orlando, that the Sparks have been in the playoffs and 2017 since they’ve been in the Finals. Those were the days when Candace Parker and Nneka Ogwumike led the team. It’s tough to be a legacy franchise that has to rebuild.
But, at least, the Sparks and the rest of the WNBA won’t have to fly commercial any more, and it’s about damn time. The top college players may have to take less in rookie salaries than they received in NIL money in college, but at least they’ll no longer have inferior travel conditions in the pros, too.
Mirjam: Our Sparks beat writer John Davis and I have discussed that idea of yours – the Sparks getting into the Intuit Dome – quite a few times, and I get the sense that we’re not the only ones. Whether it would ever actually happens, despite the color schemes not meshing, that’s tough to say.
It’s easier for me to imagine the Sparks moving into the Clippers’ soon-to-be-vacant practice facility in Playa Vista, but I suppose we’ll see on that, too. The Sparks definitely could use a dedicated practice space, though, if they’re ever going to get back to winning regularly.
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As I wrote recently, retaining and attracting free agents is only going to get harder because so many other WNBA teams are investing millions in upgrading or building new training facilities. Meanwhile, the Sparks are, this season, limited to their allotted time at El Camino College for practices. It’s a nice gym, but it’s not what the Aces, Storm, Mercury and Fever have. Doesn’t offer the permanence of what the Liberty and Lynx offer, etc.
And everything from facilities to flight is picking up for the WNBA, so the Sparks, if they’re going to compete, will have to keep up. And, sure, moving three of their first give games back to Crypto.com Arena is a good step, business-wise. There’s a reason the Aces – who regularly sell out their 12,000-seat Michelob Ultra Arena – are moving their first game against Clark’s Fever to the 18,000-seat T-Mobile Arena: They want to make money! I’m eager to see how many come out for that game in downtown L.A. on May 24.
As for the Sparks’ prospects on the court this season? State-of-the-art dedicated practice facility or not, I’m not counting out a team coached by Curt Miller if it can stay healthy, and here’s hoping.