​We’ve reached the final off day before the All-Star Break. Just in the last week, the Dodgers wrapped up a four-game series with the San Diego Padres, a club whose season seems about as cooked as a well-done steak served to a timid elder, and they followed that with a sloppy three-game set against the Colorado Rockies. It bears repeating after this holiday stretch: if you’re craving well-done steak, steer toward chicken. Or turkey, which seems an apt description of the Dodgers’ play over the past week.
Speaking of which, the Dodgers won’t see the Padres again until the final home series of the regular season in September. There’s one last trip to Colorado in mid-August, but otherwise the Rockies are done with the Dodgers in 2026. Current standings show the Dodgers with a 14-game cushion over the second-place Padres, projecting about a 105-win pace for the season. This essay was originally slated for an earlier drop this week, but the impulse to channel Paul Harvey proved irresistible—and now you know the rest of the story.
Before getting to the core idea that sparked this piece, there’s something that’s nagged at me since Game 3 of the 2025 World Series. As you may recall, the Dodgers famously did not trade for Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan at the trade deadline, even though the whole league expected it. Instead, they landed Alex Call from the Washington Nationals in a move that felt reminiscent of “having Steven Kwan at home.” Throughout the rest of the year, I defaulted to a shorthand whenever Call failed to deliver: “Steven Kwan was right there.” It’s certainly unfair to Call, but sometimes a sharp barb is the simplest way to vent.
Now fast-forward from the trade deadline to Game 3 of the 2025 World Series. The consensus is that game was an all-time classic. I respectfully disagree. It was entertaining, yes, but to me a true classic is defined by quality execution. There were far too many blunders and moments of poor judgment that night for me to call it classic. The Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays swung between moments of glory and disaster, while I wrestled with the site’s performance as it lurched from peak to crawl. In the end, despite the drama and the eventual triumph, the game should have ended much sooner.
In the aftermath, the arc of Call’s involvement became a cautionary tale. In the bottom of the 13th, Alex Call faced Eric Lauer with Tommy Edman on third and only one out. All Call needed was a fly ball to bring Edman home and give the Dodgers a 2-1 series lead. Call had a 2-0 count and delivered a hittable pitch that hugged the plate. He was on the verge of putting his name into playoff lore… and then he didn’t. Five tense innings later, the Dodgers secured the win by a hair. Call’s popup stung, but the larger takeaway isn’t his failure alone—it’s the reminder that one at-bat can loom large in the memory of a fanbase, especially when the stakes feel astronomically high.
And so we press on. The season continues to unfold with varying momentum, a mix of promising performances and frustrating setbacks. The 14-game cushion provides a comfortable buffer, but it won’t erase the memory of the close calls, the near-misses, or the debates about decisions that shape long-term perception. Fans will weigh the trade rumors, the late-game pencils of potential moves, and the narrative surrounding each at-bat that could tilt the course of the season. The road to October remains uncertain, the path paved with both triumphs and lessons, and the story—like any Paul Harvey finale—will keep revealing the rest of the story long after the last out is recorded.