Remember, They Call This ‘Fall’ Baseball

So Milton Bradley and Jose Guillen are sitting out the first weekend of October baseball, with games of major significance being played without them.

So this is news?

Dodger right fielder Bradley and Angel left fielder Guillen are merely upholding longtime local baseball tradition, which holds that the Dodgers and the Angels -- one or the other, but usually both together -- take the month of October off.

The news here is that their teammates have strayed from the program, lost the plot. If things fall right for them this weekend, the Dodgers and Angels will accomplish a historic first, both reaching the postseason in the same postseason, ending a marathon 43-year round of “Can You Top This? No, Frankly, We Really Can’t.”

During those 43 years, the Dodgers qualified 12 times for the playoffs, the Angels four, but never in the same season. For more than four decades, synchronicity was a concept the Dodgers and Angels failed to master, let alone spell.

How the idea of an October Freeway Series became a middle-aged pipe dream:

1979: Having watched the Dodgers play in six World Series while waiting for their 19-year plan to reach fruition, the Angels finally make the playoffs -- and lose in four games to Baltimore. Coming off a World Series appearance in ‘78, the Dodgers finish third in the National League West at 79-83.

1981: Dodgers win the World Series during a season shortened and divided into halves by a players’ strike. Angels place fourth in the American League West in the first half, seventh in the second half.

1982: Almost. The year of the Angels’ second AL West championship

1983: The Dodgers get it right this time, winning the NL West by three games. The Angels are never in it, finishing fifth at 70-92.

1985: Almost II. Another division title for the Dodgers, setting the stage for Tom Niedenfuer-to-Jack Clark in the playoffs and another long winter of second-guessing Tom Lasorda. The Angels finish a game behind Kansas City when reliever Donnie Moore, ominously, fails to close out a victory in Cleveland during the season’s final week.

1986: Moore gets the ball again in Game 5 of the AL playoffs. Dave Henderson swings. Angels and their fans are emotionally floored. Ever resilient, it takes them only 16 years to recover. The Dodgers, ever considerate, spare their fans that kind of grief, finishing fifth at 73-89.

1988: The Dodgers win the World Series in a startling upset of the Canseco-McGwire A’s. Sixteen years later, they continue to wait for their next postseason victory. The Angels lose their last 12 games of the regular season and wind up fourth, 75-87.

1995: This should have been the year. The Dodgers win the NL West, then are swept in the division series by Cincinnati. The Angels blow a 13-game lead in the AL West, then rally to force a one-game playoff in Seattle. They should have quit while they were behind. The Mariners’ 9-1 playoff win includes a bases-loaded, base-clearing broken-bat grounder by ex-Angel Luis Sojo, leaving Angel starter Mark Langston stretched out on top of home plate in despair, his hands neatly folded across his chest, lacking only a lily.

1996: Predictably, the Angels can’t bounce back from that sort of crusher, spiraling to last place in the AL West. Predictably, the Dodgers return to the playoffs (as a wild-card team) and are swept out of the first round by Atlanta.

2002: Pigs are spotted landing on the runway at John Wayne Airport as Angels win the World Series. Dodgers finish the regular season firmly grounded in third place, six games behind Arizona.

Thus, this weekend could be one for the video library, one way or the other. The Dodgers play host to the San Francisco Giants today (Channel 11, 1 p.m.) and Sunday (Channel 13, 1 p.m.). The Angels close out a winner-take-all final series against the A’s in Oakland today (Channel 13, 1 p.m.) and Sunday (Channel 9, 1 p.m.) Set the VCR, for we may never pass this way again.

Also available for viewing this weekend:

TODAY

* San Diego State at UCLA

(FSNW2, 4 p.m.)

Breaking news! San Diego’s premier football team to play a regular-season game in the Rose Bowl! In a related story, one day later, the Chargers will play Tennessee at Qualcomm Stadium.

* California at Oregon State

(FSNW, 1 p.m.)

Top-ranked USC Trojans, idle this weekend, prep for their big midterm exam -- Oct. 9 versus Cal -- by huddling around the television for a live scouting report. No waiting for the videotape.

SUNDAY

*Oakland Raiders at Houston Texans

(Channel 2, 10 a.m.)

While most of the country watches New England-Buffalo and the Patriots’ bid to equal the NFL record for consecutive victories, 18, we get Oakland-Houston and the Raiders’ bid to end their 11-game road losing streak.

* St. Louis Rams at San Francisco 49ers

(ESPN, 5:30 p.m.)

Bill Walsh, George Allen, George Seifert, Chuck Knox and John Robinson all walked the sidelines during this once-great California rivalry. Now the Rams, beginning their 10th season in Missouri, are coached by Mike Martz, and the 49ers, beginning their 10th season since their last Super Bowl, are coached by Dennis Erickson. Today’s question: Name two reasons these once-great rivals are now 1-5 combined.

* “Beyond the Glory: The 1988 World Series.” (FSNW, 7 p.m.)

The focus is on Game 1 and Kirk Gibson’s famous home run. Says Mike Scioscia, a catcher on that Dodger team: “This was the poem ‘Casey at the Bat,’ and this time Casey hit a home run.” Educational viewing for any fan under college age interested in seeing the Dodgers winning a postseason game.