Opinion: Some perspective from Dodger fans: Those 104 wins didn’t count for nothing

In 2018, the Dodgers will celebrate — or perhaps just observe — the 30th anniversary of their last World Series title. It’s a party Los Angeles came just one game away from not having to throw.

Yes, the Dodgers exited yet another baseball postseason without their first championship since 1988, but they did it in the most thrilling way possible: by losing Game 7 of a tit-for-tat World Series against the deserving Houston Astros, which came after a memorable playoff run and a regular season that fans will not soon forget.

If there’s anything Dodger fans have learned to do well these past 30 years, it’s cope with loss. Many of the letters from our readers reflect that.

Rick Barton of Encinitas puts the 2017 season into perspective:

There is a difference between failure and loss. The Dodgers came up short in the seventh game of the World Series after winning 104 regular season games and going 10-5 in the playoffs. They lost to a team that won 101 games and was fighting on behalf of a city still suffering from tragedy.

The Dodgers and particularly pitcher Yu Darvish handled with incredible dignity and grace a racist taunt by an opposing player. I wonder how Darvish felt on that mound at Dodger Stadium with all that had transpired.

We live in a time when perspective and context have given way to making everything about the extreme. It is for all of us to choose what narrative we embrace. Congratulations, Dodgers, on a fantastic season.

Ted Perlman of Pasadena exalts community spirit:

Congratulations, Dodgers, for an incredible season. Congratulations, Astros, for winning your first World Series.

During the World Series, Los Angeles felt like one big family — so many Dodgers hats, sweatshirts, T-shirts and more. The team really brought L.A. together in a way I’ve never seen. I hope that great feeling stays.

Congratulations to the city of Houston. What you went through this year with Hurricane Harvey was horrible. I’m glad you came through that disaster closer together as a community. And now you have the World Series champs as a symbol of that community.

Wayne Jablonski, writing from Fountain Hills, Ariz., warns of a curse:

Baseball fans recall that in 2013 when the Dodgers clinched their division championship, they did it at Chase Field in Phoenix. After winning the game they celebrated by jumping in the swimming pool behind the outfield.

I declared in 2013 that from that moment on, the Dodgers would be haunted by the “chlorine curse.” They have exited the playoffs every year since, and this year was no exception. Losing to the Astros in the seventh game of the World Series was about as sweet as karma gets for all of us fans who loathe the Dodgers.

Baseball curses last 100-plus years; just ask the Boston Red Sox and the Chicago Cubs.

You have only 94 years to go. I look forward to continued updates on the “chlorine curse.”

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