It’s October 29th, seven years to the day since we woke up and learned Joe Kelly’s first World Series title wasn’t a dream.
It’s October 29th, five years to the day since we woke up (after sleeping for 36 hours) and learned Joe Kelly’s second World Series title wasn’t a dream.
It’s October 29th, one year to the day since Joe Kelly was gracious enough to let the Yankees win a World Series game after the rat people wrestled Mookie Betts’s hand for that foul ball. One day after that? Joe Kelly won his third World Series title.
Where, oh where, is our Joe Kelly?
The medium question around baseball right now is whether the Dodgers can win a World Series with a beleaguered bullpen and something a little bit “off” in the vibes department. Toronto has Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Toronto has whatever beneficent witch put a spell on Ernie Clement’s bat. Toronto evidently has Ronald Reagan. The Gipper! He’s doing commercials for them from the afterlife!! Who does Los Angeles have? Jason Bateman, an increasingly frustrated Kike Hernández, and the country who pioneered negative interest rates. I hate ratings conversations too, but the last thing baseball needs is negative interest.
The medium question around baseball, again, is whether the Dodgers can survive three more games without their historic bullpen ace.
The big question around baseball is whether Joe Kelly will ever pitch again on a Major League mound.
Last week, Joe Kelly made an appearance with the talented and wonderful Rob Bradford on the wonderful and scintillating Baseball Isn’t Boring podcast. The interview made me laugh. The interview made me smile. The interview made me look back with gratitude at how far baseball has come since Covid and the lockout. Last night, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. hit a home run off Shohei Ohtani at Dodger Stadium in Game 4 of the World Series. All-Star vs. All-Star. Big moment in the biggest moment. The kind of thing we watched as kids, with our kids’ heroes instead of our own.
But someone, of course, is missing. Joe Kelly is missing. The man who carried baseball through that gully from the days of Big Papi to the days of Vladdy Jr. Joe Kelly’s somewhere else right now. He’s not at Dodger Stadium. Game 5 will happen, and unless “Jack Dreyer” is suddenly right-handed, half-Mexican, and thirty pounds lighter, Joe Kelly won’t be involved.
Will he return?
The talented and wonderful Rob Bradford asked our hero about this last week on the podcast. He asked: Will you pitch again? The conversation was longer than this, but this was the bottom line:
“Health-wise, I could. I don’t know if I want to, though.”
We will always respect Joe Kelly’s wishes. We will always want what’s best for the man who gave our sport, our country, and our world so much.
But man.
I hope we haven’t seen the last of him.
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