Dodger Stadium, Home of the Dodgers... and the 2018 World Series

Every year, I would watch the World Series, and more years than not, they show these older female fans lamenting about how they’ve been fans their whole lives and never seen their team win a World Series.  As a Red Sox fan, we’ve been spoiled this century with an amazing run of championships, but those interviews have stuck in my brain to remind me that you never know when the last World Series you see your team win is going to occur.  With that attitude, I told Joel in 2018 that if the Red Sox made it to the World Series, we needed to do whatever it took to go to a game.  Which at the time was no small feat- I was coaching volleyball, so I had a pretty limited time frame that it would work.  Thankfully, the stars aligned and game 5 fell on a Sunday and in Los Angeles, which was a much easier trek for us from Montana. 
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One problem though- the Red Sox were a juggernaut, and we weren’t even sure that it was going to make it to game 5.  We held off on booking a flight until we knew the game was actually going to happen.  Red Sox won the first two games, and then came game 3.  With conflicting feelings, we watching all 18 innings, and breathed a sigh of guilty joy when the Red Sox ultimately lost despite Nate Eovoldi’s mammoth effort.  Immediately after the loss, we booked our flight to leave early Sunday morning and return not even 24 hours later and tried to wrap our heads around getting to see our favorite team play on the biggest stage!

The Seats

I am an obsessive planner.  Up until this point in my life, I had always wanted to know as early as possible the plans- where we’d be sitting, where we’d be eating, etc.  There was little room for spontaneity, much to Joel’s chagrin.  And while I still love to plan, the trip was a turning point for me from obsessing about booking things as early as possible to getting the best deal possible, even if it meant waiting at times.  This is because if we’d bought our tickets when the Red Sox first made the World Series, or even when we booked our flight, we would have paid more than we ultimately did for far worse seats.  I mean it literally that we paid what I would have for nose bleeds if I would have insisted on paying when the World Series matchup was first set.  It makes sense- for major sporting events like that, all the face value tickets from the team get snatched up right away.  Especially in the playoffs, teams want to treat their committed fans and season ticket holders well, so they have ticket presales that most of the general public can’t get on, so it’s nearly impossible to get the tickets at face value.  Then, people who bought those face value tickets and want to make money on them (or can’t go) post them on the secondary market.  They hope for the best at first, listing them for some crazy amount in the hopes that they get it, and then as the date grows closer, they get more desperate and drop the price.

For us, we bought the tickets at the airport the morning we left.  The timing was perfect- prices had dropped significantly, but by the time we landed, inventory had gotten so low that the only tickets left were the folks who had stayed overpriced the whole time (I always assume these people have the mentality that they will go to the game unless they get an offer they can’t refuse).  Our seats were amazing- a couple of sections up behind home plate.  Better than I’d even imagined that we’d get when we were first talking about going.  Don’t get me wrong, we still splurged- to this day, it’s the most we’ve ever paid for seats, and it takes that title by a pretty significant amount.  But again, it could be the last chance we get, and I would pay for that every time for what we got to experience.
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For those of you who aren’t Red Sox or MLB fans, game 5 ultimately was the close-out game.  The had won game 4 and went up in the top of the 1st inning and never looked back.  I was surprised when I looked at the box score and saw how long it had been 2-1, because my memory is that I was never really worried.  The entire game felt like a party- we stood the whole game, sang along to California Love, and watched my favorite baseball game I’ll probably ever see (Red Sox, feel free to prove that statement wrong).  Chris Sale literally brought Manny Machado to his knees with the final out, and the celebration was on!  We were among the last non-team related folks to leave the stadium, I think.  We didn’t want the night to end!

The Eats

When we got into town, we dropped off our stuff at the hotel we were staying at and went to some random sports bar.  The food and experience was very average, but we were buzzing for the game, so it didn’t really matter.
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What did matter was after the game.  How do you celebrate a World Series win in Los Angeles?  With In-N-Out, of course!  We Ubered to the nearest In-N-Out, where we had the most delicious fast food burgers I’ve had in my life.  Granted, I think the experience and drinks I had at the game may have played into this evaluation, but whatever.  I still enjoyed it.

Other Deets

Initially, Joel and I had planned on not getting a hotel and just staying out celebrating all night since our flight left so early the following morning.  Thankfully, our friend Riley, who joined us on the trip, talked us into getting a hotel room, which I am eternally grateful for.  We would not have made it, and even though we only got a few hours of sleep, they were fully necessary.

Joel and I are ballpark nerds, so we always go to games early when we have a chance, but if you find yourself in a position to go to a World Series game, I recommend getting in right when the gates open.  There are things around to go see, and I know those tickets aren’t cheap, so take in as much as you can!  We got some photo ops, some free giveaways, a couple of drinks, and took in BP from the outfield bleachers.
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Overall, I can’t say enough about the whole experience at Dodger Stadium.  Would it have been the same if the Red Sox had lost?  I guess we’ll never know.