ARLINGTON, TEXAS — Back when he buttoned up the same home white Dodgers jersey for work that his former teammates will wear tonight as they reach once more for elusive history, David Freese sat in the Dodger Stadium dugout and described what a World Series championship would mean for Los Angeles and for his peers who spent careers chasing one.
He imagined a city aglow and the team “right in the middle of it,” at the heart of the biggest, baddest, brashest LA party this side of a Lakers title. He then listed the names of reasons they could win, like Clayton Kershaw, Justin Turner, Corey Seager, and Kenley Jansen — all of whom would rise with the helium of a championship, freed from the lead of misspent Octobers.