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SPORTS

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 20 , 2020. WASHINGTONPOST.COM/SPORTS M2 D

All good things come to an end

The World Series has framed my life since 1975. Amid the pandemic, I’ll sit this one out.

1975: Carlton Fisk watches his home run

St. Louis to D.C. to Houston to

D.C. to Houston to D.C. I wrote 21

columns and an introductory

chapter to The Washington Post’s

book on Washington winning its

first World Series in 95 years, and

I conducted five Monday chats

with readers. About 50,000

words. Then I covered a parade!

Another 15,000 words died

along the trail, never published.

Late-inning Nationals

comebacks made them obsolete.

Rip up, start again — and glad to

do so.

On many hard nights, you

return to your hotel room

between 2 and 4 a.m., often after

writing multiple versions of your

story, including one for the print

paper filed at last pitch and a

final version after you’ve had

time to interview and rewrite.

If the game goes insane in the

late innings, you may not

remember how many variations

SEE BOSWELL ON D4

Since 1 975, I’ve

covered every

World Series game

for The

Washington Post.

My streak will end

Tuesday at 252

games. Including

travel days, I’ve

spent more than a year covering

the World Series.

Last month, I decided not to go

to this World Series, because I

don’t think it’s smart for a

7 2-year-old man in a pandemic.

But I still hated making that call.

No matter the reason, I’ll miss

the marvelous misery of covering

the World Series this year.

And, believe me, it’s both

marvelous and miserable. Every

MLB writer comes home from

the World Series feeling like

Lawrence of Arabia staggering

out of the desert.

Last October, I went from D.C.

to Los Angeles to D.C. to L.A. to

Thomas

Boswell

Thomas Boswell, interviewing Phillies pitching coach Claude

Osteen in the 1980s, has covered 44 straight World Series.

1979: Earl Weaver clasps Mike Flanagan

World Series

Game 1: Rays vs. Dodgers | Today, 8:09 p.m., Fox

In this debilitating
year of the novel
coronavirus, no
city has been able
to rejoice over
sports as much as
Ta mpa. Most are
salvaging,
scrounging,
redefining joy. Ta mpa is
flourishing.
The Ta mpa Bay Lightning won
the Stanley Cup. The Ta mpa Bay
Rays, based in nearby
St. Petersburg, are headed to the
World Series. And, oh yeah,
there’s this other little delight:
The Ta mpa Bay Buccaneers are
gradually transforming into a
team worthy of To m Brady’s
lingering greatness. Tompa Bay,
though cheesy, is becoming a
hypnotic thing.
Usually, this much success in a
short period would inspire
jealousy, but it’s hard for e yes to
turn green when looking at a city
forced to celebration in isolation.
The Lightning made the best of it
and enjoyed a fun boat parade
down the Hillsborough River, but
the city didn’t get the customary
burst of euphoria after capturing
its first Stanley Cup
championship in 16 years. The
Rays are a fun World Series
representative, but once again,
Ta mpa won’t get the full dose of
SEE BREWER ON D3

Brady’s Bucs

right in tune

with Tampa’s

time to shine

Jerry

Brewer

Hindsight is 20/20
An expert crunches the numbers
on Ron Rivera’s toughest calls. D2
Dallas a t Washington
Sunday, 1 p.m., Fox

2017: The Astros’ Alex Bregman takes a bow

TOP, FROM L EFT: HARRY CABLUCK/ASSOCIATED PRESS, AP, AP; ABOVE, FROM LEFT: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES, J ED JACOBSOHN/GETTY IMAGES, DAVID J. PHILLIP/AP

1982: Brewers owner Bud Selig paces

2001: The Yankees swarm Alfonso Soriano 2002: Scott Spiezio and the Angels rejoice

BY DAVE SHEININ

arlington, tex. — Someone

once traded away Mookie Betts.

After the sense of awe dissi-

pates following another spectac-

ular play by the Los Angeles

Dodgers’ superstar right fielder,

after the slow-motion replays

confirm Betts’s singular bril-

liance, after the thought is given

to how outrageously fortunate

the Dodgers are to have Betts in

the fold as they make their march

through the postseason to this

week’s World Series — after all

that is dealt with and put aside,

the mind inevitably returns to the

same stunning, inconceivable

r ealization:

Someone once had Mookie

B etts on their team — and decid-

ed they would be better off with

some other players instead.

That someone, of course, is the

Boston Red Sox, whom Betts, the

2018 American League MVP,

helped lead to the World Series

title that fall — beating, of course,

the Dodgers. It is now clear, if it

wasn’t at the time, that the trade

eight months ago that sent Betts

to the Dodgers along with pitcher

David Price for a trio of younger

players is the most consequential

in recent baseball history — this

generation’s version of Frank

Robinson for Milt Pappas.

“We would have beat the Red

Sox” in 2018, Dodgers Manager

Dave Roberts said Sunday night,

in the aftermath of their Game 7

victory over the Atlanta Braves,

“if we’d had Mookie Betts.”

While the Red Sox have col-

lapsed in on themselves — going

from a championship in 2018 to a

SEE DODGERS ON D5

After Boston said goodbye, Betts has fared well

It’s obvious why L.A. loves its star right fielder. It’s a mystery why the Red Sox dealt him.

TOM PENNINGTON/GETTY IMAGES

Mookie Betts is in the World Series for the second time in

three years. In 2018, he b eat the Dodgers while with Boston.

PRO FOOTBALL

The Chiefs bounce back with a victory over the Bills,

while the Cowboys look lost against the Cardinals. D3

BASEBALL

The Nationals hire Jim Hickey, who has a long history

with Dave Martinez, to be their next pitching coach. D4

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Virginia’s quarterback situation remains in flux with

Brennan Armstrong still in the concussion protocol. D6

BY NICKI JHABVALA

Washington Football Te am
Coach Ron Rivera, whose reputa-
tion for making bold calls earned
him the nickname “Riverboat
Ron,” has learned not to second-
guess his instincts, even when
things don’t work out the way he
had hoped. A day after his deci-
sion to have his team go for a
two-point conversion in the final
minute led to a one-point loss to
the New York Giants, he said he
wasn’t s urprised that some people
were critical of his choice.
“If we had succeeded on it, it
would’ve been a great decision on
my part,” he said with a grin dur-
ing a video conference call with
reporters Monday. “But we didn’t,
so some people think it’s not a
good decision.”
But the m ove to play for t he win
comes on the heels of some other
bigger-picture decisions by Rive-
ra — from prioritizing players’
health in early games over maxi-
mizing the team’s chances for
pulling off comeback victories, to
benching quarterback Dwayne
Haskins for Kyle Allen in the stat-
ed hope of competing for a title in
the lackluster NFC East — that
have created some questions
among fans about Rivera’s priori-
ties.
Is winning now the focus, or is
he more concerned with develop-
ing a team that, at 1-5 and in last
place, lacks veteran experience
and overall talent at some key
positions? What’s the goal for this
season?
“Win as many games as we can,”
Rivera said. “That’s the first thing.
And then the second thing is that
these guys can step away and say:
‘Wow, this is the culture that we’re
going to have. This is how we’re
going to have to do things. This is
SEE WASHINGTON ON D2

To Rivera,

gutsy call

backed goal

to win now

Washington coach says

success this season

is the team’s top priority

Inside: Randy Arozarena is a fitting hero for the no-name Rays. D4