In Douglas Wallop's 1954 novel [the date is important], The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant, a Washington Senators fan aims to sell his soul to the Devil in a Faustian manner so that the Senators can beat the Yankees for the American League pennant. The Senators do win the pennant because an umpire makes a controversial call that the fan-turned-star is safe at the plate despite the protests of the disguised Devil character, played by Ray Walston. So even the Devil couldn't make an umpire change his call.
The Devil then tries to convince the fan not to be turned back into a fan so that the Senators can beat the Dodgers, whom they will play in the World Series. After all, the Devil argues, "As much as I love the Yankees"--naturally the Devil is a Yankee fan--"I hate the Dodgers. Those Dodgers [as of 1954] have never won a World Series." So, amazingly, the next year, 1955, saw the Dodgers do just that: win the Series for the first time.
Not wanting the Dodgers to win, ever, is a sentiment that comes even more strongly to a Giant fan. The ancient rivalry--Giants v. Dodgers--continues on the West Coast to this day even if it's no longer played out at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan and Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.
I never was much of a Yankee hater. True, the Yanks had beaten the Giants in the two Series when they met while I was growing up, in 1951 and 1962. But other than then, in those pre-interleague play, the Giants never played the Yankees.
Thus, I found myself in the uncharacteristic posture of rooting for the Yankees in this year's Series, which the Dodgers won today by winning the 5th game and thus taking the contest, four games to one. The Yanks didn't make it easy. They took a big early lead with Aaron Judge's home run but then committed an unpardonable run of errors in the 5th inning; the final score, however, was a tight 7-6.
The Dodgers have spent the most money in baseball on players. They have power hitters. The old Dodgers exemplified "small ball": scoring by hitting singles, advancing with strategic bunts and stolen bases, and finding their way to home plate through mastery of "fundamentals." Great players end up switching teams when they accept the highest bid. In addition to acquiring a Japanese ballplayer named Ohtani who is the first player since Babe Ruth to qualify as a great hitter AND pitcher, the Dodgers picked up a superb hitter from the Atlanta Braves, Freddie Freeman, who went on in this Series to hit a home run in almost every game.
Although the Yankees managed to dispose of Cleveland in the American League final playoff series, and earlier defeated another surprise entrant, the Kansas City Royals, they lacked the assured aura of confidence that usually accompanied them post-season. They suffered from terrible managing decisions by their skipper, Aaron Boone. Their unparalleled record of winning the Series 27 times was for naught.
Alas, after the Giants' run of the teen years of this century--they won the Series in '12, '14, and '16, we thought they'd keep winning in even-numbered years, but it was not to be. Their team got old, or was traded away, or both. Manager Bruce Bochy retired and then un-retired to manage the Texas Rangers last year to their first Series triumph. Their finest player, catcher Buster Posey, signaled the ultimate end of that era when he retired a year or two ago.
So we have to suffer with a Dodgers win. They won four years ago and have accumulated eight wins since 1955, when the headline in the now-defunct Brooklyn Eagle screamed: "THIS IS NEXT YEAR!" because the perennially-losing Dodgers' mantra was "Wait 'til next year!".