Bryan Cranston is such a big Dodgers fan that he got goosebumps six years ago in a Los Angeles studio as he narrated an MLB Network documentary about the team’s 1988 season, which culminated in one of the most dramatic home runs in history. history of the World Series, Kirk Gibson’s Game 1, pinch-hit, walk-off shot on Dennis Eckersley.
The 68-year-old actor, known for “Breaking Bad” and “Your Honor,” was in Chavez Ravine in late October for another stunning World Series home run, Freddie Freeman’s Game 1, a 10th-inning walk-off grand slam that capped the Dodgers to the next level to a 6-3 comeback victory over the New York Yankees and propelled them to their eighth World Series title.
“That was the most exciting game I’ve ever been to,” said Cranston, a lifelong fan who was five years old when his father took him to his first Dodgers game at the Coliseum in 1961. ‘Complete strangers hugged each other. ”
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Cranston was back in a Los Angeles studio Thursday, this time to conduct a SiriusXM Town Hall interview with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, but before the four-time Emmy Award winner sat down to talk to the two-time World Series-winning skipper to grill, cunningly avoided asking him a difficult question:
Will Freeman’s delirium-inducing drive in 2024 supplant Gibson’s 1988 thunderbolt as the most dramatic home run in Dodgers postseason history?
“Can’t they live next to each other?” said Cranston after a long silence.
“Good answer,” Roberts said, impressed by the actor’s diplomacy.
Cranston and Roberts then spent an hour discussing a season that started with a $1.2 billion splurge on two-time star Shohei Ohtani and pitchers Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow and ended with the Dodgers trailing 5-0 in the fifth inning obliterate in a World Series. Game-5 win over the Yankees.
The interview, which was conducted before a small live audience, will air Friday (1:00 PM, 5:00 PM, 8:00 PM PST) and again on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday on MLB Network Radio.
Among the highlights:
Roberts on the staggering series of pitching injuries that forced the Dodgers to use 17 different starters and 40 total pitchers: “Our organization does such a good job of scouting, developing, trading for guys and having depth, but there were a lot of guys, to be honest, those were on our roster that I had never heard of. I know you guys here today better than I knew some of these players who pitched for me this year.
Roberts on the rare team meeting he called before a Sept. 15 game in Atlanta, the day after the Dodgers learned Glasnow suffered a season-ending elbow injury and a 10-1 loss to the Braves cut their lead over San Diego to 3½ games :
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“The gist of the meeting was: ‘I believe in each of you, but it doesn’t matter, if you don’t believe in each other, that we have enough talent in this room to win eleven games in October. .”
Roberts on the conversation he had that same afternoon with Walker Buehler, who posted a 1-5 record and a 5.95 ERA in a Sept. 15 start in which the right-hander, returning from a second Tommy John surgery, had one earned run gave up three hits in six innings of a 9-2, season-high win over the Braves.
“Walker was scuffling, but I told him, ‘You played some of the most meaningful games in Dodgers history and you succeeded. We need you to get up and hit the heater tonight because if we don’t have you, we’re not going to win the World Series.” It was a challenge to raise the bar for all of us, and he answered the bell.”
Roberts on a gritty 10-2 National League Division Series Game 2 loss to the Padres, in which pitcher Jack Flaherty and San Diego slugger Manny Machado jawed at each other several times and Machado drew the ire of the Dodgers when he threw a ball to Roberts in the dugout at third base between innings:
“They wanted a street fight – I think we had to become street fighters and play their game. We had to do something to level the playing field, and I felt like things turned around a little bit after that.
“It certainly is,” Cranston said. “The last two games [of the NLDS]your pitching staff allowed zero runs.”
Roberts on Freeman’s World Series grand slam: “For me, that was the biggest moment I’ve ever personally experienced in sports. We celebrated after that goal as if we had just won Game 7. I felt like we won the World Series, and if you look back, that might have been the moment we won the World Series.
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Cranston then steered the interview toward 2025, asking Roberts how the Dodgers can improve next season.
“The biggest thing we’ve done so far is bring in Blake Snell,” Roberts said of the veteran southpaw who signed a five-year, $182 million contract in late November. “We have Glasnow coming back, we have Yoshinobu coming back…
“Sasaki,” Cranston interjected, referring to coveted 23-year-old right-hander Roki Sasaki, who was drafted by the Chiba Lotte Marines in November and is expected to sign with a major league team in January. “Sasaki.”
“Right,” Roberts said, “I can’t say anything about that.”
“Sasaki,” Cranston insisted.
“Don’t get me in trouble, Bryan,” Roberts said, laughing.
Roberts thinks the Dodgers, who hope to re-sign free-agent slugger Teoscar Hernández and add another impact reliever, “should be better” in 2025 than in 2024,” but he acknowledged that “it’s difficult to ultimately to be better than winning. a world championship.”
If the Dodgers want to become the first team to repeat as champions since the Yankees won three straight titles between 1998 and 2000, they will need the right mentality and motivation, a topic Roberts discussed this week with Magic Johnson, part owner of the Dodgers, the star point guard who led the Lakers to five NBA titles between 1980 and 1988.
“I really feel like the carrot, the incentive for our club, in 2025, is now you’re getting into the heritage area,” Roberts said. “I spoke to Magic about legacy and [former Lakers coach] Pat Riley and what he taught those guys: the mentality. That’s something I’m going to try [instill] in our boys, because now we’re trying to do something that will last forever.
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.
