Braves reliever trolls Dodgers and LeBron James over championship parade

ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 23: Tyler Matzek #68 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after striking out Mookie Betts #50 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the seventh inning of Game Six of the National League Championship Series at Truist Park on October 23, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Michael Zarrilli/Getty Images)
ATLANTA, GEORGIA - OCTOBER 23: Tyler Matzek #68 of the Atlanta Braves reacts after striking out Mookie Betts #50 of the Los Angeles Dodgers during the seventh inning of Game Six of the National League Championship Series at Truist Park on October 23, 2021 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Michael Zarrilli/Getty Images)

Atlanta Braves reliever Tyler Matzek won the 2021 World Series, helping his team to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the NLCS.

So … why is he still so salty?

Matzek, who is very much enjoying his run as “defending champion”/the gatekeeper of all celebrations, got his interest piqued this week by LeBron James and the City of Los Angeles in the wake of the Rams’ Super Bowl win.

Long before the deed was even done, LA used the Rams’ run to speculate about the potential of a multi-team parade, making up for the complete absence of a parade in 2020 for either the Dodgers or Lakers, two Bubble Titles under unique circumstances.

Hell, we said it ourselves (and are hoping for a Tyler Matzek subtweet after this goes live, TBH).

Following the win, James went live on Twitter — following in Justin Turner’s footsteps and taking things up a notch — to ask if the Lakers, Dodgers and Rams could potentially find a mutual date to celebrate downtown by the Crypto.com Arena.

But Matzek was here to let everybody know it doesn’t work that way.

Dodgers got their championship invalidated by Tyler Matzek.

Whew, boy, Matzek came out strong on this one. Quibble with the timing of the event, sure, but “no parades for bubbleships” invalidates the whole run.

And, rest assured, Matzek and the Braves would’ve been pretty excited if they’d won the whole damn thing in 2020. But they didn’t. Lost to the Dodgers, actually. In painful fashion. Dang.

Eventually, Matzek clarified, noting that the titles should still stand, but the idea of a parade is a little ludicrous.

We get it. Nobody wants to hear about the 2020 champions in 2022, and the best the Dodgers and Lakers can actually hope for is some sort of 10-year reunion parade down the line (as long as they’re able to work around a 46-year-old LeBron’s active NBA schedule).

But the Rams win has served as one final excuse to lament the lost 2020 parades, so ‘scuse LeBron, JT and the rest of the city for trying to take advantage.

While Matzek was hostile but fair, the Braves mascot leveled up the discourse by just being “Mean Girls”-level dismissive.

Pretty much summarizes their argument right there. Matzek popped off, the mascot distilled it.

So … feels like it’s time for us to win another one and shut ’em up, right?

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