Dodgers got full Miguel Cabrera Experience in Sunday’s win
Hey, everything turned out alright. The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Detroit Tigers 6-3 on Sunday to hit 14-7 heading into a showdown with the San Francisco Giants. They righted the ship and remain among the league’s top dogs heading into a battle with their Bay Area foes.
So … now that that’s over … man, Miguel Cabrera really owned the narrative in that series finale, huh?
Cabrera played a large part in April 2022’s baseball story, considering his Tigers have underperformed and lost key players to injury, all while he’s posted league-average offensive numbers as his career nears a close.
He racked up his 3,000th hit with a quick flurry at home in Detroit last week, even though Aaron Boone denied him the milestone in the late innings of their series finale with the Yankees.
And, on Sunday, he notched his first home run of the season after passing the 500 home run mark late last year.
Fittingly, it came just as Joe Davis was finishing up a story about Cabrera’s legendary preparedness and instruction.
Miguel Cabrera owned the narrative Sunday against the Dodgers
It certainly takes a hefty dose of star power to wear the narrative crown after getting one hit in a three-game set and whiffing five times, but hey, that’s 2022 Cabrera for you. He’s an interesting case, at the age of 39. His trademark consistency is gone and his power numbers have evaporated, but that mega-prepared hitter is still in there somewhere, and occasionally he can channel his knowledge into an absolute rocket.
As Davis related in the story above, sometimes Cabrera is still so far ahead of the curve that he can trick younger teammates into discovering his hitting secrets on their own, only to quickly reveal he knew the score all along by socking a well-placed dinger. Sunday felt like a microcosm of what Cabrera still has to offer.
His trademark kindness was also on display this weekend, as fellow Venezuelan Brusdar Graterol showed off an amazing piece of memorabilia he received from the slugger during a pensive moment of friendship.
If Miguel Cabrera thought I was cool enough to earn a moment and keepsake like that, I’d probably show it off on social media, too.
All in all, the Dodgers should be proud of the way they handled late-career Miggy, but our 2022 Narrative Comeback King (much like 2021 Albert Pujols) wasn’t about to let them escape the entire series without getting the business. This game won’t quite be the same without his leadership, grace and pop.