Join Eli and Adric for The Bookend Year.
A new year, a new Guide trailer. Please enjoy.
Once again, we have reached the time of year when I write out where I have been and where I plan to go in the coming year for year four of field coverage for True Blue LA.
Michael Elizondo
Let us check the final score of my visits during the Dodgers’ 2024 title run.
12-5 — some might even call that effort a work day (if they were a lawyer). Truthfully, if it weren’t for Yohan Ramirez and Bobby Miller, the Dodgers might have just nearly run the table when I was around. But wishes and nuts…
All of these adventures are a gift, but it never occurred to me until how often I saw the emergency members of the rotation rather than the stalwarts of Yamamoto and Glasnow. That observation ignores the fact that I was present for Gavin Stone’s complete game, shut out against the historically hapless Chicago White Sox.
Once again, the injury bug kept me from perfect attendance, but I had fun, even with the extra games in Chicago, St. Louis, and Miami.
If one factors in the inaugural amateur year of 2021, the Dodgers are now 52-32 with me in attendance in 26 major league cities. No more disclaimers about having stale information. There is a bit of a trivia question about stadiums that I have yet to see a Dodger game at while on the payroll of Vox Media for the intrepid.
In my preview of the 2025 season, I previously wrote that the road schedule was a bit odd but better than the 2024 schedule, even including going to Tokyo to start the year.
That observation aside, I have finally set my travel dates for the coming season.
Apart from Tokyo Series shenanigans, I plan to visit one new locale in 2025: Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers. This ballpark would raise my MLB stadium count to 27 out of 30.
Fourteen games in five outings. Frankly, what a difference a year makes. In 2024, I had no idea what games I would actually attend this time last year; in 2025, my season is set in stone, barring illness or injury.
In a perfect world, I would add two games in Kansas City in late June. My return to Kansas City is predicated on some stuff behind the scenes, which is unlikely. Since my attendance is so unlikely, that series is left off the chart.
While it is less than ideal to put myself on the shelf from May to August, the Tokyo Series expenditures demand some measure of fiscal restraint on my part. Achieving a long-held dream is something that I will not soon forget.
Video will likely be delayed but stills should be doable.
Please enjoy highlights from the past week.
— Michael Elizondo (@elidelajandro.bsky.social) 2025-03-18T06:46:21.928Z
As a weird aside, as things stand, I am scheduled to be one of the few people outside of the organization who was in Tokyo at the beginning of the regular season and will be in Seattle at the season’s end. What a neat little bookend of fate; hence The Bookend Year.
“Home” Games
Since I have returned to the Bay Area, and with the Sacramento Athletics’ departure, the closest ballpark to me is, again, Oracle Park. Joy.
My general rule for Oracle Park remains: I do not go to games in San Francisco unless I am with friends and family because I have been to Oracle Park far too many times for there to be any novelty whatsoever. I covered Oracle Park in its Guide entry. It’s fine.
Honestly, my coworkers are eager to have an outing at Oracle, and I fear they expect I have some clout, which I would not in that ballpark.
If folks wish to go to Oracle Park and invite me, here are the dates for the upcoming year:
- July 11-13 (weekend series)
- September 12-14 (weekend series)
While Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, CA, is about an hour away, I will not attend for two reasons. First, I do not want to. Second, the Dodgers will not visit Sacramento until 2026. Heaven help them, if they play those 2026 games during the summer. Even then, I am still not interested in visiting a minor league park.
Please holler if you wish me to tag along on any adventure to any of the listed ballparks.
If folks want to join me on the road, please reach out as soon as possible. The more, the merrier, as I always say. I already have meetups scheduled in Baltimore and Seattle, which I am quite excited about.
I have been at this long enough that I am recognized from time to time, which is both confusing and neat.
As for upcoming Guide entries, considering that the Dodgers return to Miami, Cleveland, St. Louis, Boston, Tampa Bay (in some form), Baltimore, and Seattle this year, you can bet I will have new or updated Guide entries ready. Please look forward to it!