As Major League Baseball is about to embark on its 149th season, there’s a pretty good chance that if it can happen in our national pastime, it probably has happened.

… or so we thought.

On Tuesday night in front of a modest Dodger Stadium crown of 36,772, the Dodgers concluded spring training 2018 and their annual spring training exhibition Freeway Series with the Angels of Anaheim in a rather unusual manner, prompting everyone that was asked if they’d ever seen anything like this before to answer with a resounding “No.”

At the end of the fifth inning, a puddle of water was noticed in foul territory just beyond the third base bag, prompting Dodgers manager Dave Roberts to bring it to the attention of the umpires for obvious safety reasons. Within minutes, the source was determined to be an underground pipe break at the edge of the grass just outside the left field foul line.

It became very apparent very quickly that Tuesday night’s pipe break at Dodger Stadium was not going to be a quick fix. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Within a matter of minutes, that puddle of water became a growing pool of water that had made its way up to the outer edge of the Dodgers third base dugout and up the concrete edge of the seating area of baseball’s third oldest ballpark [a clue].

Home plate umpire John Libka immediately “suspended” the game, while the Dodger Stadium grounds crew attempted to isolate and correct the problem.

It didn’t happen.

Although the general location of the break became known due to the bubbling (and flowing) water, workers were unable to figure out how to shut it off, as the pool of water – a steady stream, actually – continued to grow and ultimately led to the ‘meaningless spring training game’ being called, with the Dodgers declared the winners in the 4-3 contest, courtesy of a fourth inning solo home run by current former Dodger Matt Kemp.

“At our annual official scorers meeting earlier this year, one of my colleagues said to me ‘In all of your years of organized baseball, you’ve seen it all, haven’t you?’ said longtime Dodger Stadium official scorer Jerry White after the game had officially been called. “I told him ‘You mark my words, before this season is over, I will see something that I have never seen before,’ and here we are.”

What about Dodgers manager Dave Roberts?

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said the Dodgers skipper.

“I haven’t either,” added Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten, as the pair addressed the media after the abbreviated spring training finale. “Apparently there was a pipe backup on two different levels of the stadium.

“We don’t know exactly where the backup was, or what caused it,” Kasten added. “It had something to do with a main pipe here, as well as a main pipe outside the stadium.”

Kasten was quick to add that with Wednesday’s off day prior to Opening Day 2018 on Thursday at Dodger Stadium, he is absolutely positive that baseball’s crown jewel will be ready to go long before the gates open for our country’s unofficial national holiday.

Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten and manager Dave Roberts address members of the media to give a preliminary report on Tuesday night’s pipe break at Dodger Stadium. Kasten assured those present that this will not have any affect whatsoever on Thursday’s scheduled Opening Day at the Ravine.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

As for the game itself, because it had gone the requisite 4.5 innings, it was considered an official game. It also allowed Dodgers left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu to get in all of the work that Roberts had wanted him to by making a total of 86 pitches in his 4.2 innings of work, 62 of them for strikes. And because the innings requirement does not apply to spring training games, the just-turned 31-year-old (on March 25) Incheon, South Korea native was credited with the win in a game in which he allowed three runs (two earned) on nine hits, with no walks and three strikeouts.

“I thought that Hyun-Jin threw the ball well,” Robert said. “That sounds rather redundant with the last couple of successes. Just the way he threw the baseball, there was a lot of soft contact, they singled him to death, but I thought that the command with all of his pitches was there and he could have thrown more zeros but we got his pitch-count limit to near 90 pitches, so very productive and he feels good about it.”

Both Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Hyun-Jin Ryu himself were pleased with his final outing of the spring.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Two of the Dodgers runs came via the long ball, the first a solo shot by right fielder Yasiel Puig in the bottom of the first inning and, as noted, the second by Kemp in the fourth inning with what would prove to be the game-winner.

Puig’s solo home run in the bottom of the first inning got things started in the pipe-break-shortened spring training finale on Tuesday night. It was Puig’s second home run in three days since being moved into the number three spot in the Dodgers line-up. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Dodgers (presumable) Opening Day catcher Yasmani Grandal also had a good night, going 2-for-2 with a pair of sharp singles, and center fielder Chris Taylor added to his spring training RBI total with a double into the left-center field gap in the bottom of the fourth inning to drive in the Dodgers other two runs.

Pipe breaks notwithstanding, Dodgers outfielder Andrew Toles, who will begin the 2018 season at Triple-A Oklahoma City, was very pleased with what he saw from his team this spring.

“I think we’re good, man, I think we’re pretty straight,” said Toles after the game. “[Justin Turner] went down, but that’s not going to be for long, so he’s going to come back strong. Puig is going to do it, Chris Taylor is going to do it, Corey [Seager], everybody.

“Our pitching is great, so everybody’s going to do it, so we’re just going to do our usual performance,” added Toles. “The problem is that in spring training we’ve got a lot of guys, so that’s good for everybody. We’re trying to win a World Series and that’s what we’re going to try to do.”

Although there was no official word on the final roster moves following Tuesday night’s spring training finale, ThinkBlue LA has learned that outfielder Joc Pederson and back-up catcher / utility infielder Kyle Farmer will both be on the Dodgers Opening Day roster, and that Andrew Toles will not; not initially, that is. That being said, one has to believe that should Pederson continue to struggle offensively, as he has done all spring, the extremely popular Toles will be the first guy called back up to the Dodgers – pipe breaks be dammed.

…pun intended.