#team-turnaround

#team-turnaround

The Dodgers didn't just fall short of lofty expectations during the regular season. For a large chunk of it, they were basically mediocre. They began with a 23-10 record and ended, after a well-timed meeting by their manager, with 15 wins in a stretch of 20 games. But in between, from May 4 to Sept. 7, the Dodgers were 56-54, a mere two games above .500 in a 110-game sample.

Did you wake up today and ask yourself if yesterday afternoon was real? It's the day after the Toronto Blue Jays celebrated their first division title in ten years after defeating the Tampa Bay Rays 13-4. After the division race came down to the final day of the regular season, it went the Blue Jays' way, and it was straight to the champagne.

Derwin Henderson was not intending to coach this season. He hadn't been a head coach since 2019 at Hawthorne. But he lives in the Inland Empire, and Rialto High kept asking him to take the open position. He finally relented, and big changes are already taking place. Rialto is off to a 3-0 start with wins over Ontario, Temecula Prep and Indio. That's notable because the team was 0-10 last season and 1-9 in 2023.

Me, Casey and even Jimmy weren't doing the stuff we were asking him to do, making checks at the line, getting people in places. He managed the game well. He did a really good job getting us in and out of the huddle. The game was not too fast for him.