The Dodgers are trying to recreate some 1988 magic as World Series underdogs

BOSTON — Matt Kemp laughs at the question being asked to him. Probably with good reason.

“How many times have you seen that Kirk Gibson homer from 1988?”

“I’ve played for the Dodgers for a loooong time, man,” Kemp says. “That’s something they always play.”

“Thousands,” says Justin Turner, the Dodgers third baseman.

“It’s part of our pregame video montage,” adds utilityman Kiké Hernández. “So a lot.”

They’re all correct. In L.A., finding a person who hasn’t seen Kirk Gibson limping around the bases after taking Dennis Eckersley deep in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series is like trying to find an empty freeway. It’s one of the most indelible moments October baseball has ever gifted us, so it’s probably etched into the brains of most Dodgers fans of a certain age.

Yet if you’re looking for a World Series highlight to show from the Dodgers, that’s still the one. The Gibson homer is both the most incredible moment in the past 30 years for the Dodgers and a harsh reminder of how many classic World Series moments they’ve produced since.

None.

They’ve been a great team, winning six division titles in a row, but with no World Series trophy to show. They were close last year, making it to Game 7 of the World Series, but that next title still eludes them. It’s something that the Dodgers and their fans know all too well — and something the people who love to hate the Dodgers keep ready in their ammo belt.

Thirty years later, nobody wearing Dodger blue at the World Series is itching to talk about the 1988 World Series. They’re worried about the now. But they do want to talk about adding another highlight to the montage.

“I don’t think it would take anything away from the ’88 team and what they’ve accomplished,” Turner says. “L.A. is ready for some new stories. There’s a whole generation of Dodgers fans out there who weren’t even around for that ’88 World Series. They only get the little blips of highlights from that. I think we’re ready to give them their own memories.”

As fate would have it, these Dodgers would be taking a strikingly similar path to their 1988 brethren if they can pull off an upset of the Boston Red Sox. Consider the following:

• The Dodgers are the underdogs against a Red Sox team that won the most games in the regular season. Just like the Oakland Athletics did in 1988.

• The Dodgers needed seven games to finish off their NLCS opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers, just like the 1988 Dodgers did with the New York Mets.

• The Red Sox come into the World Series after beating the Houston Astros handily in the ALCS. It took five games. The 1988 A’s beat their ALCS opponent in four. Would you believe it was the Red Sox?

• The A’s had the AL MVP, Jose Canseco, in their lineup, just like the 2018 Red Sox have the presumptive MVP in Mookie Betts.

After all these years of hearing about 1988, it turns out 1988 might actually be the roadmap to the long-awaited next Dodgers title.

“We’ve always talked about,” Kemp says, “how you can’t take away what they did, but we’re trying to get some new highlights up there. It’s time we rewrite history.”

It’s funny to even think of the Dodgers as underdogs. How could a $199 million team ever be an underdog? When the opposing team has a $228 million payroll and won 108 regular season games.

The Dodgers, meanwhile, are a team that hasn’t proven itself to have a killer instinct that matches its talent. They needed 163 games to win the division after an up-and-down season. They needed seven games against the Brewers to get here after an up-and-down NLCS.

But that all goes away with four wins in the World Series.

So does 30 years of waiting.

“It’d be awesome,” Hernandez says. “I just hope it’s not similar to Kirk, because I don’t want any of us to get hurt and come off the bench hurt.”

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Mike Oz is a writer at Yahoo Sports. Contact him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @MikeOz

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