Kiké Hernández reached deep over the wall to try and steal a home run away from JD Martinez in the seventh inning. (Jill Weisleder/Los Angeles Dodgers)

by Cary Osborne

Some stayed and watched.

Some left immediately.

Kiké Hernández, who made the penultimate out in the 2018 World Series, was the final Dodger player to leave the dugout after the Dodgers lost to the Boston Red Sox 5–1 in Game 5. He walked slowly through strewn litter and discarded sunflower seed shells. He stopped near the corner of the dugout, grabbed his glove and hung a left down steps into a tunnel, and into the offseason.

It’s the same journey every Dodger took after the loss. The tunnel led to the Dodger clubhouse where there were hugs and goodbyes and final words.

The hurt was felt in many of those words.

“As a competitor you always want a shot to get a chance at the ultimate goal,” said Austin Barnes. “It stings. It hurts. It sucks. It will rip your heart out.”

But then there are moments that transcend baseball and are just life.

Like for Dylan Floro — a relief pitcher who was designated for assignment twice in the last 15 months and acquired by the Dodgers in a trade from Cincinnati on July 4. It’s the equivalent of losing two jobs and changing another.

Three years into his Major League career, with his third team, Floro was on every Dodger postseason roster this year.

He packed his belongings up in the clubhouse, then patiently waited as Clayton Kershaw spoke to a reporter. He walked up to Kershaw and handed him a baseball and asked arguably the greatest pitcher of his generation if he could sign it for him.

Kershaw did.

“I’ve been wanting to do it. Don’t really like doing that kind of stuff, but I didn’t want to lose the opportunity. It was getting to the last minute there,” Floro said.

“I don’t know where I’ll be next year. That guy has been doing it for 11 years — unbelievable stuff and he’s proven it from day one till now. Just watching him pitch and the work he puts in, it’s unbelievable and fun to watch.”

Max Muncy, like Floro, has been designated for assignment in his career. He didn’t play a game in the Majors in 2017, but became a star as the Dodgers’ leading home run hitter in 2018. There was a moment where he stood in front of his locker in the clubhouse and was able to find a good feeling.

“There’s not a whole lot of guys who get to experience this at all, whether it’s on this side or the other side,” Muncy said. “Just being in the World Series is the whole reason why you play the game. Just getting a chance to get here was incredible, and I’m thankful and blessed to have that. Hopefully I get to do it again.”

But the good feeling was brief.

“Right now I’m dealing with the defeat of this. When I get home I’ll have time to think about it, but right now it sucks,” Muncy said.

Matt Kemp, whose Major League career began in Los Angeles in 2006 and came full circle when he was traded for in December, had a renaissance year — first being elected to start in the All-Star Game, then powering the Dodgers to critical wins in September to reaching his first World Series and hitting the first homer of the series for the Dodgers in Game 1.

“This is where I grew up,” he said. “LA, it kind of raised me a little bit. As a 21-year-old kid from Oklahoma, this is a big city, a lot of bright lights and a lot of things going on. This will always be home, and I just appreciate (LA) welcoming me back.”

Kemp also shifted from reflective to somber.

“It stings a lot,” he said. “I don’t think anyone wants to get to the World Series and lose. Why not win when you’re at this point? A lot of guys were thinking we’d come up short and not even make the postseason. It shows the character of our team and the fight of our team. We fought. We got to where we wanted to get to. We just fell short. Now we have to close this chapter of the book and try and write a new one.”

And then there was wanting to succeed for others, as Cody Bellinger pointed out. He said how fortunate he felt to be in the big leagues two years and reach a World Series each time. So he unselfishly shifted his thoughts to the pain of others.

“You never know when you’re going to play with these guys,” Bellinger said. “I’m never going to play with Chase Utley again, and he went through a lot of stuff. This year he wasn’t on the playoff roster, was hurt, and he wanted a ring so bad. Guys like him and Clayton Kershaw, they wanted it so bad. That is honestly the worst part of it all.”

This was Utley’s final day in a baseball uniform. After 16 highly productive years, a World Series title with Philadelphia in 2008 and an influential four seasons with the Dodgers, Utley is now retired. And though his final team didn’t win its last game of the year, there was something to be said about how the team he ended his career with was special.

“It means a lot,” he said of what Bellinger said. “From my perspective I wanted them to win for themselves, to experience something I got to experience. There’s no better feeling than being the best team in the world. These guys should hold their heads high and be proud of what we did this year.”