Oakland Athletics tickets

THE 1988 DODGERS SHOULD HAVE HAD A bad year. Fernando Valenzuela, the workhorse of the pitching staff, won just five games before being shelved for the year. Pedro Guerrero, the team's best hitter for a decade, hit only five homers before being traded away. And yet they won. They won on July 6 when, losing 3-0 entering the eighth inning, Franklin Stubbs hit a grand slam. They won on August 13, when pitcher Tim Leary, pinch hitting because no position players were left on the bench, got a game-winning hit in the bottom of the eleventh against the Giants. They won on August 20, when a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth enabled Kirk Gibson to score the winning run-from second base.

The Dodgers won mostly because of Gibson. He was the team's first big free agent signing in nearly a decade, and his stats were good-he ranked fourth in the league in on-base percentage, seventh in home runs, and stole 31 bases. Still, the statistics didn't tell the whole story. For the most part, Gibson was named National League MVP because of his intense, inspirational leadership. The Dodgers won 94 games following his lead and outlasted the Mets in a marathon National League play  off series. The Dodgers had been expected to lose to the Mets, but they were really expected to lose to the Oakland Athletics gear available, in the World Series, since the A's won 104 regular season games, a figure not topped in the American League since the 1970 Baltimore Orioles. Their best players were the Bash Brothers, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire, both of whom were among the best power hitters in the game. Canseco's 42 homers and 40 steals made him the best all-around player in baseball.

The Dodgers got bad news before the first game. Gibson-who could barely walk after injuring both his right knee and his left hamstring-would not be in the starting line-up. "I tried to do a little jog in my living room today, and it hurt like shit," Gibson said. "It was obvious I couldn't play." Gibson was in the trainer's room getting a cortisone shot while the teams were introduced before the game.

Canseco started the Oakland Athletics Baseball off as expected, hitting a grand slam in the second inning. It looked as if the Dodgers were finished as they still trailed 4-3 when Dennis Eckersley entered in the ninth inning to close out the game. Eckersley had been named MVP of the American League playoffs after leading the major leagues in saves during the regu¬lar season. He was at the beginning of a remarkable five-year run that would see him post a 1.90 ERA over 360 innings to establish himself as one of the greatest relief pitchers in baseball history.