Shakes, sacrifices and suitcases

Just when I think I have this whole baseball life somewhat figured out a season like 2019 punches me in the throat. HA. But seriously. In all the best ways.

Welcome to my (Jesica’s) take on Matt’s rookie season from behind the scenes and all my emotions. 

Since I have been traveling with Matt, we’ve had it pretty easy as far as pretty much knowing what’s going on. My first year we were in AA all year then went to fall league then the next year were in AAA and even though Matt was hurt most of the season we pretty much knew we were going to be in OKC or AZ rehabbing. Then obviously started this season in OKC and then everything else that followed made up for all the certainty we’ve had thus far.

Since April 30 when Matt made his debut, I’m not even kidding you guys when I say everyday I was thinking after the game “ok, is Matt going to text me and say he’s being optioned.’ It happened a few times but most days it didn’t but still everyday was a thought. I say that because that’s why we lived out of hotels for the entire season and paid on our apartment in OKC every month. So we would have that apartment to go back to and it housed all of our stuff and it never made sense to get a place in LA because it wasn’t permanent.

I don’t think this was on Matt’s mind as much as it was mine just because I was the one who had to figure out all the logistics if he did get sent back. How to get Grainger, when to fly back, make sure we have all our stuff, contact job to tell them I’m back, just all these things started going through my mind if/when he got optioned. All Matt had to do was get on the plane and go play in OKC or go play in LA…and I don’t mean to make that sound easy because it’s not obviously and I wrote a blog on what it was like during the season but during the season I’m the one dealing with all the life stuff because he doesn’t have time or need to be focusing on that stuff.

This season was a constant battle on are we making the right decisions of trying to guess what’s going to happen. For example, the second time Matt got called up I took our dog to stay with my parents not knowing if he would be up for three days or a couple months. That ended up being the right move because he stayed up for a couple of months. Toward the end of July I made the decision to pack up most of stuff in OKC and take it to my parents just in case he was up through the end of season I didn’t have to make a trip back. That ended up being the right decision too because thankfully he wasn’t optioned again. But so many decisions were guesses and trying to figure out what was practical.

Enough on that. The second thing I always get asked is about my travel. So every organization is different but the Dodgers paid for my flight when Matt first got called up and then they paid for my flight to come out to family day because I made it back to OKC and he got called back up six hours after I got to OKC. They didn’t have to pay for that second one, but sense it was family day they were super nice about it and reimbursed us. From what we experienced this season, the Dodgers are really good about taking the best care of families. They picked certain trips where wives could fly on the charter flights with the guys and anytime the team was coming back to LA the wives could get on those flights. Which was HUGE because that meant I only had to worry about getting to each place. There were a couple flights this season where I was heading to the airport in an Uber praying Matt wasn’t going to get optioned while I was boarding the plane. Thankfully that never happened :) We did get taxed anytime I rode the team flight but still cheaper (and so much more convenient) than if we booked my flight. I also got to stay in the room with Matt on the road trips. All the guys get their own rooms in the big leagues. All the team flights during the playoffs families could go on. 

The last thing I wanted to talk about was how this season was a big adjustment for me. I think I had these expectations of what being in the big leagues would be like. I think I thought I would be so satisfied and it would be so easy but boy did I get a rude awakening when Matt was first called up. I didn’t have Grainger. I wasn’t working. I didn’t know anyone. We were in a hotel. Living out of a suitcases for six months. Packing suitcases ever few days. Eating out for basically every meal (my body definitely felt this one) I hated downtown LA. I didn’t know what was happening day to day. Nothing was “normal” for me, and I struggled to keep myself busy.  

On one end I was having the best time ever watching Matt live his dream our dreams, but then on the other hand I was feeling sorry for myself a little bit. I wasn’t going to share any of this with Matt because again I didn’t want his focus to be on anything else, and I knew this was a me problem I needed to work out on my own. Once some other rookie girls came up and I started being around them I felt better and vented to them a little bit and then I finally made the decision to get over it. This was once in a lifetime season. Looking back I’m glad I went through that because now I know how to help girls who will be in that same position. I have never been someone who feels sorry for themselves so this was such new territory for me and I needed to learn how to get myself out of the funk. It was such a weird thing because I would go to the games and see Matt out there and hang out with him afterwards and just be like what is this life and how did we get so lucky. To say I was an emotional rollercoaster would be an understatement. 

No routine. Nothing for myself really took this toll on me during the day. But watching Matt and walking into a big league stadium everyday took my breath away every single time.

When Matt made this debut, I didn’t eat at all that day I was so anxious and the same when he made his first start. But as the season went on I felt so comfortable watching him out there knowing that’s where he belongs. I did got all the nerves though when he was coming up in big situations…which seemed to happen a lot for a rookie… I never got nervous really watching him in the minors, but at this level I’m not sure they’re ever really go away but they defiantly got better the more he played. 

Postseason nerves of course were an all time high just because the stakes were so high but still how cool to experience the playoffs in your rookie season. 
I know sacrifices was listed in this title and all of these things are sacrifices. And I am choosing to kind of put my career on hold while I am traveling with Matt which can be seen as the biggest sacrifice but honestly ever since we decided I was going to travel I have not once regretted it. And after this season I cannot imagine if I wasn’t there every step of the way. We had the time of our lives this season through all the highs, lows and messy. We both sacrifice a lot for Matt to be able to chase this but at the same time we look at it as this is our life. It’s not normal but we don’t want normal.