Los Angeles Councilman Wants MLB to Name Dodgers 2017, 2018 World Series Champs

In Thursday’s Hot Clicks: A city councilman wants to rewrite the history books, the latest on Odell Beckham Jr.’s generosity and more.

You can’t just name a new World Series champ

In light of recent revelations that the Astros and Red Sox were cheating during the seasons in which they won the World Series, a Los Angeles city councilman has come up with brilliant solution: just name the Dodgers champs for 2017 and 2018. 

The Dodgers were arguably the best team of the past decade, winning an average of 92 games per year, but they don’t have any hardware to show for it. Both times they made the World Series, they lost. Now that we know the Astros stole signs in 2017 and the Red Sox did the same in 2018, councilman Gil Cedillo thinks those championships should be transferred to the Dodgers. 

Cedillo is one of the council members sponsoring a resolution that would urge Major League Baseball to take the championships away from Houston and Boston “and award them to the Los Angeles Dodgers,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

It’s not yet clear when the council will vote on the resolution, but Cedillo told the Times he expects it to pass. 

“This is an equity and justice thing,” Cedillo told the Times. “Who was the best team in 2017? Who was the best team in 2018? It was the Dodgers. They got beat by teams that were cheating.

“Do they need to be told that they shouldn’t have a title?”

The Astros and Red Sox might not have won fair and square, but awarding those championships to the Dodgers is obviously absurd. The whole idea of stripping a team of a title is stupid to begin with. A championship is about what players and fans feel in that moment, not what the record books reflect. When the NCAA vacates titles, it doesn’t then award the championship to the team that lost the title game. This is a good way to score cheap political points, though. 

Straight cash, homie

Odell Beckham Jr. should be a little more subtle next time. 

Beckham wanted to congratulate a few LSU players after they beat Clemson—by giving them what sure looked like a couple hundred dollars in cash. Where he went wrong was by doing it on the field, in the middle of the celebration, with reporters all around. LSU tried to say that the cash was fake, but are we really expected to believe that OBJ walks around New Orleans with wads of Monopoly money?

The cash-filled handshakes didn’t stop there, apparently. Joe Burrow told "Pardon My Take” that he and some teammates partied with Beckham and some other former LSU players and Beckham gave him some dough. 

And now LSU is admitting that maybe some of the money was real. 

The funny thing is, we all know this sort of thing happens all the time behind closed doors. Beckham’s only mistake was not waiting until the cameras were away to show his appreciation. 

The best of SI

Legal expert Michael McCann examines the OBJ money controversy. ... It’s not too early to rank the top college football teams of 2020. ... Good for Luke Keuchly for retiring now.

Around the sports world

The Ringer’s oral history about Stuart Scott, who died five years ago this month, is really fantastic and really gut-wrenching. ... Rocky Johnson, the WWE Hall of Famer and father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, died at age 75. ... Cristiano Ronaldo reportedly takes up to five naps per day. ... The Big3 is rebranding, saying it’s no longer basketball but “FIREBALL3.” ... Former USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann needs to produce his coaching license to be on the sideline for Hertha Berlin this weekend but he thinks he left it in a drawer in his house in California. 

That’s a former linebacker getting decked by a ref!

You really have to feel for this guy

Truly a sad day. Drew Pearson in now the only member of the NFL 1970’s All Decade 1st Team not in. The only player NOT in. #Cowboys @NBCDFWSports pic.twitter.com/1601DD4myZ

— Newy Scruggs (@newyscruggs) January 15, 2020

Buzzer beater!

SOUTH CAROLINA BEATS KENTUCKY AT THE BUZZER 🚨 pic.twitter.com/pqlWPIKO7w

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) January 16, 2020

One in a million

Schmozzle is a great word

This is amazing in retrospect

Not sports

The guy who played Robin on the ’60s Batman series says producers wanted him to take pills to make his penis smaller. ... The EU wants to pass a law requiring all smartphones to use the same charging port. ... The CEO of Twitter says he eats only seven times per week. 

I mean, accurate

This is political suicide in New York

A good song

Email dan.gartland@simail.com with any feedback or follow me on Twitter for approximately one half-decent baseball joke per week. Bookmark this page to see previous editions of Hot Clicks and find the newest edition every day. By popular request I’ve made a Spotify playlist of the music featured here. Visit our Extra Mustard page throughout each day for more offbeat sports stories.