The Diamondbacks and the Dodgers will begin their National League Division Series on Saturday with Game 1 in Los Angeles. This being a best-of-five set, there's a distinct possibility that the series concludes with Game 3 or 4, both of which will be played in Arizona at Chase Field. In turn, it stands to reason that there's also a distinct possibility that the victors of the series celebrate by taking a restorative dip in the pool beyond the right-field wall.
That pool has become a sore subject over the past decade as it pertains to relations between the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks. Yet, over the weekend, Diamondbacks team president Derrick Hall said his team will not forbid the Dodgers from jumping in should they prevail.
"They have the right to celebrate wherever they want, however they want," Hall told reporters, including Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times.
That's a perfectly reasonable stance for Hall to take, and one that drastically differs from where he found himself a decade ago, when the Dodgers hopped in the Chase Field pool after clinching the NL West title. For those who don't recall -- and gosh, why would you? -- Hall wrote this in an email to MLB.com: "I could call it disrespectful and classless, but they don't have a beautiful pool at their old ballpark and probably wanted to see what one was like."
The Diamondbacks were so irked by the Dodgers splashing around in their pool that several years later, after the deciding game of the 2017 NLDS between the squads, they had police on horseback stationed in front of the pool to prevent the Dodgers from engaging in any water-related shenanigans. That sounds like a joke, so here's visual evidence, courtesy of SB Nation's Eric Stephens:
It is 12:09am and the horses and police are still guarding the Chase Field pool pic.twitter.com/WQffbUtxyc
— Eric Stephen (@ericstephen) October 10, 2017
Who knows if the Dodgers will win this series, let alone in fewer than five games. Should they pull it off, there's no guarantee that anyone will get their cleats wet. Back in 2017, manager Dave Roberts gave his word that the Dodgers were uninterested in taking a swim at Chase Field. "Our guys clearly understand what this team is about, and we have no interest in jumping in a pool in right field," Roberts said.
We'll find out soon enough if the same applies to this year's Dodgers squad -- provided, that is, the Diamondbacks even give them the chance.
