The Dodgers on Sunday won, as has been the case many days this year. They've won 106 games, which is the franchise record, and we're talking about a storied franchise with one of the better histories in baseball. This Dodgers team is so good, so talented, so deep and so well run and should be celebrated. 

The simple reality of the situation, however, is that this team won't be celebrated by many fans and media unless they make the final celebration of the season and pop bottles to celebrate the Dodgers' first World Series championship since 1988. 

It's not really fair, is it? Take the Twins, for example. If they don't win the World Series, eventually legions of Twins fans will be looking back with great fondness at the season that was. 

This is the bar the Dodgers have set for themselves. This is their seventh trip to the playoffs and they have as many rings in this stretch as the Mariners. When a team goes to the postseason so many times and the run includes back-to-back pennants, the perception is that the team is a failure unless they win the World Series. Hell, the Braves won their division every single year from 1991-2005 and that group is generally looked at as a playoff failure for "only" winning one World Series. 

The Dodgers are a big-time success story. Winning a division seven straight years is a really big deal. Winning two straight pennants is a really big deal and a true accomplishment. 

If they don't win it all, however, many will act like the Dodgers are some sort of punchline. Let's make a pact to not be part of that crowd. This is an incredibly successful franchise that deserves praise.