The Dodgers have lost a game in the 2020 World Series so, of course, I’m losing my mind. Not again! Crickey, not again.

Not that watching that 6-4 defeat in Game 2 was bad for me, but I have decided that the Dodgers must win Game 3 or they will lose the best-of-seven series.

Why? Because the narrative of the 2020 World Series would flip.

The Tampa Bay Rays arrived on baseball’s biggest stage as underpaid outsiders, red meat for the powerful Dodgers and their all-star lineup and deep pockets.

The Dodgers would reinforce their standing as one of baseball’s elite organizations and, after maybe five games, they would slug the Rays out of the Series.

The Dodgers would go home to a parade (or would have in a non-Covid year) having snapped a 32-year championship drought.

And the no-name Rays would go back to Florida having further solidified their place as a franchise that gets the most from the least.

They were the American League’s best team despite carrying the game’s third-lowest 2020 player payroll, $23.6 million, according to spotrac.com.

They would advance to a World Series where the opposition’s payroll was second-highest in the game, at $107.9 million.

According to Jayson Stark of The Athletic, a Rays victory over the Dodgers would feature the biggest gap in payroll in World Series history.

And most everyone would be happy with the outcome, aside from Dodgers fans, because Americans love an underdog (the Rays) and dislike overdogs (the Dodgers).

So, the Dodgers doing what they are supposed to do, not a big national story. They were supposed to win.

But if they do not escort the Rays out of the playoffs fairly quickly … if this turns into dogfight … the Dodgers then become the big-ticket bullies.

It is much harder to win when social media is massed in a love for the little guys.

So, Dodgers … win tonight, behind new ace Walker Buehler, and they can be back in control, with a chance to pop the Champagne before the weekend is out.

Yes, kind of a mass of worry, from your correspondent, but that is how we aged Dodgers fans think.