LOS ANGELES — This one hurts. There’s no other way to put it.
There are stories around a championship run that never make it into the highlight reels. This is one of those. While the Dodgers were fighting through one of the wildest World Series we have ever watched, one of their own was walking through something far heavier than baseball.
On Friday, reliever Alex Vesia and his wife, Kayla, shared what the organization had quietly protected for nearly two weeks. Their baby daughter, Sterling, died on Sunday, October 26. Vesia last pitched for the Dodgers on October 17th, Then, the team had said on the 23rd that he was away for a “deeply personal family matter.” Now we know. And it is as painful as it sounds.
Vesia wrote on Instagram, alongside Kayla: “Our beautiful daughter went to heaven Sunday October 26th. There are no words to describe the pain we’re going through but we hold her in our hearts and cherish every second we had with her.” That line alone stops you. This was their first child. They had been sharing the pregnancy with fans since April. Everything about it felt joyful. To have it end like this is the kind of loss that does not fit inside a baseball story.
He went on: “Our little angel we love you forever & you’re with us always. Thank you to the Dodgers for their understanding and support during this time. Our baseball family showed up for us and we wouldn’t be able to do this without them.” That is the part that sounds exactly like what we have come to know about this clubhouse. Teammates rally. Front office shields. The manager answers for it so the player does not have to. The Dodgers handled it quietly because it was not their news to tell.
What is striking is how many people reached out. Vesia added, “Thank you Dodger Nation, Blue Jays organization and all baseball fans for your love and support. We have seen ALL your messages, comments and posts. It’s brought us so much comfort. Lastly, we’d like to thank Cedars Sinai and all the medical staff who helped Kayla and Sterling. Every person we came across was truly so incredible.” It is hard to imagine writing “thank you” in the middle of grief like that, but they did. That tells you a lot about the two of them.
The Dodgers played on without him and won Game 7 in Toronto. That part of the story is public. What was happening off camera was a lot of texts, calls, prayers, check-ins. After the win, reliever Will Klein made it clear that the bullpen had Vesia on their minds. “We’ve all messaged him,” Klein said. “We just want him to know that he’s in our hearts, and we did this all for him.” He added, “He’s such a big part of why we’re here in the first place, and so just to be able to get this for them… what they’re going through isn’t great.”
Dave Roberts pulled the curtain back a little more when he talked about both the Dodgers and the Blue Jays wearing Vesia’s number 51 on their caps during the series. “I think it really speaks to the brotherhood of athletes, Major League Baseball players,” Roberts said. “They’ll all say that ‘baseball is what we do but it’s not who we are’ and for these guys to recognize Alex, and what he and Kayla have gone through, heartbreaking is not even a good enough descriptor.” Roberts is right. “Heartbreaking” feels small here. He called it “a huge, huge tribute to Alex” that Toronto joined in. That is baseball at its best.
What makes this sting even more is how rooted Vesia has become in this team. Five seasons in Los Angeles. One of the best left-handed relievers in the game in 2025. Trusted in big spots. Loved in that clubhouse. His fiery way of attacking hitters made him a fan favorite. And he will be back. The Dodgers just renewed him for 2026. This is not some fringe guy whose name shows up on the forty-man two or three times a year. This is a Dodger. This is family.
And now, for him and for Kayla, everything is going to be in two tracks. There is the public one, where Dodger fans will welcome him back in the spring, tell him they are sorry, cheer him when he jogs in from the bullpen. Then there is the private one, where a mom and dad remember a baby girl who was here for too short a time. They said it themselves: “We hold her in our hearts and cherish every second we had with her.” That is what the next weeks and months will look like for them.
So what do we do with that as a fanbase? For starters, we honor what they asked. They said they saw the messages. Keep them coming. They thanked the Dodgers for “their understanding and support.” Keep that going too. The parade, the trophy, the rings in 2026, all of that can exist right alongside the fact that one of the most important people in that bullpen is grieving.
World Series titles are team accomplishments. This one belongs to Vesia as much as anyone who threw a pitch in World Series. His absence was felt, which is another way of saying his presence matters. When he walks back into that clubhouse, the right response is simple: love on him, let him work, and let him talk about Sterling when he wants to talk about her. And I’m sure each of his teammates is more than up to the task.
But there is a hurt that doesn’t go away. Ever. My brother and his wife lost a newborn in much the same circumstances more than a decade ago. There’s still a little hole in his heart that no current happiness can completely fill. As there will be with the Vesias, no doubt.
This was a great Dodgers season. It also contained a terrible loss. Both can be true. And in the middle of it, Alex and Kayla chose to tell us about their daughter. The least we can do is remember her name. Sterling.
Have you subscribed to the Bleed Los Podcast YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows & promotions, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
