The image of victory on a baseball field is often one of joy, camaraderie, and triumph, but sometimes, it’s marked by a deep, aching absence. As the Los Angeles Dodgers clinched one of the most thrilling World Series titles in recent memory, their dependable left-handed reliever, Alex Vesia, was not on the mound. He wasn’t celebrating in the locker room. He wasn’t even at the stadium. He was mourning the unimaginable.
A Quiet Goodbye Before the Biggest Dodgers Game of the Year
Just days before the Series began, Vesia and his wife, Kayla, shared that their newborn daughter, Sterling, had passed away on October 26. The team cited a “deeply personal matter” at the time, but the heartbreak behind those words only became clear after the Series ended. The loss was sudden and devastating, casting a long shadow over what should have been a celebratory moment in the couple’s life and Vesia’s career.
Now, three months later, Kayla has returned to social media, not with a message of recovery, but with a raw and unfiltered glimpse into what comes after the funeral, after the condolences, after the headlines. Grief, as she explained, doesn’t follow a schedule. It’s uneven, unpredictable, and ongoing. “Every day is so different for us right now,” she admitted in a quiet TikTok update, adding that both she and Alex are simply “trying to get through it.”
From Mourning to Meaning: A Mother’s New Mission
There’s no playbook for this kind of loss, no training regimen that prepares you for burying your child. But in speaking up, Kayla has opened a door for others, not into her pain, exactly, but into the strange space that grief occupies when the world moves on, and you’re still standing in the wreckage.
She was honest about the limits of what she can share and what she’s ready to say. “I will not be coming on here and crying,” she said firmly. Her words were not performative. They were an offering. Not for sympathy, but for solidarity. For anyone out there facing a similar silence after unspeakable loss.
Baseball Honors a Teammate’s Pain
Their daughter’s memory was honored in small, solemn gestures; both the Dodgers and the Blue Jays wore Vesia’s number, 51, on their caps during the World Series. The gesture was brief, but the message was profound. This wasn’t just about baseball anymore.
Alex Vesia, just 29, had been one of the team’s most reliable bullpen arms all season. His absence during the postseason was deeply felt, even as the Dodgers lifted the trophy. But as Kayla made clear, there are moments in life when the scoreboard no longer matters.
“We love you forever & you’re with us always,” they had written in October. And now, with grace, pain, and strength, Kayla is choosing to speak again, not for closure, but to remind others that they are not alone.
