Let Bryan Cranston hype you up for Opening Week

LOS ANGELES -- He’s a six-time Emmy winner, the acclaimed actor who brought to life one of television’s most memorable characters of all time in Walter White of “Breaking Bad.”

Cranston’s White is so menacing, so tense, so … confrontational, it’s hard to imagine he was able to focus on anything outside of being in character for the show’s six-year run.

And yet, just as much as Cranston devoted himself to that unforgettable, deeply complex role, he is equally immersed in his Dodgers fandom.

The esteemed actor and Canoga Park, Calif., product paid a visit to Dodger Stadium on an uncharacteristically rainy evening to film a new commercial for the 2024 Major League Baseball season.

Last spring, Cranston starred in a preseason hype video that emphasized baseball’s new rules -- the pitch timer and other measures put in place to ensure a quicker pace.

This time around, the focus is the same -- but it’s a year later, the new rules having been met with near-universal acclaim as the 2023 season played out.

The spot finds Cranston discussing some of the most exciting elements of the sport while walking the Dodger Stadium concourse, standing around home plate and generally embodying the chills we all feel as fans once Opening Day rolls around.

The difference being Cranston’s chills were due to being the only person (not counting the production crew) in the historic stadium he’s frequented innumerably throughout his 68 years.

“This is my Citadel,” Cranston told MLB.com. “This is where I feel happiest, ever since I was 6 years old coming here in 1962, when it opened. I’ve grown up with this place. It means something to me.

“When I die and I'm cremated, I want my wife to figure out how to drop the ashes on the pitcher's mound or home plate," he said with a smile, amused with the idea. "Just thinking about that, it’d be cool, the image of that. Listen, I hope that doesn't happen too soon, but it would be a nice, nice place to be.”

It’s almost as if baseball has always been a part of us, so why not be a little part of it yourself?

When asked that very question, Cranston replied, “Exactly. So when batters are up there and they reach down and get some soil, they're actually picking me up. There'll be pieces of me on their hands, you know, to dry themselves so they can swing the bat.”

That wry sense of humor is exemplary of Cranston’s face-to-face conversational style, the sort that makes you feel like you’re old friends … even if you’ve only just met minutes before.

He was enthusiastic throughout the commercial shoot, reflective of his personal interest in the subject matter. It can’t be easy to be the only actor on a hours-long shoot, repeating the same lines several times with different inflections.

But for Cranston, he’s effusive about his take on the game’s new era. What would he say is his favorite of the amended rules?

“The pitch timer worked so well, cutting the games down to a little over two hours,” he recalled. “You cut out 20, 25 minutes, that’s a lot. It keeps the game going.”

Of course, it was somewhat surprising Cranston showed his face at Chavez Ravine at all, after earning the dubious distinction of being the only player ejected from the All-Star Celebrity Softball Game in the event’s vaunted history back in 2022.

“Well, this is the only time I can come back to Dodger Stadium, because there was a restraining order put out on me that I was supposed to stay two miles away,” he explained with a stone-cold Walter White stare.

“But no one's here, so … by the way, I've been stalking and ghosting that umpire. He's never, ever going to umpire another Celebrity All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium ever again.”

When pressed to pick what he’s looking forward to watching the most with his Dodgers in 2024 -- separate from the obvious thrills Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto will provide -- Cranston had quick answers, because this guy knows his stuff.

“Tyler Glasnow, I’m curious to see if he’s able to stay healthy,” Cranston said. “Teoscar [Hernández] is someone I’m curious about as well.”

Told he should try to talk strategy with Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sometime, Cranston nodded in agreement.

“I’d love to go, ‘Hey, Doc! Come sit down for a minute, let’s chat.’”

Before making his mark in TV history as Walter White, Cranston was known for various roles in other films and shows over the years, from a recurring role as Jerry and Kramer’s eccentric dentist on “Seinfeld” to his Emmy-nominated run as Hal, the patriarch of the family at the center of “Malcolm in the Middle.”

Hal and Walter White exist on extremely opposite ends of the spectrum, both played to perfection by Cranston, who can be as hilariously slapstick as Hal as he is twisted and dark as Walter White.

It begs the question: Which of those characters would have a chance of glory on the baseball diamond?

“Well, they're both way too old, so … their prime is someone else’s low point,” Cranston opined. “One’s a man of science and one’s a man of lunacy. Walter White, if he followed his path, he probably could have made an extraordinary amount of money and been an owner of a Minor League club or something. Hal would be the peanut guy in the stands.”

“There was an episode of ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ where Hal fantasized about NASCAR. The image of these cars zooming around, it’s very exciting. But when we investigated exactly what he was fantasizing about, he was the guy who had the stick with the cup of water on it, and he would slide it toward the driver when he came in for a pit stop.

“That was his dream. It's a small dream, but it's a necessary one. The driver had to stay hydrated. So I think he would have been one of the extraordinary peanut vendors here.”

With all of his visits to Dodger Stadium over the decades, does Cranston have one specific moment that stands out to him above the rest?

“Yeah. It was the last game of the season, the Dodgers had to win against the Houston Astros in order to force a tie. It was a must-win game, and it was also Fan Appreciation Day.”

Note: It was most likely this game, on Oct. 5, 1980.

“My brother, my friend and I were sitting in the seats here. We had three seats in the Loge section, I think. The Dodgers won the game, a close game, we’re very excited. We went to get in line to get tickets for the next game, the one-game playoff against Houston to see who would advance. While we're in line, they're starting to do the raffles for various prizes.

“They go, ‘And now we have a brand-new truck, the winner is in Loge section 37’ -- and we gasp, because it was my brother’s ticket.

“My brother won a truck from that game. He drove it for a long, long time.”