Pack your passports, friends — the Dodgers are headed to Toronto. For all their star power and skill, though, it didn’t always look like the Dodgers were going to punch those tickets. The regular season
was a bit of a roller coaster, and it’s a relief that the postseason so far has been smooth sailing in comparison.
Manager Dave Roberts called a team meeting in early September that might have helped make that transition. Roberts doesn’t often organize such get togethers, according to Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic, so players must have known something was up.
And the message was surprising: Stop trying to be perfect.
“Just giving everyone permission to let go of the prior, call it, five months of the year, the inconsistencies of play,” Roberts said. “Offloading all that stuff, myself included, to then go from that point forward and to play like a team that’s going to the postseason.”
Maybe the team had been feeling too much pressure to repeat as World Series champs; as Max Muncy told Ardaya, the Dodgers felt like they needed to win it all again this year. And maybe, like Alex Vesia mentioned, the toll of 162 games was catching up to them. Whatever the case, the Dodgers only had to deal with one more crushing loss—this time to the Baltimore Orioles as they let a one-hit game get away from them—before things started improving.
They finished the season with a 15-5 streak, then managed two sweeps to make it to the World Series. These are the same guys who narrowly won the division and still had to play in the Wild Card? No way.
“Despite what the results were at times during the season, we always knew we were going to be a really, really good team in October,” Muncy said. “And October is obviously the goal for us. Once you get to October, it’s, ‘All right, it’s game time.’ And that’s how we’re taking it.”
Indeed it is.
Dodgers Notes
What can we expect from the Toronto Blue Jays in the World Series? Andy McCullough and Steve Berman at The Athletic have a comprehensive breakdown of every detail, from the pros and cons of each home field to key players, past and present, that help tell the story of this year’s matchup.
The Dodgers spend more money on player salaries than almost any other team, and it’s been obvious this postseason. Is there a way to level the playing field? MLB owners think a salary cap can even things out, while the players’ union thinks owners should be spending more. Chelsea Janes at The Washington Post discusses the financial implications of the Dodgers’ charmed postseason.
Baseball reporter Joon Lee gave an excellent breakdown of how Shohei Ohtani’s contract has already paid for itself thanks to brand deals, ticket sales, and merchandise revenue—no easy feat for a $700 million deal.
