4 years later, the reminiscence stays uncomfortably contemporary.
The final time the Dodgers tried to defend a World Sequence title, they racked up 106 victories. They matched the perfect successful proportion within the franchise’s Los Angeles historical past. They’d seven All-Stars and three Cy Younger vote-getters.
And it nonetheless wasn’t sufficient to win them the Nationwide League West.
The San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers nonetheless nicely bear in mind, gained 107 video games within the 2021 season, marking the one time within the final dozen years another person has claimed the division crown. The Dodgers ultimately knocked the Giants out of the playoffs that October, however their elongated path via the postseason as a wild card group left them gassed within the NL Championship Sequence. They have been eradicated six wins shy of a repeat title.
For president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman, the expertise underscored an all-important reality.
“Our primary goal during the regular season is to win the division,” Friedman mentioned. “That is what we feel like puts us in the best position to accomplish our ultimate goal.”
Thus, with one other tight division race looming this 12 months, the Dodgers didn’t wait to behave aggressively this week.
Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor have been struggling. Dalton Speeding and Hyeseong Kim appeared like intriguing big-league choices. And in two strikes that have been made in an effort to “win as many games as we can” on this season’s World Sequence title protection, Friedman mentioned, the longtime veterans have been launched to make room for the rookies. Sentimentality misplaced out to the percentages of even barely higher regular-season success.
“This has been a very emotional week for all of us,” Friedman mentioned, addressing reporters hours after Taylor was launched on Sunday. Barnes was designated for project earlier within the week. “Barnsey and CT have been in the middle of some huge moments for this organization. Both guys have left an indelible mark on our culture and where we’re at this point. So the decisions were incredibly difficult. The conversations were tough.”
“But,” Friedman countered, “with where we are, the division race, the composition of roster, everything — we felt like this was in the Dodgers’ best interest … [to] put us in a position to best win the World Series this year.”
Word the primary issue Friedman talked about in his reply.
Although the Dodgers are tied for the perfect report within the Nationwide League at 29-18, they proceed to nurse the slimmest of NL West leads, getting into Monday only one sport up on the rival San Diego Padres (27-18) and upstart San Francisco Giants (28-19), and solely 4 video games away from even the fourth-place Arizona Diamondbacks (25-22).
With their pitching workers already in tatters, at the least quickly, due to a wave of early-season accidents, the significance of constant offense has additionally all of the sudden heightened; the Dodgers needing to maximise the manufacturing of their lineup to assist offset a 4.18 group ERA that ranks twenty first within the majors.
In a world the place the Dodgers have been operating away with the division, or pitching the best way they anticipated after two offseasons of spending closely on the mound, possibly they might have tolerated Barnes’ and Taylor’s mixed .208 batting common. They could have been extra snug giving two longtime cornerstones of the franchise an extended leash to show issues round.
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As an alternative, as membership brass surveyed this 12 months’s aggressive division panorama, they acknowledged that — this season greater than most — each single victory might matter come the tip of the marketing campaign. That each single loss would make the problem of successful one other World Sequence incrementally more durable.
So, as Speeding crushed triple-A pitching and Kim excelled in what was initially deliberate to be solely a short big-league call-up, the Dodgers did what they felt like they have to. Speeding changed Barnes as backup catcher. Taylor was minimize unfastened so Kim wouldn’t be despatched again to the minors. And a roster that after appeared too top-heavy now has, at the least in principle, extra potential influence choices to deliver off the bench.
“We didn’t feel like coming into the season this was something that we would necessarily be doing in May,” Friedman mentioned. “But with where we were, all things factored in, while not easy, we felt like it was the right thing to do.”
There have been different causes, after all, the Dodgers felt motivated to make such emotionally conflicting selections now.
Supervisor Dave Roberts famous that Speeding (who was batting .308 within the minors this 12 months, and has began his big-league profession a formidable four-for-10) and Kim (who has hit .452 since arriving within the majors, and has impacted video games along with his versatile glove and lightning-quick velocity) deserved alternatives for extra distinguished roles.
With many of the group’s core gamers on the mistaken aspect of 30, there are longer-term concerns about creating youthful expertise as nicely.
“I think some of it is the [division] race,” Roberts mentioned. “Some of it is, you still want to continue to develop young players and give them opportunities with a veteran ball club.”
Finally, it was all the time seemingly that Speeding would power his method to the majors, and that Kim would carve out a distinct segment along with his well-rounded ability set.
However the early stress being utilized by the group’s NL West rivals nonetheless sped up that timeline. The Dodgers bear in mind what occurred in 2021. And, cautious of getting that actuality repeat itself, they didn’t wait to start appearing with urgency this 12 months.
“We saw it in 2021, winning 106 games and not winning the division,” Friedman mentioned. “We have a tough division [again this year]. We’ve got some really good teams in our division who are playing well. And so for us, it’s about doing everything we can each night to try to win a game.”
