The Dodgers aren’t purported to be making this look really easy.
From Day One in spring coaching, this was the season storyline: Can the Dodgers change into the primary main league workforce in 25 years to repeat as champions?
Simple to know. Onerous to do.
However a deeper look reveals a level of problem beneath the storyline.
The New York Yankees received the World Sequence in 2000 — their third consecutive championship — then misplaced the World Sequence in 2001.
Since then, just one champion has even returned to the World Sequence the next yr.
Over half the time — 12 instances in 23 years — the World Sequence champion didn’t even qualify for the postseason the next yr.
Seven champions misplaced within the subsequent yr’s league championship sequence. Three misplaced within the subsequent yr’s division sequence.
Repeat? Simple to know and exhausting to do, however the Dodgers are 7-1 on this postseason.
Because the Nationwide League Championship Sequence strikes to Dodger Stadium on Thursday, the Dodgers are two victories from a return to the World Sequence.
That may be a step towards the aim, not the aim itself, nevertheless it nonetheless would make them simply the second workforce in 23 years to win a championship one yr and return to the World Sequence the subsequent.
The opposite: the 2008-09 Philadelphia Phillies, the workforce of Chase Utley, Cole Hamels, Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.
The historic report signifies successful the World Sequence is hard and successful the subsequent is more durable, however Rollins wouldn’t concede that.
“I don’t think it was harder than it was the first time,” mentioned Rollins, working the NLCS as an analyst for TNT Sports activities. “I think the first time was the hardest.
“You haven’t gone there. You haven’t made it to the top and had that success. It was more about motivation: We’re the champs now, we’re just taking another step.”
Recall what Mookie Betts mentioned on the Dodgers’ fan pageant final yr, after the Dodgers had signed Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow however earlier than that they had even reported to spring coaching: “Every game is going to be the other team’s World Series.”
The Dodgers took everybody’s greatest shot final yr. They accumulate beginning pitchers yearly — your veterans, your children, your waiver claims, your extremely paid free brokers, and your injured — with the purpose that simply sufficient shall be wholesome and efficient come October.
This yr, they’ve so many arms prepared that Clayton Kershaw and Emmet Sheehan are relegated to the bullpen. Final yr, that they had so few that their postseason starters included 4 openers: Ryan Brasier twice, Michael Kopech and Ben Casparius.
“We did it the hard way last year,” utilityman Kiké Hernández mentioned. “It’s really hard to win without starting pitching, and we found a way to do it.”
The Dodgers signed Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki for the rotation final winter, and Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates for the bullpen.
Now? Snell is beginning, Sasaki is closing, and Scott and Yates will not be on the playoff roster. However, nicely, that was the plan after successful the World Sequence.
“Usually, if you’re the last team standing at the end of October, you’ve used a lot of your pitching very aggressively throughout the month to do it,” mentioned Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman. “And we really didn’t have that.
“Now, our bullpen did, but didn’t have it in the conventional way. So adding some fresh arms, we thought, would be helpful with that.”
The October aces — the beginning pitchers that may put their workforce on their again and carry it by way of the postseason — are few and much between. Snell, Yamamoto and Glasnow have been aces to date this October, however the Dodgers intend to maintain enjoying for one more two weeks.
In 1988, Orel Hershiser threw 300 innings, playoffs included. In 2013, Kershaw threw 259 — greater than the mixed complete of Snell, Glasnow and Ohtani to date this yr. Yamamoto has thrown 193 innings.
There’s a concern for the Dodgers, simply as there all the time was a priority for the Lakers, in regards to the long-term toll of enjoying one other month yearly.
For pitchers, nevertheless, the workloads for one of the best starters have gone down even because the variety of playoff rounds have gone up. However, these new rounds are shorter ones, and even one of the best groups can lose two of three video games, or three of 5, to be eradicated lengthy earlier than a World Sequence.
“The playoff format doesn’t lend itself to just getting into the championship series and getting to the World Series,” Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts mentioned. “So that in itself makes it more difficult.”
The Dodgers have received the World Sequence one season and returned the subsequent season twice: in 1955-56 and 1965-66, when every league champion superior on to the World Sequence.
In these years, the postseason subject was two groups, and 4 wins received the championship trophy. The sector is as much as 12 groups now, and the Dodgers will want 4 rounds and 13 postseason wins to repeat.
“It’s hard getting guys to play their best baseball at the right time and to keep guys playing at a high level for 162 [games] to get to the postseason,” Roberts mentioned, “then to give yourself a chance to win 11 or, this year, 13 games in October.
“What have I learned? I’ve learned that you’ve got to kind of give players grace at points during the season to appreciate the human side — it’s hard to play every game in April like it’s Game 7 — but know when to kind of turn it on.”
On July 3, the Dodgers had constructed a nine-game lead. On Aug. 13, after the Angels had swept them, the Dodgers fell into second place.
Stated Rollins: “August? You’ve got a whole other month. July? It’s hot, let’s get to the All-Star break. In the playoffs, it’s just win the series.”
The Dodgers completed the common season with the third-best report within the NL, however they’ve overwhelmed the workforce with the second-best report (the Philadelphia Phillies) and seem poised to beat the workforce with one of the best report (the Brewers). They’ve received 22 of their final 28 video games.
The one concern Friedman mentioned he didn’t have about constructing a repeat winner was complacency. He mentioned he all the time believed the gamers could be “focused on and driven by legacy, and doing something that’s so incredibly difficult.”
They’re already greater than midway there. They want 13 wins. They’ve seven. Rollins believes they are going to get the opposite six.
“I thought, if the Phillies had beaten the Dodgers, no one could stop them,” Rollins mentioned. “And vice versa: If the Dodgers beat the Phillies, no one could stop them.
“If you look at the way the teams match up — power for power, star power, great pitching — they presented basically a mirror image of themselves. Obviously, no one else has Shohei. But the style of game: they can score in many ways, they can bop, they’re clutch. They’ve proven it.”
Six to get, and historical past to make.
