PHOENIX — They didn’t dogpile on the mound. They have been animated however comparatively reserved in an abbreviated clubhouse champagne bathe.
It was little doubt a celebratory second for the Dodgers, capturing their twelfth division title within the final 13 years with an 8-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday.
Nevertheless it was accompanied by moments of inside reflection, as nicely. A couple of common season that has posed challenges at each flip. A couple of six-month slog through which frustration and adversity have been round each nook.
“This has been a tough year,” third baseman Max Muncy stated.
Dodgers Roki Sasaki, left; Shohei Ohtani, left heart; Hyeseong Kim, proper heart; and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, proper, have a good time after clinching the Nationwide League West title in opposition to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Area on Thursday.
(Darryl Webb / Related Press)
“Not the smoothest of rides to get here,” first baseman Freddie Feeman added.
The the reason why are quite a few, from early-season accidents within the rotation to an prolonged second-half stoop from the lineup to a string of bullpen collapses that made the division race unexpectedly shut.
By way of all of it, nonetheless, ran one frequent thread.
Whereas there isn’t a common consensus over the veracity of a so-called “World Series hangover,” some crew members have acknowledged the distinctive obstacles which have include attempting to repeat as champions.
There may be the bodily toll. The psychological exhaustion. The specter of complacency and stagnant satisfaction.
Of their bid to win a second consecutive World Sequence this 12 months — one thing no crew has achieved because the New York Yankees’ three-peat from 1998-2000 — the Dodgers at varied instances appeared to battle every one.
“Baseball is different than any other sport,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “The psyche part of it, the battle of attrition, all that stuff kind of matters. There’s probably many reasons why [repeating as World Series champions] hasn’t been done since the Yankees did it [from 1998-2000]. But that’s something we’re trying to do. We have an opportunity to make history. It hasn’t been easy. But that’s part of it.”
The query now: Have the obstacles of the common season steeled them for an additional championship run? Or will this show to be a marketing campaign that in some methods was ill-fated from the beginning?
“This was as tough a path as we’ve been through,” Roberts stated, amid Thursday’s clubhouse celebration. “But the old adage — iron sharpens iron. I do think we’re better for the adversity … I’m excited for what’s to come.”
Dodgers supervisor Dave Roberts addresses the crew within the locker room after defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-0 to clinch the Nationwide League West title at Chase Area on Thursday.
(Chris Coduto / Getty Photos)
The “World Series hangover” dialog has adopted the Dodgers since they reported for spring coaching. It slowly revealed itself in ways in which have been each apparent and small.
Begin with the bullpen, the place each affect reliever who returned from final 12 months’s title-winning crew both regressed of their efficiency, frolicked sidelined with an damage, or in a number of circumstances endured each after the heavy workload they shouldered in final 12 months’s playoffs.
“I think it would be probably trying to fool ourselves if we said it didn’t have anything to do with it,” right-hander Michael Kopech, who has been restricted to only 14 appearances this 12 months and can start the playoffs on the injured listing with a knee downside, stated final month. “But at the same time, that’s what we all sign up for. Any team that was in the position that we were last year would have done the same.”
“There probably is some mental fatigue and some physical [carry] over,” fellow right-hander Blake Treinen echoed. “But to say it’s an effect on the whole year, I don’t know. I think getting caught up on excuses and reasons is a dangerous thing.”
The bullpen has pointed elsewhere in explaining its season-long struggles. As Treinen famous, “at the end of the day, we get paid to handle” the burdens of bouncing again from no matter occurred the earlier fall.
The Dodgers additionally tried to mitigate such elements, bolstering the group with the veteran offseason signings of Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates. However as they flopped, the unit as a complete suffered one calamity after one other. The extra they spiraled, the tougher it grew to become for hypothesis concerning the after-effects of final October to be blocked out.
“You don’t try to lean on the what-ifs and maybes and this could be and that couldn’t be,” Treinen stated. “We just have a job, and it’s been weird [this year].”
On the opposite facet of the ball, the Dodgers handled a unique dynamic within the wake of final 12 months’s triumph. For an offense normally predicated on a disciplined each day strategy and talent to work high quality at-bats, there have been lengthy stretches of the season through which that edge would seemingly soften. When constant execution on the plate regarded like a puzzlingly tough process.
“This is not an excuse, but we started the year last year really early, we played until November, and then this year we started early again,” infielder Miguel Rojas stated, citing not solely the Dodgers’ grind to get by way of final postseason but additionally their two worldwide journeys to Japan and South Korea during the last 18 months.
“We’re human beings. And sometimes you get tired, especially mentally. You got a lot of things going on in your life, and your year. It’s not easy to be locked in every single time.”
That was particularly evident through the crew’s second-half slide, when a standard distinction may very well be drawn between the Dodgers and their upset-minded opponents.
“When you’re the defending champions … we definitely got everyone’s best shot this year,” Muncy stated.
Dodgers third base Max Muncy is injured whereas tagging out Chicago White Sox outfielder Michael A. Taylor, who tried to steal third, on July 2 at Dodger Stadium.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Instances)
And, too typically, the Dodgers struggled to conjure the depth to match.
“That’s part of what we signed up for, but it takes a tax,” Roberts stated. “It’s tough every day to bring your best when you know that other teams are bringing their best … You try to put forth every game is the same, April is just as important as September and October. That in theory is great. But it’s hard to do that in practice.”
Add in the truth that “when you make deep playoff runs every year, it takes a toll on guys’ bodies. And this year, I think you saw it more than ever,” famous Muncy, who missed time with knee and indirect accidents.
Regardless of all that, in fact, the Dodgers nonetheless rang in what has grow to be a virtually annual custom on Thursday evening. They sprayed bottles and smoked cigars in a division-clinching clubhouse celebration. They doused Shohei Ohtani with all method of liquid and “MVP” chants. They turned the booze-soaked plastic lining on the ground right into a slip-and-slide for members of their coaching and help employees.
“This never feels old,” Freeman stated from behind champagne-drenched ski goggles.
“It’s still the best feeling in the world,” a shirtless Clayton Kershaw added.
Amid the scene, nonetheless, was additionally a business-like understanding.
Profitable the division was what the Dodgers all the time anticipated to perform.
Repeating as World Sequence champions, and overcoming all of the hangover results which have adopted them thus far, stays the last word problem.
“We’ve been battle-tested,” Muncy stated, framing the ups and downs of this 12 months as constructing blocks to lean on within the postseason.
“The thing that I think is pretty telling is, [with] all that we’ve gone through, this team stayed connected,” Roberts equally declared.
The trail forward nonetheless isn’t easy. The crew should take the lengthy route by way of October — beginning with a best-of-three wild card spherical subsequent week, somewhat than a bye to the division collection.
However recently, they’ve seen indicators that their hangover is likely to be subsiding, successful 12 of 17 video games behind a extra constant offense, a dominant surge from the beginning rotation, and a bullpen that’s getting new reinforcements from the likes of Kershaw, Roki Sasaki and (seemingly beginning within the playoffs) Emmet Sheehan.
“Yeah, we won the division,” Roberts stated. “But on top of that, more important, we’re playing good baseball.”
The aim now’s to take care of that momentum, embrace the teachings this common season supplied, and keep away from any additional pitfalls which have tripped up so many earlier defending champions earlier than them.
In spite of everything, successful consecutive World Sequence won’t be simple. However subsequent 12 months, they’d love to present it one more attempt.
“It’s more about playing for each other, trusting each other,” Roberts stated. “The rest of it will take care of itself.”
