The Los Angeles Dodgers enter Tuesday with a record of 83-55, the best record in Major League Baseball.
Seeing the Dodgers on top of the baseball world was expected once the organization committed more than $1 billion in future salaries to players this past offseason. With that type of money and higher expectations, a child’s game became a lot more serious.
“It takes the fun out of it a little bit,” manager Dave Roberts said to Barry M. Bloom of Sportico.
The power of the Dodgers’ lineup was on display throughout the four-game weekend series in Phoenix against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Shohei Ohtani , Mookie Betts , and Freddie Freeman opened Saturday night’s contest with back-to-back-to-back solo home runs.
It was the first time in the club’s history this had happened, dating back to their Brooklyn days. The Dodgers joined the National League in 1890.
Roberts is fortunate to manage a team whose ownership has pumped this much money into its payroll.
“You have good players, and they have to perform,” he said. “They earn a great salary and some of these guys are stars for a reason. It’s up to those guys to lead us and that’s what they’re doing.”
On Sunday afternoon, the Diamondbacks demolished the Dodgers, leading to speculation about what Roberts could have, would have, or should have done differently to prevent it. Los Angeles flipped the script on Monday to take the series and ensure a tiebreaker in its favor if the two teams were to somehow finish the season with identical records.
The Dodgers know all too well how the playoffs work. For more than a decade, they have dominated the National League West but only have one World Series title to show for it. Last season, it was the D-backs who had the last laugh.
Still, the Dodgers entered the 2024 season as the favorites to beat the D-backs in their own division.
“We just know we need to be better in certain areas to compete,” D-backs manager Torey Lovullo said. “We embrace that challenge. We live in that space.”
Once the postseason begins, what happened during the regular season is gone.
Roberts is well aware of this, saying “We have to do better. We’re just trying to win as many games as we can and figure it out from there.”
The difference this year will be Ohtani , who will play in his first career postseason game in just a matter of weeks.
Photo Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
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