SAN FRANCISCO — It’s a dilemma that the Dodgers have created for themselves, and one that they’re quick and ready to ignore.
They’ve clinched the division There are still three weeks before Christmas. Bake in the five additional rest days before Game 1 of the National League Division Series, and they’ll likely go close to a month without games that have any sort of real meaning in the standings or for the Dodgers’ October aspirations.
Just don’t tell them that or suggest they lighten their foot off the gas of what has essentially been an Aston Martin for the season’s first six months.
“Did anything from the last two nights show you that these games don’t mean anything? No,” manager Dave Roberts said Sunday afternoon, fresh off a pair of wins over a rival GiantsThe Dodgers were pushed to the brink of exhaustion by a club that had been there a year before. This ended their season.
“If you start seeing guys get lazy, something like that, come talk to me. There’s no way that — our guys are smart enough to know that it f—ing matters.”
Then, the Dodgers gutted out an extra-inning 4-3 win in harrowing winds and rain to secure a sweep and the winningest season they’ve had against the Giants (15-4) since the two clubs moved westward to California in 1958; it capped off a 7-2 road trip that mostly was about cementing the postseason and divisional status that was expected from them when this roster was constructed.
They performed their duties without a break, even in games that were not likely to have any impact on home-field advantage.
A sweep in Bay pic.twitter.com/T8zawEI58i
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 19, 2022
“If you don’t want to win the game, you shouldn’t be playing, simple as that,” said Andrew Heaney, Sunday’s starter, who is postseason bound for the first time after stints with the Marlins and Angels before the YankeesHe was let go just before October. “You play to win a game. You play to hit well, pitch well, do whatever it takes … you don’t go out there and ever not try or try your best. I don’t think that’s ever even crossed my mind, honestly.”
They’ve been shrugging off the consideration that these games are lesser since even before they sprayed Champagne earlier this week in Phoenix. That nightIn a wet clubhouse at Chase Field Freddie Freeman didn’t even entertain it.
“That question doesn’t even register with me,” Freeman said. “Every day you come to play a game, you expect to win.”
Freeman used the ride to get home to team hotel to message Roberts. Roberts asked him to renege upon their prior agreement that Freeman should not sit the day after they won the NL West. Freeman was unable to fulfill that request, but he could still play the remainder of the way.
“I’m not a quitter,” Roberts said of his battle to get Freeman rest despite the first baseman’s insistence on being in the regular lineup. “I also know battles that I’m going to lose.”
This stretch of games has seen the Dodgers manage games differently. They are less willing to push their relievers, and they have baked in rest for Freeman. Trea Turner, Mookie BettsAnd many others. If you have the opportunity to push, Craig KimbrelRoberts chose to give after a second inning with a lead of two runs. Andre JacksonThe shot was taken in his second appearance at the bigs this season. Justin BruihlThe game was on the line, and he almost lost the bases-loaded position. LaMonte Wade Jr.He then settled down to obtain the game-ending chopper and a walk-off grandslam.
“I was a little shaky in the legs,” Bruihl said.
As Bruihl tripped on first base to score the final out, any semblances or impact of record and dominance were lost. Dodgers won another baseball game, their 101st, but rather than let it go down like Champagne, they instead poured beer, ketchup and milk on their closer, who was then thrown into a cart.
The Dodgers have excelled on their talent, with a lineup that has materialized and flourished as well as could be imagined once they injected Freeman’s production into the mix. Their pitching has been a master at preventing runs, and their offense has produced more runs than any other team in the game, giving them an edge. A group that Roberts called out during the Dodgers’ first visit to Oracle Park has molded itself into a relentless attack, one that has worn down opponents on a nightly basis.
“You’ve got to play a full game,” Betts said. “We’re not going to give up, they’re not going to give up. But we did a good job, putting all facets together to come out with a win.”
This group has been successful before. It’s been near the top of the leaderboard in the requisite offensive categories getting into October. It may be because the flow of the at bats is more important than their ability to hit the home run.
“(It’s) better,” Roberts said, for October that way. “I mean, you look at the games that we struggled (in the postseason), we punched. We didn’t move the ball forward and didn’t shorten up. You’re gonna face really good pitching and you have to be able to win certain pitches and run counts and hit it the other way.”
He pointed to the Dodgers’ ability to pester the Giants’ Logan Webb — who looked every bit the part of postseason ace through two starts against Los Angeles last October — on Friday night and string together four hits and drive in three runs in one inning the second and third time they got looks at him — as evidence of that growth.
“What we did the other night … (that’s) how you beat a top-end starter,” Roberts said.
It’s translated into a lot of wins, a total that in all likelihood tops the franchise record of 106 they matched a year ago.
It points to a relentlessness that the Dodgers have managed to maintain even as the front office’s internal conversations have shifted more to what this club can look like during October and November rather than the last few weeks of September. They are working hard to get better, with at least four relievers on their injured list who could be back before the start of the postseason.
They’re even planning out the scheduling and logistics for the end of the regular season. This keeps players sharp, even during the five-day layoff.
As long as you don’t present it as a potential issue to them.
“We’ve continued to remain steadfast in how we play,” Roberts repeated after yet another win Sunday night. “We’ve got a lot of good players. The results prove it.
“There wasn’t any lack of focus or taking plays off. It was the same intensity as I saw last year when we were in a pennant race with these guys.”
(Photo by Andrew Heaney: Ed Szczepanski/USA Today)
