Cause and effect is a tricky thing in baseball’s postseason. One pitch, one bouncing ball in the field, and one swing of the bat can mean the difference between a win or a loss more than anything that came in the six months before it.
Here’s what we know: the Los Angeles Dodgers won 111 games in 2022 and lost the National League Division Series, 3-1, to the San Diego Padres. They won 100 games in 2023 and were swept in the NLDS by the Arizona Diamondbacks. They won 98 games in 2024 and were trailing the Padres 2-1 in the NLDS — only to win back-to-back games to clinch the best-of-five series.
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Now, two weeks later, Los Angeles is preparing to host Game 1 of the World Series on Friday.
There are myriad reasons why this year’s Dodgers team, and not either of the last two, won a pennant. One is difficult to ignore: the sea change in approach to their final series of the regular season, and the five days off that followed.
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Internally, there was a sense the Padres might be the best team the Dodgers faced all postseason. Their starting rotation was stout. Their lineup was deep and balanced. With the exception of infielder Ha-Seong Kim, their roster was closer to full strength than the Dodgers’.
And, notably, the Padres didn’t have five days off after the regular season. While the top two seeds in each league had time to rest, San Diego was tasked with beating the Atlanta Braves in a best-of-three Wild Card series. After a two-game sweep, they traveled to Los Angeles to begin the NLDS as the underdogs, at least on paper.
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The Dodgers did not regard themselves as the favorite, despite having clinched the National League West title on Sept. 26 by beating the Padres — of all teams — by a decisive 7-2 score. They flew to Denver that night facing a meaningless series against the Colorado Rockies.
In the clubhouse, the Dodgers convinced themselves the series was the opposite of meaningless.
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 24: Freddie Freeman #5 and Max Muncy #13 of the Los Angeles Dodgers react during batting practice on workout day ahead of Game 1 of the 2024 World Series at Dodger Stadium on October 24, 2024 in Los Angeles, California.
Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images
“I’m not saying we didn’t do that last year but it was like a conscious thing of, let’s keep it rolling, and then we had one day off,” pitcher Ryan Brasier said. “Then we got back to live BPs, our hitters facing live pitching up until the first game.”
“When we went to Colorado, we were very short-staffed on the bench,” added infielder Max Muncy. “That meant everyone had to play the game, and not just completely take it off. That probably helped out.”
The previous two years, Muncy said the front office laid out the program for the five-day layoff that followed the regular season. That was not the case this year.
“Once we clinched and we knew we were going to have those five days off, we as players started talking about ‘what do we want to do?’ And we went to the front office and basically just said, ‘here’s what’s happening, you have to get on board with it.’ And they did,” Muncy said. “They loved it. I think that’s just the biggest difference: everything has been 100 percent player-driven.”
When a group of 26 men in their twenties and thirties drive the culture, the effect is somewhat predictable. They played cornhole and ping pong. They watched the Wild Card series. They prepared to scrimmage as if they prepared to play a game.
Simulated games cannot match the intensity of an actual game; they never do. But the players’ schedule and bonding activities reinforced a greater message: this wasn’t a five-day layoff, a time to bond with family. It was a time to work.
“There was just a focus, even if it was forced, to fake it until you make it,” pitcher Blake Treinen said. “Just treat every part of your preparation the same as you would as if you were playing a game.”
First baseman Freddie Freeman did not take part in the simulated games. He used the 5-day layoff to heal his injured ankle — enough, at least, to take part in the NLDS at less than full strength. The physical benefit of the down time also helped shortstop Miguel Rojas, who was recovering from a torn adductor muscle.
But to a man, the Dodgers say the psychological benefit was the most important difference between this October and the previous two.
It’s easy to say the Dodgers’ approach was the catalyst for the month that followed. Dave Roberts, for one, wouldn’t take the bait. At 52, he’s spent more than half his life in professional baseball. He’s seen too much to believe that cause and effect in this game is ever so simple.
“We were still down 2-1 in that Division Series,” Roberts said. “If we don’t win Game 4, that would have all been for naught anyways. But it’s a good story right now.”
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