Dave Roberts Hoping Dodgers Have ‘Sense of Urgency’ When Playoffs Start
The Los Angeles Dodgers are in a holding pattern for the next few days while the San Diego Padres and Atlanta Braves duke it out in the Wild Card Series.
The Dodgers have been in this position before and it didn’t end well. The last two seasons, they have bowed out in the National League Division Series failing to win another pennant and compete for a World Series title.
If manager Dave Roberts gets his way, the Dodgers will come into Game 1 energized and find that sense of urgency that escaped them years before.
“There has to be the ultimate sense of urgency, and I just don’t think that that has much correlation to the work prior,” Roberts said. “It’s an overall team mindset that I just want to make sure we have going into this postseason.”
The biggest difference this season is how the Dodgers clinched.
The Dodgers clinched the NL West with 21 games left to play in 2022 and 15 games in 2023.
This season, the Dodgers secured their 11th division title in 12 years, but it wasn’t until the 159th game that they managed to hold off the San Diego Padres and officially clinch the title.
“We’re going to find out (if that makes a difference). The last two years we definitely didn’t have that,” Muncy said. “The whole month of September was resting guys. You’re talking about losing the competitive edge for a month and then you get the five days off and you’ve got to find a way to flip that switch back on. That’s really hard to do.”
The Dodgers are trying to mix it up with their break compared to the two previous years. Whether it unlocks another gear is yet to be seen.
“We’ll change things up, how we go about our business. Try something new,” Smith said. “If it works this year, it works this year. But obviously, we’ve got to show up when the games come, be more prepared, show up, and play better. That’s what really counts.”
Photo Credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
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