Dodgers News: Corey Seager Looking Forward To Postseason
Los Angeles Dodgers rookie shortstop Corey Seager has had a memorable first month in the Majors. Called up from Triple-A Oklahoma City on Sept. 3, Seager was nothing short of spectacular.
Initially expected to be among the September call-ups who would get their feet wet with sporadic playing time, Seager was thrown into the fire as Jimmy Rollins sat with an injured right index finger. The young shortstop had immediate success and his role grew accordingly.
Last week the Dodgers clinched the National League West title and eventually surpassed the New York Mets for home-field advantage in the NL Division Series. Seager was in the lineup for both the division clincher in San Francisco and Saturday night’s win which gave the club home-field.
“That was a lot of fun celebrating,” he said of the experience. “That’s a good time to relax and see how well you’ve done the whole season and celebrate it. Clinching the home-field advantage is huge. You get to play in front of your home crown and that will be nice.”
While Seager was expected to play behind Rollins and learn form the veteran, the 21-year-old’s success caused manager Don Mattingly to make the change of starting Seager over Rollins.
The changing of the guard didn’t necessarily have much bearing on Seager, as he arrived without expecting much. “I came in here with no expectations. It’s really nice to see, but it’s also nice to be in the playoffs,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that and how that atmosphere is going to be and see how far we can go.”
Having played 152 total games this year, 125 in the Minors, Seager has endured the longest season of his career by far. “It’s long. It’s longer than the Minor League one, and I thought that was long,” he said.
“It’s one of those things you got to get used to. You won’t really know until you experience it. This offseason I can work towards not making it so long.” In the final game of the regular season, Seager went 3-for-3 with a solo home run. As for watching Clayton Kershaw reach 300 strikeouts, Seager enjoyed watching the Dodgers’ ace pitch.
“That was pretty cool. He was on a pitch count so we were worried if he was going to make it,” Seager said. “He went out there and made those guys look like child’s play out there. It was quite impressive.”
Seager wasn’t in the lineup on Saturday though.