Max Muncy Reveals How Dodgers Used 5-Day Layoff Differently This Year
When Major League Baseball changed the postseason format to reward teams who finished the regular season with the top two records in their respective leagues, it wasn’t meant to have upsets every year.
After bowing out in the National League Division Series the past two years, the Los Angeles Dodgers finally figured out the mystery of the five-day break.
Instead of coming to the ballpark for two or three hours a day to get a workout in, the Dodgers put in full eight-hour workdays, spending as much time together as possible.
“This is one of the closest groups that I’ve ever been a part of.” third baseman Max Muncy said after the NLCS. “The last two years we had five days off and didn’t know how to handle that. Coming into this, we tried multiple things. They let fans into the stadium for a sim game trying to make it a real situation and this year, us, as players, went to the front office and said ‘Hey, this is what we’re doing.’
“We told them what we wanted to do. Everyone stresses about having the five days off and we treated it as a reward because it is a reward.”
The Dodgers brought in “unbelievable catering,” pool tables, ping pong tables, and Pop-a-Shots.
“We had a really good time,” Muncy added. “We were here, together as a group for eight hours a day.”
The hours spent together paid off as the Dodgers beat the Padres in five games in the NLDS, and then the Mets in six games to advance to the World Series.
In Game 6 on Sunday, the Dodgers opted for a bullpen game due to a lack of rotation depth, something usually needed for a long postseason push. First baseman Freddie Freeman was also absent from the starting lineup, as the team chose to rest him during a 1-for-15 slump caused by an ankle injury that affected both his swing and defensive range.
The team fielded rookie Andy Pages in center, while veterans Kiké Hernández and Chris Taylor, both hitting below .230 during the regular season, manned the infield. Behind the plate, they had a struggling Will Smith. In a key moment early in the game, they even called on rookie pitcher Ben Casparius, who had just three regular-season appearances under his belt.
“It clearly shows there’s no one way to do things,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And we sort of pieced it together somehow.”
Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
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