The 2017 season was an emotional roller coaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers that was capped off with a devastating World Series Game 7 loss to the Houston Astros. Playing to the last possible day of the year made for a short offseason.
The Dodgers officially begin their 2018 campaign right where they ended in 2017, at Dodger Stadium, as they host division rival San Francisco Giants on Thursday afternoon for the start of a four-game series.
While the Dodgers have used 2017 as a learning experience this spring, manager Dave Roberts said the team has fully moved on ahead of Opening Day. “I don’t think we need to revisit last year,” Roberts said this week.
“What we’ve seen in Spring Training is that guys are clearly focused. So I think for me to try to readdress it would be redundant and I just believe in the guys that we have. So all of our focus is on Opening Day.”
Instead, Roberts is using the 2018 season as a fresh start to try and pursue the team’s ultimate goal that they fell just short of last season. “It’s to do whatever we can to win the World Series,” he said.
“But it is a fresh start, it’s a new season. And outside of that, that’s kind of all our focus is. We understand what our goal is, but we have a long way to go. Right now guys are excited about Opening Day. Right now there’s, obviously, a little bit of uneasiness about the final roster decisions. But outside of that, guys are ready.”
With the exception of a few players, the Dodgers return their entire nucleus from 2017. So they certainly understand what it feels like to come up just short on the biggest stage, which is all the motivation they need to get back and win the World Series this season.
