It has been a long and arduous journey for the Los Angeles Dodgers to get to the 2024 National League Championship Series. In a season with many ups and downs and filled with what seemed like innumerable injuries, the Dodgers still managed to finish with the best record in baseball.
They advanced past the NL Division Series for the first time since 2021 after an intense and exhilarating matchup against the San Diego Padres. It was a series that many expected the Padres to win, and that in turn came as somewhat of a shock and motivating factor for the Dodgers clubhouse.
Now the Dodgers are one win away from returning to the World Series for the first time since 2020.
“It feels good. I think that we’ve done a good job putting ourselves in this position. I sort of like the us-against-the-world attitude that our guys have sort of taken on. I think that’s kind of ironic with the Dodgers, but I like that,” manager Dave Roberts said.
“I haven’t enjoyed it yet. I’m not good at enjoying things in the moment. But, yeah, once we win five more games then I’ll be much happier. But, yeah, I’m very excited to be in this position. I just want to keep our guys hungry and focused and not let these guys back in the series.”
To Roberts’ point, plenty of work remains ahead for the Dodgers. They were blown out by the New York Mets in Game 5 and now are looking to close out the NLCS behind their bullpen.
The Dodgers have shown plenty of times throughout the postseason they are able to avoid the trap of getting too high or too low in a series. They responded with their backs against the wall against the Padres and so far they have answered in the NLCS whenever the Mets threw a counterpunch.
Dave Roberts sees irony in Dodgers vs. ‘the world’
In these playoffs, the Dodgers have adopted an attitude that is largely unfamiliar with them, starting with looking to silence their doubters during the NLDS matchup against the Padres.
It is indeed an ironic paradigm shift for a team as talented as the Dodgers to adopt a ‘us-against-the-world attitude,’ especially considering the $1 billion offseason they had coming into 2024.
“Right, right. We usually are. That’s fair. We usually are the world,” Roberts acknowledged.
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