The Los Angeles Dodgers’ run of regular season dominance has continued for over a decade at this point. And while that same success in the postseason largely eluded them, they climbed the mountaintop last year to cap it off with an World Series championship in franchise history.
The amount of achievement the Dodgers have enjoyed the past 12 seasons is approaching unprecedented territory, as the 1995-2007 New York Yankees and the 1991-2005 Atlanta Braves are the only two franchises with a longer playoff streak.
Cultivating that level of sustained success takes every department of the Dodgers organization, top to bottom, walking in lockstep. For the Dodgers to operate at the highest level, president of baseball operations says that it truly takes a village.
“It’s hard to get to this point. It’s hard to withstand things that can go on during the course of a season. If I had to give one answer, I would say it’s collaboration,” answered Friedman when asked what has been the biggest key for the Dodgers.
“I think between our scouts, our player development, our pro scouts, our analysts, our front office that just allows us to work in concert. What our player development staff is working on with guys as they come up to the Major Leagues, and the way our Major League coaches are able to work with our Minor League guys, the way our performance staff is able to tie into what our pitching coaches, our hitting coaches are doing, take that into the weight room and recovery.
“I think it’s just how cohesive and collaborative we are as a group. We’re not afraid to make mistakes. We make plenty of them, but collectively learn from it. It’s something that we are very mindful. We’ve seen larger revenue teams in the past that have had a run of success and then fallen off a cliff and taken years and years to build back.
“We have worked very hard at the art of how to balance the now and the future to put us in position to have a chance to win a World Series every year. That’s our goal, and that is our focus obviously right now and in each year. I think it’s just how cohesive all the various departments and people are together that’s enabled that or helped in that.”
The Dodgers’ transition to a new way of operating started in 2024 with massive contracts given to Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow. It was further solidified heading into this season with more aggressive spending in pursuit of becoming a repeat champion.
The Dodgers have always utilized their financial might under Guggenheim Baseball Management ownership, but never to this extent. However, what has them in such a strong position going forward is they are able to combine increased financial commitments with the pre-existing organizational strengths that made them a powerhouse to begin with.
Dodgers coaches also key
The Dodgers’ ability to find diamonds in the rough is another major reason why they have been so successful and it is the perfect example of Friedman’s point about collaboration. It requires the scouts to identify a player with room to improve in the Dodgers’ system, and the coaching staff to help bring out that talent.
Anthony Banda was one of those players who broke out for the Dodgers in 2024 following his move to L.A. from the Cleveland Guardians, and he credits the coaching staff for helping him find that success.
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