The Los Angeles Dodgers will play seven of their next 12 games against the division-leading San Francisco Giants, which could make a big impact on who wins the National League West this season.
However, the Dodgers still have two more games against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field after Friday’s 10-4 win, so AJ Pollock is staying focused on the series at hand. “For me, I can’t speak for everyone, but not really looking too far ahead,” he said.
“Really good to take care of business every day you come in here. Got the Rockies and definitely want to take care of business here, then we’ll see what happens.
“You don’t want to start thinking about a certain team and then maybe that team is not the team anymore. Maybe another team sneaks up and they become the team. It’s not a really good mindset to be thinking about someone else besides yourself, in my opinion.”
This season the Rockies are 31-18 at Coors Field, good for the fourth-best home record in baseball, and an MLB-worst 9-34 on the road. Part of their success at home is due to the challenges of playing at Coors Field, where they have an advantage because they get used to dealing with them.
“Just a really unique place to play baseball,” Pollock said.
“The ball flies, outfielders are running the whole game, pitchers’ stuff — certain characteristics are different here — it’s just different. These guys are the ones who are playing here the most, so they kind of know the differences more than any team.”
With 70 games remaining in the season, L.A. trails San Francisco by two games, so they aren’t in a terrible spot but they will need to keep a sense of urgency if they want to win their ninth straight NL West title.
“Baseball is such a crazy game. When you’re in it and doing it, you definitely want to be taking care of business every day, not looking too far ahead and have urgency every day you come in,” Pollock said.
“Obviously we’re a confident team. We feel really good about our players on the team. We’re just going to keep rolling and see what happens.”
Pollock trying to stay consistent
Pollock has been inconsistent so far this season, posting wRC+’s of 93 in April, 184 in May and 80 in June. So far in July the veteran has been on a tear, hitting .351/.442/946 with a 257 wRC+ and winning a National League Player of the Week Award.
“You just keep rolling. You just go into the next day,” Pollock said.
“Player of the Week, whatever kind of recognition is not the goal. The goal is to come in and be focused, have a good day of preparation and carry that over to the game. Then you just keep stacking those games on each other. That’s what I’ve been doing.”
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and more!
