The Los Angeles Dodgers have won seventh straight National League West division titles, but to this point, a World Series trophy has eluded them since 1988.
The hope was that would change in 2020, although the organization has not been able to see its goals and hard work come to fruition with Major League Baseball being shut down due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Baseball is at last poised to return this month, and when it does, the Dodgers will have one of the best teams in the league. Not only do they return a core nucleus of players that won a franchise-record 106 games in 2019, but they also had a strong offseason in which they added talented players such as Mookie Betts, David Price, Blake Treinen, Brusdar Graterol and Alex Wood.
L.A. was in the midst of one of its best Spring Trainings when the league got shut down, and since then, everyone has emphasized that they are still focused on their goal of winning the World Series.
Clayton Kershaw was the latest to do so in an interview with Joe Davis and Orel Hershiser on their podcast, believing they have a chance to accomplish everything they set out to:
“I was fired up about this season for a lot of reasons. The team we had coming back, the guys Andrew brought in, we were built to do something really special; and we still are. Hopefully something gets going and we get some type of season.”
Kershaw reported to Spring Training healthy after an offseason in which he worked with Driveline Baseball, seeming primed for another strong season. He was pegged for his franchise-record ninth career Opening Day start, and still could be when the season gets underway July 23 and 24.
With so many veteran leaders like Kershaw mixed with talented, young players, the Dodgers have the perfect balance to be successful in 2020 and beyond. That has been the case for the last handful of years though, so it will be up to the players to finally get the job done in 2020 regardless of the shortened season.
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