The Los Angeles Dodgers were one game away from elimination in the World Series against the Toronto Blue Jays but won Games 6 and 7 to complete their back-to-back bid.
Part of the reason they were able to accomplish the feat was because of their postseason experience and the overall mental makeup of the roster and clubhouse.
A race between manager Dave Roberts and Hyeseong Kim that ended with a faceplant by the Dodgers’ manager also helped keep the team’s spirits up and the mood light.
During an episode of “Literally! With Rob Lowe,” Clayton Kershaw shared his opinion on how the Dodgers’ commitment to winning helped them throughout the postseason despite the team not necessarily having a fiery, if not combative, leader:
“I’ve felt that too. We were the professional team and all these other teams were going to do anything they could to beat us. And we were just very professional, we go about our business the right way and kind of do all that. I think I underestimated and I think it’s been proven, how much we all wanted to win just in general. I think that supersedes pretty much everything.
Kershaw believes teams run into problems when they have players who give more priority to their personal desires and goals rather than wanting to win. He praised the Dodgers’ superstars, such as Shohei Ohtani and Freddie Freeman, for having a win-above-all-costs mentality and credited Roberts for establishing that value as a foundational pillar of the clubhouse culture:
“A lot of times, in different clubhouses, there’s different motivations. And they’re not bad. ‘Hey, I’m here because I want to provide for my family.’ Or ‘Hey, I’m here because I have a goal to stay in the big leagues.’ Or ‘Hey, I’m here because I want to be an All-Star.’ Or an MVP, Cy Young or whatever it is. Those are all not bad things in and of itself.
“But when it supersedes wanting to win, that’s where you have a problem. It’s amazing how much Shohei wants to win every single day. I think that’s one of Freddie’s best qualities. Freddie comes every day, ‘Hey, we just need to win the game.’ Winning today and everything else will take care of itself.
“When it’s a uniform goal of whatever anybody has to do to win this game today, that supersedes all the, ‘Oh, we’ve got to have edge’ and all that stuff. I think that’s what made that clubhouse tick. You’ve got to give Doc a lot of credit. Doc instilled that in us. It doesn’t matter what we did yesterday, we just need to win the game today.”
Given how important the concept is to him, it will continue to be a part of his baseball philosophy should Kershaw ever accept the open invitation to join the Dodgers’ front office.
Kershaw also embodied the selfless approach by accepting a bullpen role in the playoffs. That included entering with the bases loaded in Game 3 and recording a key out that kept the Dodgers alive in extra innings.
Clayton Kershaw’s reaction to Dodgers winning World Series
With Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the mound trying to close out the game in the bottom half of the 11th, Kershaw was warming up in the bullpen to face the left-handed Daulton Varsho.
But instead, Yamamoto got Kirk to ground into a double play to clinch the World Series title for the Dodgers.
While Kershaw was warming up, he was unaware the Dodgers won the World Series until bullpen coach Josh Bard informed him of the final out.
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