The Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League West for a sixth consecutive season and returned to the postseason where they host the Atlanta Braves in Game 1 of the NL Division Series beginning on Thursday night.
Winning the division is not satisfying enough for this team though as they have not won the World Series in 30 years and came just one game short a year ago, losing to the Houston Astros in Game 7 of the Fall Classic.
The Dodgers had a lot of young players without much postseason experience on that team though. One of them was NL Rookie of the Year Cody Bellinger, who believes they will benefit from the experience they gained in 2017 this time around.
“We got everyone on the roster that’s been to — in the playoffs now,” Bellinger said. “I think last year we had a lot of young guys, first-time experience in the playoffs. We all still performed and we all still made the World Series, obviously, but I think having that experience of last year is definitely going to benefit us this year.”
Bellinger struggled a bit in last year’s World Series, but also came up with a few big hits for the Dodgers. He believes the one thing he learned from that experience was to attempt to treat it like a normal regular-season game.
“I think like I said, experience is huge. Last year obviously was my first time in the World Series, first time in the playoffs as well as some of my other teammates. So I think the stage won’t be too big this year,” Bellinger explained.
“I think we all know what to expect coming in. And like I said, I’m going to do what I can to hopefully treat it like a regular season game and do what I can any way to help this team win.”
