The Los Angeles Dodgers went into the postseason clouded by some questions due to a late-season skid that saw them lose 16 of 17 games. Concern was quickly put to bed, however, as Chris Taylor, Justin Turner and strong pitching powered the team to a World Series berth.
The Dodgers began the playoffs by sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks, pegged by some as a dark horse candidate to reach the Fall Classic, in the National League Division Series. A rematch with the reigning champion Chicago Cubs in the Championship Series saw much of the same.
Chicago squeaked out a win in Game 4, only to be eliminated the following night. Taylor and Turner were named NLCS co-MVPs.
On Sunday, the Dodgers held their first workout in preparation for the World Series. Corey Seager, who missed the NLCS, was a participant and remains on track to return against the Houston Astros.
However, he was not joined by Turner, who Dodgers general manager Farhan Zaidi was held out of activities for precautionary purposes, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“He’s taking it easy,” said Zaidi. “It’s been a long season. J.T. is laying low, he’s a little banged up, and we don’t want him out here going through a full workout.”
During a conference call over the weekend, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said his club’s health was in good standing. Turner is batting .387/.500/.617 with three home runs, 12 RBI and six walks in eight playoff games this year.
He’s produced multi-hit efforts in half of those contests, and had at least four RBI in two playoff games. One night where he checked off both boxes was with a walk-off home run on the 29-year anniversary of Kirk Gibson doing the same for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the World Series.
