The Los Angeles Dodgers finished the Cactus League portion of their 2024 Spring Training schedule with a loss to the Seattle Mariners, but otherwise enjoyed a successful stint in Arizona.
Spring Training for the Dodgers started earlier than other teams and they needed to navigate a condensed Cactus League schedule because of opening the 2024 regular season as part of the MLB World Tour with the Seoul Series at Gocheok Sky Dome in South Korea.
When asked for his assessment of Spring Training, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told Kirsten Watson on SportsNet LA that he was pleased with how camp went for the team:
“I think overall it’s been very positive. I think building up our starters, I think the guys in the ‘pen we’ve gotten healthy and kept healthy, and then on the position-player side we were fortunate enough to weather injury and get guys ramped up. So I think for me overall, I feel like we checked all of our boxes.”
Roberts added he was looking forward to the Dodgers making the trip to South Korea for their international start to the regular season:
“Now that we got today past us, I can look forward to getting on that plane and take on those Padres. It’s going to be fun. It a first time to Korea for a lot of us, so it’s going to be a great trip.”
The Dodgers went 13-5-1 in Cactus League play and still have five exhibition games remaining. Two of those are going to take place in South Korea, and the Dodgers will then face the Los Angeles Angels in the Freeway Series prior to the Dodger Stadium opener on March 28.
And with a few relatively minor cases involving Emmet Sheehan and Brusdar Graterol, the Dodgers largely got through Spring Training in good health.
Gavin Lux and Max Muncy recovered from being under the weather, and Blake Treinen was part of the Dodgers’ travel roster for South Korea as well despite suffering a bruised lung as a result of being hit by a comebacker.
Dave Roberts wants Dodgers to embrace Seoul Series
Although starting the regular season internationally created some challenges with a shortened Spring Training, Roberts wanted players to welcome the unique opportunity.
“I hope their mindset is to be excited, looking forward to it. There’s no downside in that,” he recently said.
“So I’m sure that it’s different. It’s out of our routines, but I think I’m excited about it. And I hope our players are excited about it. We’re playing two games that matter. And like I said, there’s nothing we can do about it, so you better look forward to it.”
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