Los Angeles Dodgers Spring Training workouts are well underway as the team prepares for their Cactus League opener against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday.
Although pitchers and catchers were due in camp as of the start of last week, several were on hand before that and accompanied by position players.
Nevertheless, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts waits until the morning of the first full-squad workout at Camelback Ranch to deliver his annual message to the team. This year it centered around keeping a mental focus on the task at hand as the Dodgers look to repeat as World Series champions.
MLB has not had a back-to-back champion since the New York Yankees won three World Series in a row from 1998-2000.
After Roberts addressed the Dodgers clubhouse, he turned the floor over to veterans Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Max Muncy.
Dodgers clubhouse messages
Freddie Freeman
Freeman is recovering well since undergoing offseason ankle surgery and is entering his fourth season with the Dodgers. Freeman has now won a World Series with the Atlanta Braves in 2021 and Dodgers last year.
“Every single night since I’ve been a professional baseball player, is when I lay my head on my pillow at night, did I give everything I had to get better that day?” Freeman began.
“I’ve been doing that a long time. This is my fourth year wearing this uniform, and I got to win it for the first time in this uniform last year. That means everything. Mookie’s got three titles, I’ve got two, Max, a lot of these guys have two titles.
“Like Mookie said in that video, we want more. When you win one, you want to win another one. You just want to keep winning and winning and winning. And when you put on this uniform, this is the epitome of baseball right here. To be able to put this uniform on every day, when you walk in this clubhouse, make it feel special.
“Because it is special to put this uniform on. A lot of us are coming in here grinding already. We’re here at 7 a.m. trying to get our bodies ready to do this. When you win this thing at the end of it, everything is worth it at the end. It really is.
“A lot of us went through a lot last year to do that and put a ring on. I promise you guys it is worth it in the end. So come in here every day, put this uniform on and make it mean something to you, just like Doc was saying. And we’ll see you at the end of this thing.”
Mookie Betts
Betts is in elite company as the only active MLB position player with three World Series rings. His first came with the Boston Red Sox in 2018, and that’s been accompanied by helping the Dodgers to titles in 2020 and 2024.
“I would say something new for me this year that I’m working on since I do have three, never went back-to-back. To me, I think doing all the things that Doc said is going to be key,” Betts said.
“I think discipline is showing up each and every day, giving your effort, giving it what you got, working on whatever you need to work on. That’s the only way to do it, so we’ve got to figure it out.
“We’ll be starting today with discipline and doing everything the right way.”
Max Muncy
Muncy has grown into a leadership role as he enters his eighth year with the Dodgers.
“What can we do today to make sure we’re getting better for tomorrow?” Muncy asked. “Because tomorrow doesn’t matter, yesterday doesn’t matter. All that matters is today. If we focus on today, when October comes, we’re going to be fine.”
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