The Los Angeles Dodgers are in the midst of another fantastic season despite having to overcome a plethora of injuries to key players and inconsistent stretches.
The team entered Monday with an MLB-best 82-55 record and five-game lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres in the National League West standings.
The Dodgers are in the driver’s seat to win their 11th division title in the last 12 seasons, but it hasn’t been an easy road by any means.
Evan Phillips believes the adversity that the team has faced this year will benefit them in the long run, via Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
“You could say the past couple years where we’ve had these bigger leads in the division and celebrating early and things like that, it didn’t do us any favors in the postseason,” he said. “So fighting this kind of adversity throughout many points throughout the year I think has been good for our guys.”
As Phillips noted, the Dodgers are typically used to wrapping up the NL West at an early point in the calendar, but that hasn’t always translated to success.
The 2019 Dodgers became the fastest team in L.A. franchise history to win the NL West, but suffered an early postseason exit against the eventual World Series champion Washington Nationals.
The Dodgers also crossed the 100-win threshold in each of the past two seasons, but failed to get past the NL Division Series.
While the Dodgers are on track to reach the century mark in wins for a fourth consecutive year, their journey has been a lot different due to the challenges they faced.
The team has fought for much of the year, which could give them a unique advantage come playoff time.
Miguel Rojas believes Dodgers can benefit from NL West race
Miguel Rojas echoed a similar message last month and believes the Dodgers should benefit from a tight NL West race that is forcing them to win as many games as they can down the stretch.
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