The Los Angeles Dodgers returned the core from a team that reached Game 6 of the 2016 National League Championship Series and went into this season among the favorites to reach the World Series.
A slow start that carried into May was erased by a torrid and historic stretch. The Dodgers went on a franchise-best 31-4 run, just had a season-long 11-game winning streak snapped, and sit atop the Majors with a 66-31 record.
The success has further accentuated the Dodgers’ standing as one of the top teams in baseball. Being viewed as such is something manager Dave Roberts has embraced, according to Bill Shaikin of the L.A. Times:
“We’ve got no problem being a target,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Teams come out and play their best against you. We’ve got to be ready for it.”
When the Dodgers were still looking up at the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies in the NL West standings, albeit by a slim margin, Roberts unequivocally called his team the best in the division. In May, Roberts said he believed the Dodgers were superior to this year’s Chicago Cubs team.
While it would be easy to accuse Roberts of some favoritism in propping his team up, he championed the Cubs as the hands-down better team at the conclusion of last year’s NLCS.
