The Los Angeles Dodgers are back in a familiar position as National League West champions for the ninth time in the past 10 seasons, but clinching the division this year occurred at the earliest date since the franchise moved from Brooklyn in 1958.
While winning the NL West puts the Dodgers in a welcomed position moving forward, there also is the factor of needing to keep focused over the remaining three weeks of the regular season. Like in prior years, the Dodgers celebrated their NL West title with an eye on October and the ultimate goal of winning the World Series.
“I’m proud of our guys. Last year we got the division taken from us, so for us to get it back, a lot of hard work,” manager Dave Roberts told Kirsten Watson before the clubhouse celebration began.
“This is the first step. We’ve got a long way to go. It was the first step. I think we’ve done a good job of setting a certain standard of how we play and go about each day. This is one of the results, and we’re going to enjoy the fruits of celebrating as National League West champs.”
Of course, it was Roberts who boldly predicted the Dodgers would win the 2022 World Series.
As for staying in the moment on Tuesday night, the sentiment was echoed by Clayton Kershaw, who threw seven shutout innings against the Diamondbacks and celebrated without a shirt or goggles on.
“I’m just so thankful that I get to accomplish it. Obviously we have bigger goals in mind, but that doesn’t take away from tonight,” Kershaw said. “We worked really hard for six months straight to try to get to this point, so that means a lot. We’re going to celebrate tonight and then obviously get back on it.”
Justin Turner has been with the Dodgers for eight of their NL West titles in the past decade, and also is confident the team will balance soaking in the moment with keeping focused on their bigger goal.
“It feels great. This is awesome, this is what it’s all about,” Turner said. “Obviously, celebrate bringing the division title back to LA, enjoy it, and then there’s still a lot of work and a lot of baseball in front of us. But couldn’t be happier for all the guys in this room. What a great season we’ve put together so far.”
Cody Bellinger added: “At the end of the day we know complacency is never the answer, and we have one end goal. This is just one step and we’re just enjoying the moment.”
Mookie Betts reasoned, “Each celebration is special. I don’t want to skate past it really fast, but also we’ve got 20 games or so left to get ourselves ready for the playoffs.”
For Dodgers president of baseball operations, the team doesn’t need to look any further than 2021 for reason to be proud in clinching the NL West.
“Being able to dictate our pitching and how things are going to flow is obviously a way better situation than last year,” he said. “Living through what we did last year obviously made things way more challenging.
“So our goal going into this year was to put ourselves in the best position to win this division, which is our first goal that then sets us up to have the best chance of accomplishing our ultimate goal. So to be in this position right now is great in that we can really focus on getting guys back healthy and getting them ready for October.”
Freeman not worried about Dodgers
Although Freeman failed to re-negotiate a previously agreed upon plan of being held out of the lineup for rest the day after the Dodgers won the division, he doesn’t harbor any concern over a potential loss of focus.
“I think every day you wake up, you have your discipline and our job is to play baseball. You come to the yard and you expect to win every single day,” he said. “If you don’t have that expectation, I don’t know what you’re doing as a professional athlete.
“So that question doesn’t even register with me. Every day you come to the yard, you expect to win, and that’s how this team is. There is no complacency.”
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