One thing that the Los Angeles Dodgers have really come to value over recent seasons is their depth across the roster, and that was again the case in 2018.
Despite many players such as Corey Seager, Justin Turner, Clayton Kershaw, Hyun-Jin Ryu, Rich Hill and more missing significant time due to injury, the Dodgers were still able to win the National League West for the sixth straight year.
A big reason for that was because of their depth. Over the last month of the season, the Dodgers were as healthy as they have been all year, meaning players had to make sacrifices in regards to playing time since.
Manager Dave Roberts aggressively relied on platoons, even if it meant facing criticism when the strategy backfired.
Matt Kemp discussed accepting the circumstances, explaining that it is necessary if the team wants to return to and win the World Series, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“It’s tough for all of us, but we have one common goal,” said Kemp. “When you’ve got weapons like we do, there’s sacrifices to be made and the main thing is winning baseball games. I still want to play every day, we all want to play every day. With the guys we have, it’s just not possible.”
Kemp, in particular, has had to make sacrifices as he revived his career in the first half en route to being named a starter for the NL in the All-Star Game. He slumped a bit to begin the second half though and has seen his playing time against right-handed pitching decrease significantly.
As it currently stands, the Dodgers have four or five platoons across the diamond and it has worked to perfection over the last month of the season. Moreover, it wasn’t until Game 3 of the NL Division Series that Kemp received his first start.
