Dodgers: Andrew Friedman Talks About 'Much Better Situation' This Year Than Last
In 2021, the Dodgers had to battle to the very end of the season, ultimately coming up one game short in the NL West and having to play a win-or-go-home Wild Card game against the Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. Their reward for winning that game was to head to San Francisco to play a five-game series with the Giants, the only team in baseball with a better record than them in the regular season.
By the time the Dodgers took on the Braves in the NLCS, the battle had taken its toll on them. Los Angeles lost Max Muncy and Clayton Kershaw to injury in the final weekend of the regular season, then saw Max Scherzer unable to take the ball in the NLCS due to fatigue.
In the end, the Braves were too much for the Dodgers, who watched on TV as Atlanta beat the Astros in the World Series.
L.A. president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman remains painfully aware of the toll last year's division battle took on his team, as he told the media last night as the division-clinching celebration wound down.
"This is a much better situation than last year. 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. And that's where our mindset will switch starting tomorrow."
This year, instead of going all-out through game 162, the Dodgers will have the opportunity to spend the last 21 games preparing for the postseason. That will mean the occasional day off for Freddie Freeman — perhaps even as early as today. It will mean extra days between starts for pitchers as often as possible. Whatever it means, the goal will be what Friedman said: "getting them ready for October."
Time will tell if the early clinch is what the Dodgers need to dominate in October. But the lack of a break last year clearly cost them in the postseason, so they're definitely in a better situation.
