Dodgers: Doc Refuses to Believe the Team Overthinks the Postseason
It's true. The Dodgers have in fact made it to the postseason 10 straight times and in three trips to the World Series, they've only won it once back in 2020.
But Dave Roberts doesn't consider this a failure on the team's fault at all. It's the nature of sports. All ten years, the World Series has been won by a different franchise.
Yet, critics will claim that the team begins to overthink the game when it hits October and the pressure kills them in the end.
Doc shared with Bill Plunkett of the OC Register his thoughts about the team's "lack of fruition in the past decade":
"I think the overthinking perception is overblown...Honestly, I believe it’s overblown because this perception started when Andrew took over the Dodgers. Andrew took over and you bring in, on the baseball ops side, analytics and trying to maximize on the margins and increase winning percentage. I believe we’ve done that better than any team in baseball."
In the run of the past 10 seasons, the Dodgers have won nine National League West titles and 61.2 percent of their regular-season games, including 100 wins in four of the past five full seasons. So Friedman and Roberts are clearly doing something right. It just shows how hard it really is for teams to go all the way.
"But I think the first scary look for people was, ‘They’re overthinking. They’re doing something different.’ Now you look into the postseason … every year there are things that are unconventional that happen. But it’s always us that gets looked at for overthinking.”
Roberts is right. The game of October baseball is a whole different animal and some just can't handle the pressure but I still don't think it's a matter of "overthinking."
Now although a franchise-best 111-51 overall record is still impressive, the only thing that can make the historical season for the Dodgers better is if they can finish the job.
