Dodgers News: Roberts, LA Know Regular Season Success 'Has No Bearing' on October

The Dodgers dominated the season series with the Padres this year, but L.A. manager Dave Roberts knows the only thing that matters now is how the next five games go.

The Dodgers went 14-5 against the Padres in the 2022 regular season, but as the two teams prepare to face off in the National League Division Series beginning tonight, Los Angeles is keenly aware that everyone starts back at zero in this series.

L.A. manager Dave Roberts spoke with the media leading up to the start of the series, and he talked about how the 19 games between the two teams were closer than the final record indicated.

“The win-loss in the season I think certainly has been skewed, but I think that if you were a part and really follow each game, they could have went either way, a lot of them.

“So, it’s obviously a team that’s coming off a very big series, emotional series. A very talented team. We’re going to have our hands full. So there’s going to be no letdown on our part. The regular season has no bearing on the postseason.

“It’s the best-of-five. So history, in our opinion, doesn’t really matter. We feel good with where we’re at as far as having the five days to kind of reset, get some guys that had some injuries to kind of get back on track, so we feel good where we’re at.”

Roberts is, of course, correct that the regular season success against San Diego won't necessarily carry over into the postseason. He might be overstating how many of the 19 games between the two teams were close, though. Only six games were decided by two runs or fewer, and the Padres actually won four of those games. In the 14 L.A. wins, the Dodgers averaged 6.9 runs and the Padres averaged 1.7.

Still, it's good the Dodgers have the mindset they do, because anything can happen in a short series, so they need to come out believing the Padres put up a good fight this year, even if it's not true.