PHOENIX — They didn’t dogpile on the mound. They were animated but relatively reserved in an abbreviated clubhouse champagne shower.
It was no doubt a celebratory moment for the Dodgers, capturing their 12th division title in the last 13 years with an 8-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday.
But it was accompanied by moments of internal reflection, as well. About a regular season that has posed challenges at every turn. About a six-month slog in which frustration and adversity were around every corner.
“This has been a tough year,” third baseman Max Muncy said.
“Not the smoothest of rides to get here,” first baseman Freddie Feeman added.
The reasons why are numerous, from early-season injuries in the rotation to an extended second-half slump from the lineup to a string of bullpen collapses that made the division race unexpectedly close.
Through it all, however, ran one common thread.
While there is no universal consensus over the veracity of a so-called “World Series hangover,” some team members have acknowledged the unique obstacles that have come with trying to repeat as champions.
There is the physical toll. The mental exhaustion. The threat of complacency and stagnant satisfaction.
In their bid to win a second-consecutive World Series this year — something no team has accomplished since the New York Yankees’ three-peat from 1998-2000 — the Dodgers at various times seemed to battle each one.
“Baseball is different than any other sport,” manager Dave Roberts said. “The psyche part of it, the battle of attrition, all that stuff kind of matters. There’s probably many reasons why [repeating as World Series champions] hasn’t been done since the Yankees did it [from 1998-2000]. But that’s something we’re trying to do. We have an opportunity to make history. It hasn’t been easy. But that’s part of it.”
The question now: Have the obstacles of the regular season steeled them for another championship run? Or will this prove to be a campaign that in some ways was ill-fated from the start?
“This was as tough a path as we’ve been through,” Roberts said, amid Thursday’s clubhouse celebration. “But the old adage — iron sharpens iron. I do think we’re better for the adversity … I’m excited for what’s to come.”
The “World Series hangover” conversation has followed the Dodgers ever since they reported for spring training. It slowly revealed itself in ways that were both obvious and small.
Start with the bullpen, where every impact reliever who returned from last year’s title-winning team either regressed in their performance, spent time sidelined with an injury, or in several cases endured both after the heavy workload they shouldered in last year’s playoffs.
“I think it would be probably trying to fool ourselves if we said it didn’t have anything to do with it,” right-hander Michael Kopech, who has been limited to just 14 appearances this year and will begin the playoffs on the injured list with a knee problem, said last month. “But at the same time, that’s what we all sign up for. Any team that was in the position that we were last year would have done the same.”
“There probably is some mental fatigue and some physical [carry] over,” fellow right-hander Blake Treinen echoed. “But to say it’s an effect on the whole year, I don’t know. I think getting caught up on excuses and reasons is a dangerous thing.”
The bullpen has pointed elsewhere in explaining its season-long struggles. As Treinen noted, “at the end of the day, we get paid to handle” the burdens of bouncing back from whatever happened the previous fall.
The Dodgers also tried to mitigate such factors, bolstering the group with the veteran offseason signings of Tanner Scott and Kirby Yates. But as they flopped, the unit as a whole suffered one calamity after another. The more they spiraled, the harder it became for speculation about the after-effects of last October to be blocked out.
“You don’t try to lean on the what-ifs and maybes and this could be and that couldn’t be,” Treinen said. “We just have a job, and it’s been weird [this year].”
On the other side of the ball, the Dodgers dealt with a different dynamic in the wake of last year’s triumph. For an offense usually predicated on a disciplined daily approach and ability to work quality at-bats, there were long stretches of the season in which that edge would seemingly soften. When consistent execution at the plate looked like a puzzlingly difficult task.
“This is not an excuse, but we started the year last year really early, we played until November, and then this year we started early again,” infielder Miguel Rojas said, citing not only the Dodgers’ grind to get through last postseason but also their two international trips to Japan and South Korea over the last 18 months.
“We’re human beings. And sometimes you get tired, especially mentally. You got a lot of things going on in your life, and your year. It’s not easy to be locked in every single time.”
That was especially evident during the team’s second-half slide, when a common contrast could be drawn between the Dodgers and their upset-minded opponents.
“When you’re the defending champions … we definitely got everyone’s best shot this year,” Muncy said.
And, too often, the Dodgers struggled to conjure the intensity to match.
“That’s part of what we signed up for, but it takes a tax,” Roberts said. “It’s tough every day to bring your best when you know that other teams are bringing their best … You try to put forth every game is the same, April is just as important as September and October. That in theory is great. But it’s hard to do that in practice.”
Add in the fact that “when you make deep playoff runs every year, it takes a toll on guys’ bodies. And this year, I think you saw it more than ever,” noted Muncy, who missed time with knee and oblique injuries.
Despite all that, of course, the Dodgers still rang in what has become a nearly annual tradition on Thursday night. They sprayed bottles and smoked cigars in a division-clinching clubhouse celebration. They doused Shohei Ohtani with all manner of liquid and “MVP” chants. They turned the booze-soaked plastic lining on the floor into a slip-and-slide for members of their training and support staff.
“This never feels old,” Freeman said from behind champagne-drenched ski goggles.
“It’s still the best feeling in the world,” a shirtless Clayton Kershaw added.
Amid the scene, however, was also a business-like understanding.
Winning the division was what the Dodgers always expected to accomplish.
Repeating as World Series champions, and overcoming all the hangover effects that have followed them to this point, remains the ultimate challenge.
“We’ve been battle-tested,” Muncy said, framing the ups and downs of this year as building blocks to lean on in the postseason.
“The thing that I think is pretty telling is, [with] all that we’ve gone through, this team stayed connected,” Roberts similarly declared.
The path ahead still isn’t simple. The team will have to take the long route through October — starting with a best-of-three wild card round next week, rather than a bye to the division series.
But lately, they’ve seen signs that their hangover might be subsiding, winning 12 of 17 games behind a more consistent offense, a dominant surge from the starting rotation, and a bullpen that is getting new reinforcements from the likes of Kershaw, Roki Sasaki and (likely starting in the playoffs) Emmet Sheehan.
“Yeah, we won the division,” Roberts said. “But on top of that, more important, we’re playing good baseball.”
The goal now is to maintain that momentum, embrace the lessons this regular season provided, and avoid any further pitfalls that have tripped up so many previous defending champions before them.
After all, winning consecutive World Series might not be easy. But next year, they’d love to give it yet another try.
“It’s more about playing for each other, trusting each other,” Roberts said. “The rest of it will take care of itself.”
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