The Dodgers are getting their bye week after all this October.
Though the club didn’t secure a top-two seed in the National League playoff bracket — meaning they didn’t have a bye through the first round of the postseason as they had the previous three years — its sweep in the NL Championship Series meant that they had plenty of time to kill.
By the time Game 1 of the World Series begins Friday, the team will have had six days off, similar to the break they had at the start of the playoffs each of the last three seasons.
And though the Dodgers didn’t handle such extended layoffs well in 2022 and 2023, getting bounced in their first playoff round thanks to inconsistent offense, they have dusted off the playbook that worked so well for them at the start of last fall, when they changed their bye-week routine en route to a World Series title.
Now, as they did back then, the Dodgers are incorporating more simulated game activities into their schedule. On Sunday, they played a seven-inning sim game. On Monday, they took more rounds of live batting practice.
The team is also making a point of spending time around one another at the ballpark. On Sunday and Monday, players stayed until the end of each workout, as Games 6 and 7 of the American League Championship Series played on the stadium scoreboard.
Mostly, though, the Dodgers are simply trying to maintain the momentum of their 9-1 start to the playoffs, and carry it into a World Series in which they will attempt to become MLB’s first repeat champion in a quarter-century.
“All we’re trying to do right here is get four more wins to win a World Series,” veteran infielder Miguel Rojas said. “Last year, when we had the bye, and the year before, we were trying to get through one more month of baseball. You’re trying to prepare for that. You’re trying to get some guys healthy.
“I just feel like the difference with this one [versus] the one we had the last couple years is everybody is locked in on winning the World Series. We’re really close to doing that. And winning four more games is the most important thing.”
This week’s break, of course, comes with some downside.
This year, the Dodgers didn’t seem to mind playing in the opening wild-card round immediately after the regular-season, in part because it helped them — and their surging late-season offense, especially — keep the edge that fueled their 15-5 run at the end of September.
“I think it’s nice to have rest and kind of let everybody take a deep breath and rest up or whatnot,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. But, he added, there is value to “playing and staying in a rhythm.”
“We didn’t have that choice,” Betts added, “so we’ll just enjoy the break and be ready to go.”
That’s where the Dodgers are hoping the experience of last October comes in.
Not only did they navigate their bye week at the start of the playoffs, but they also successfully handled four off days between the end of the NLCS and last year’s Fall Classic.
The lesson from that?
“Just rest up and keep sharpening your skills,” Betts said. “Get ready for whoever on Friday.”
Scott likely available for World Series
Not only do the Dodgers have few concerns on the injury front, but they could have another option to choose from when setting their World Series roster.
After being removed from the NL Division Series roster with an abscess on his backside that became infected, former closer Tanner Scott said he feels healthy enough to pitch in the World Series.
“It popped up probably, Game 1 [of the NLDS], I started feeling something,” Scott said. “And then the off-day [between Games 2 and 3 of that series], I noticed something was really off. By the time we got back from Philly, it was just like, ‘Hey, we need to get this taken care of.’”
Now that he has, the question will be whether Scott will be added back to the Dodgers’ roster after he posted a 4.74 ERA in the regular season.
“I feel a lot better now,” said Scott, who hadn’t pitched in the playoffs before having an abscess incision on Oct. 8. “I’m throwing, threw a couple bullpens, see where it takes me.”
“[The abscess was] bad timing, but healthy now, so just keep going. That’s about it.”
By the time the World Series begins, it will have been almost a month since Scott last pitched. However, he said wasn’t concerned about how such a long break would affect his stuff, and joked he was looking forward to facing Freddie Freeman in a live at-bat this week.
“He’s so good and it’s so hard to get him out,” Scott said. “He lets me know the last time he faced me, he got a hit off me. But the time before, I struck him out. So I always bring up that one.”
The post How Dodgers are navigating their World Series bye week: ‘Keep sharpening your skills’ appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
