LOS ANGELES — There’s little question that the Dodgers are playing their best baseball of the season right now.
They’ve won nine of their first 10 games this postseason. They wasted no time dispatching the Reds in the NL Wild Card Series, then went into Philadelphia and took the first two games from the Phillies before returning home to finish off the NLDS in four games.
But now, they have to wait.
After clinching their second straight NL pennant on Friday night, the Dodgers will have six days off before they take the field for Game 1 of the World Series.
They’ll also have to wait until at least Sunday to know whether they will begin the Fall Classic at home against the Mariners or if they’ll need to fly to Toronto to face the Blue Jays.
“To be honest with you, even as much fun as we’re having right now, we haven’t accomplished anything yet this year,” said Dodgers utilityman Kiké Hernández. “The goal is not to play in the World Series — the goal is to win it.”
The Dodgers believe they have the talent to do exactly that. Plus, they’re mostly healthy, and they certainly appear to be peaking at the right time.
So the biggest question facing the club right now is how it plans to navigate this next week — and whether the extended layoff will cool off the red-hot Dodgers.
“I don’t know. We’re going to find out,” said third baseman Max Muncy. “But any time you can get to the World Series, you’ll take it. It doesn’t matter what the situation is. You’re going to take it to get to the World Series.”
Though the question regarding the impact of extra rest has become more prominent in recent years due to the top two teams in each league receiving a first-round bye, it’s certainly nothing new.
For decades, teams that make quick work of their opponent in the League Championship Series have had to figure out how to best prepare for the layoff leading up to Game 1 of the World Series — especially when one LCS matchup drags on longer than the other.
If the Mariners clinch the AL pennant in Sunday’s Game 6 in Toronto, L.A. will have had two more days off than Seattle before “It’s time for Dodger baseball!” rings throughout Dodger Stadium on Friday night. If the Blue Jays win Sunday to force a Game 7 on Monday, the Dodgers will enter the World Series with three more days of rest than their AL counterpart.
“I do see it as a positive in terms of being able to rest, both as a position player and as a pitcher,” Shohei Ohtani said via interpreter Will Ireton. “We’ve had some off-days [during the postseason], but we’ve played some very meaningful games that were very stressful.”
So, what does history tell us about extra rest before the World Series?
Well, it doesn’t exactly favor the Dodgers in this instance.
For starters, teams to sweep a best-of-7 LCS are just 2-7 in the ensuing World Series (excluding 2022, when the Astros swept the ALCS, but the NLCS ended on the same day). Beyond that, of the last 15 LCS matchups that did not end on the same day, the team to wrap up its LCS first is just 3-12 in the Fall Classic.
“We’ve been talking about it since Day One, that if we don’t win the World Series, this season is a failure,” Hernández said. “We have to win four more games before we lose four, then we accomplish something pretty special.”
The good news for the Dodgers is that no other team has as much experience in recent years with handling extra time off during the postseason. After all, Los Angeles received a first-round bye in 2022, ’23 and ’24.
The Dodgers’ plan for staying sharp during those five-day breaks has evolved in that time. In 2022, they held a few simulated games before the start of the NLDS, which they ultimately lost in four games to the Padres.
Looking to change it up in 2023, the Dodgers this time allowed a couple thousand fans to sit in on the simulated scrimmages and had their in-game hosts try to replicate an actual gameday experience.
The result? A stunning NLDS sweep at the hands of the D-backs.
So, last year, the Dodgers took a different approach. They still played sim games and took live batting practice on the field, but the biggest change came off the field.
They put an extra emphasis on spending time together away from the diamond, hosting team watch parties for other games and having team dinners.
“I think it’s going to be really important for us to be able to have that kind of game edge,” Ohtani said. “And to be able to maintain it throughout this week.”
Added shortstop Mookie Betts: “This is what we play for. We play to win our last game in October.”
