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<\/p>\nSCOTTSDALE, Ariz.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0On the day Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez came home, meaning the whole gang was returning for a run at a third consecutive World Series championship, I asked Dodgers manager Dave Roberts an obvious question.<\/p>\n
Could this be his best team ever?<\/p>\n
Relaxed and beaming throughout his annual Cactus League media day appearance Thursday at a local hotel, Roberts gave an obvious answer.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
As in, duck.<\/p>\n
Yes, these Dodgers have a team that could be better than the teams that have dominated baseball the last two years. Yes, these Dodgers could be better than a group that produced two MVPs, two World Series MVPs, and a passel of All-Star appearances.<\/p>\n
Take a champion, add baseball\u2019s best reliever and one of its best young hitters, then do the math.<\/p>\n
Yes, yes, and oh yeah.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn paper, it could be [the best],\u201d Roberts said. \u201cLooking at the guys in their prime, the experience, the talent, the starters, the pen, the depth of the young players \u2026 probably the best team we\u2019ve had on paper.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roberts is right. Who is even close to the Dodgers? Who can seriously contend with the Dodgers? Who would have a chance in a seven-game series against the Dodgers?<\/p>\n
The answer is, nobody.<\/p>\n
Adding reliever Edwin D\u00edaz and outfielder Kyle Tucker, frankly, is just piling on.<\/p>\n
Instead of the usual criticism that the Dodgers are ruining baseball, Thursday\u2019s interview session was appropriately filled with talk about how nobody in baseball can ruin the Dodgers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt does get lost, the things that we do well,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cScouting and player development, I think we do as well as anybody in baseball \u2026 to get superstars to play well every night, to put out a good product every single night, I think we do a good job at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
To understand why the Dodgers\u2019 domination is beyond much of the payroll criticism, check out the last big transactions before Friday\u2019s start of spring training, deals which included a one-year contract for Hern\u00e1ndez and a one-year extension for Max Muncy.<\/p>\n
At first glance, they didn\u2019t really need either player.<\/p>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez has struggled during recent regular seasons while Muncy always seems to get hurt. Both players are aging and expendable and it seems like the Dodgers would be fine without them.<\/p>\n
But upon further inspection, the heart of the Dodgers\u2019 efforts are fueled by guys like these.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why the biggest conversation should be that instead of a payroll question,\u201d said Roberts. \u201cWhy are we good for baseball? Because our players play the game the right way. When you watch our team play, there\u2019s not anyone that can say our guys don\u2019t respect the game and play the game the right way. We\u2019re good because we play the game the right way and because we give our fans a great product every single night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez is a postseason superstar, with an .826 OPS while seemingly making every big postseason play that comes at him.<\/p>\n
He hit three home runs in the NLCS clincher against the Chicago Cubs in 2017. He homered in the Dodgers\u2019 2-0 victory in the NLDS clincher against the San Diego Padres in 2024.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Then, more impactful than all of that, it was his decision to cheat in while playing left field in the ninth inning that led to a catch-and-throw double play that clinched the Dodgers\u2019 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in Game 6 of the World Series. All of that while nursing an elbow that would later require surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201c\u201cTo play through it and not complain was pretty amazing,\u201d said Roberts. \u201cWhen it comes to crunch time, he can be counted on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Muncy is like Hern\u00e1ndez. You forget about him until October, a month when he will be remembered forever.<\/p>\n
He set a major league record by reaching base in 12 consecutive plate appearances in the 2024 NLCS against the New York Mets. He hit a home run in the eighth inning to spark the Dodgers\u2019 comeback in last season\u2019s Game 7 win.<\/p>\n
Guess who has hit the most postseason home runs in Dodger history? Muncy, seriously, with 16 rockets in 259 at-bats. And to think when the Dodgers signed him to a minor-league contract before the 2017 season, he was a fringe player with seemingly no future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we\u2019ve built something very good, very consistent, and I\u2019m proud of it, I really am,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIt\u2019s really special what we have, this whole operation.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
In Thursday\u2019s final few moments before the start of the race to a three-peat, Roberts allowed himself the luxury of reminiscing on a memorable postseason that included a monumental Game 7 victory created by the rich Dodgers\u2019 ability to do the little things.<\/p>\n
Roberts talked about Tommy Edman\u2019s sliding-stop-and-throw<\/a> to third base, Miguel Rojas\u2019 throw home to<\/a> Will Smith, two of a dozen little things that created a championship.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to go down as one of the best games of all time,\u201d Roberts said of Game 7. \u201cI do think about a lot of things that would have changed the game \u2026 yes, I\u2019m amazed \u2026 we got our breaks, we had big hits … man, when I think about that, it still blows my mind.\u201d<\/p>\n Pitchers and catchers begin work this weekend. If you believe the manager, prepare to have your minds re-re-blown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.\u00a0\u2014\u00a0On the day Kik\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez came home, meaning the whole gang was returning for a run at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176479,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[2135,426,423,2134,6135,2321,48,52,51,3376,47,50,49,4123,1869,9442,83985,424,2668,83986,8934],"class_list":{"0":"post-176478","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-dodgers","10":"tag-game","11":"tag-good-team","12":"tag-guy","13":"tag-hernandez","14":"tag-la","15":"tag-la-headlines","16":"tag-la-news","17":"tag-last-season","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-max-muncy","22":"tag-night","23":"tag-player","24":"tag-right-way","25":"tag-roberts","26":"tag-run","27":"tag-three-peat","28":"tag-victory"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176478\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}