When Dave Roberts addressed his full team for the first time this spring, he didn’t use the word dynasty. On Feb. 15, during the opening week of Dodgers camp, the 10th-year manager did discuss the team’s World Series title , its expectations to repeat and the long road ahead to get there.
Roberts looked around a room — one that included the reigning National League and World Series most valuable players, two more former MVPs, two Cy Young Award winner who had combined to win the award five times, and a host of other All-Stars, big names and expensive free-agent acquisitions — and told the group they were at “the epicenter of baseball.” But, even with the Dodgers trying to win their third championship in six years, the manager shied away from “dynasty” talk, taking a more narrowed focus that his players have echoed in the run-up to this season. “You can’t look at what we’ve already done; you can’t look at what we’re trying to do,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said.
“We’re just focusing on what we can do at this moment.” And in Roberts’ view, what the team needs to do is adopt a certain mindset. “Be the hunter instead of the hunted,” Roberts said last week, as the club opened its season with a two-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo .
“I think when you’re the Dodgers, there’s always a target. You can’t run from it.” The stakes of this Dodgers season have been pretty clearly laid out.
They are trying to become Major League.