The Dodgers lost one of the 20 series on their 60-game regular-season schedule. If they lose one in October, that rampage they completed Sunday — most runs scored, second-fewest runs allowed, highest winning percentage by any team since 1954, an eighth consecutive National League West title — will become a footnote in another failed attempt to win the World Series.
Those are the stakes. This expanded 16-team postseason format didn’t appropriately reward the Dodgers’ dominance in a season played without fans and with a possible COVID-19 outbreak looming every day while players and coaches addressed social issues beyond baseball. Too many teams qualified. The three-game wild-card series added a layer of unprecedented variance. The randomness of the playoffs was amplified. But it’s the same for every club and it doesn’t change this fact: The Dodgers are the overwhelming favorites to win their first championship since 1988. Anything short of reaching that peak would be a massive disappointment.
“It’s kind of World Series-or-bust every year,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “This year, I think, certainly would be more special, if it could even be possible. But we’ve all gone through a lot. The whole industry has.”
The Dodgers are built to win now and for years to come. They boast a strong farm system and some of the best young talent in the majors and have Mookie Betts under contract for another 12 years.
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