The Los Angeles Dodgers captured their 10th National League West Division crown since 2013 this year and also set a record for runs scored in a single season, dating back to their time since moving from Brooklyn.
This year wasn’t expected to be one of their usual dominant performances after a mostly quiet offseason. The Dodgers relied on numerous veterans and rookies put into tough spots out of necessity.
Manager Dave Roberts oversaw a roster that included two top-five MVP candidates in Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, while also banking on the rebound production of Max Muncy. One of the Dodgers’ offseason acquisitions, Miguel Rojas, was thrusted into a larger role at shortstop following the injury to Gavin Lux.
During a recent appearance on “Foul Territory,” Muncy revealed that Rojas became a big piece in the Dodgers clubhouse and helped the team enjoy their victories by way of a toast celebration:
“That was something we started this year. Miggy Ro brought it over, and I really loved it. He came from a team that hadn’t won a whole lot, and I’ve obviously been here for a long time and we’re used to winning. He brought up the idea of, ‘Hey, you’ve got to celebrate the wins. Winning in this game is really hard and you’ve got to celebrate the wins.’ You obviously want to act like you’ve been there, done that. But at the same time, winning in this game is really hard, so you want to celebrate.
“He came up with that idea and it really took off for us. When he brought up the idea, we weren’t playing that great. This was like late May, maybe, kind of right at .500 and not playing real great. After we had that idea we kind of took off and started playing really well. That was when we started having a whole lot of fun. You’ve got to celebrate the wins and good things in this game because it’s hard to accomplish them.”
Rojas is in his second stint with the Dodgers, with his first coming in the 2014 season. He was a part of a 94-win club that won the NL West by six games in 2014, taking the crown over the San Francisco Giants.
Rojas played for the Miami Marlins from 2015-to-2022, where he was part of one of the most losing teams in baseball over the last decade.
The 10-year veteran was a holdover with the Marlins, being one of the few players to endure the consistent losing run. Rojas bringing over the tequila tradition following a win is an homage to the little success he had with the Marlins while maintaining the understanding that even for a historically winning club, they all matter.
Dodgers’ approach to 2024 season
The Dodgers followed up a franchise-record 111-win season in 2022 with an improbable 100 wins this year, only for both to be accompanied by a letdown performance in the NL Division Series.
New additions to the roster further heighten expectations after committing the amount of cash Dodgers’ ownership guaranteed to Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Tyler Glasnow. A sweep at the hands of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who went on to lose the World Series, put them in a difficult place, in that their dominant regular season was all for naught.
The Dodgers’ approach to how they view a juggernaut regular season slate won’t be measured in the same sense, because of their recent failures to reach the Fall Classic.
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