With the Wild Card Series now underway, players are starting to lock in and focus on the endgame after an interesting year. The COVID-19-shortened 60-game regular season was definitely fraught with risks and sacrifices for players and their families; so much so that some, like Dodgers left-hander David Price, elected to opt-out of the 2020 season for safety reasons.
During their respective post-workout Zoom media sessions on Tuesday afternoon, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner were asked (separately) if anything less than a World Series win would be worth it after what they had been through during such a unique year.
“It’s World Series or bust every year,” Roberts answered. “We’ve all gone through a lot, the whole industry has. But I think for us, we’re just focused on the Brewers, and we’ll see what happens.”
Turner concurs wholeheartedly.
“Every year we come here, we expect to win a World Series,” Turner said. “You got to go through those sacrifices and those risks to get the opportunity to win a World Series.”
With Game-1 of the Wild Card Series looming large, there are many questions about how the Dodgers will stack up against the Brewers – the number-eight seed in the National League – because they did not face them during the abbreviated regular season. But the Dodgers aren’t too concerned, since the playing field will be level – Milwaukee has not exactly gotten a good look at the Dodgers either.
Los Angeles led the league in most categories throughout the 2020 regular season, which many believe gives them an advantage heading into the postseason. But both teams will enter play on Wednesday evening with a clean slate regardless of how they got there.
“There’s been a lot said about our season and all the home runs we’ve hit,” Turner said. “But we also took a lot of walks and found other ways to score runs as well, and that’s something that definitely comes into play in the postseason.”
Now that October is approaching, talks will soon begin regarding free agency and contract extensions, and Justin Turner is among them. As such and as one of the key veteran leaders on the team, it was inevitable that someone would raise the question about Turner’s future. The soon-to-be 36-year-old (on November 23) and recent Roy Campanella Award recipient was asked if he personally felt a little more urgency this year, with his four-year contract expiring at the conclusion of the season. In typical JT fashion, he put the team ahead of himself.
“It’s the same urgency as every season, the goal is to win a World Series, and nothing has changed this season,” Turner answered without a hint of hesitation. “We’re here to win. We have a lot of guys with a lot of experience who are all just as hungry this year as I am.”
The Dodgers unofficial team captain was asked if there had been one person who helped him the most to prepare him mentally for the extreme pressures of postseason play. After mentioning that there had been many who had helped him throughout his entire baseball life, Turner narrowed it down to that one person – Sports Psychology professor Ken Ravizza from Cal State – who Turner said helped him prepare mentally not only for future contract situations but with his overall outlook on baseball as well. Sadly, Ravizza passed away on July 8, 2018.
“I learned a lot from Ken Ravizza about being present, and one of the things that kind of destroys that focus is looking ahead to the future,” Turner answered. “I try not to do that, and I try to worry about today, and then when tomorrow comes, we’ll worry about tomorrow.
“I’m worried about this year and winning games and bringing a trophy back to Los Angeles.”
Fans can – or at least should – appreciate how Turner puts his team first and focuses on one game at a time, and his compelling desire to bring a World Series trophy back to Los Angeles after a 32-year drought.
Let’s go Dodgers!