Fans across Major League Baseball are no strangers to how well the Los Angeles Dodgers perform year in and year out. Loyal fans love and expect it, while it paints a pretty large target on the Blue Crew’s back when going against other teams and their fanbases.
Sunday afternoon the Dodgers closed their second-to-last homestand of the season against the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. Twenty-five-year-old Dodgers rookie right-hander Michael Grove got the start against 41-year-old three-time All-Star Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright.
Despite not feeling one-hundred percent and being sent home early to rest Saturday night, Grove still managed to earn his first career win as a major league pitcher. Los Angeles took the series finale by a score of 4-1 which, in turn, kickstarted another series of milestones, big and small, for the ball club.
In his postgame interview with SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts had nothing but high praise for his young right-hander, who went five innings, giving up only one run on three hits while striking out three and walking one.
“I can’t say enough about Michael today,” Roberts boasted. “He was under the weather but was determined he was going to make this start. So after that fifth inning, I just felt that he gave us everything he had and I really tip my cap to him.”
Grove was definitely more humble when recounting this success compared to his other starts.
“I honestly haven’t had that many decisions in my career, so getting the big league win and especially sharing that with Andre (Jackson) a little bit, getting that save at the end was cool to watch,” Grove shared. “I’m really excited about it.”
Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman had his own achievement to celebrate after missing two games due to illness. He currently leads the league in hits and is tied with his career-high (in 2018) of 191 hits.
Coincidentally, this was also the 106th win of the season for the Boys in Blue. Not only have they accomplished this in back-to-back seasons, but this is also the third consecutive full season with 106+ wins – 2019, 2021, 2022. No other team in MLB history can boast that statistic and there are still nine games remaining in the 2022 regular season.
Wrapping up his first year in Dodger blue, Freeman was able to add his unique perspective as the season winds down.
“It’s hard when you’re going through it, you don’t really think about it,” the six-time All-Star first baseman explained. “But I think at the end of the year and hopefully we win one more in the next nine (games). But to take a step back and realize all the hard work and all the grind that goes into it from day one in Spring Training to this point. To potentially have the franchise record in wins is pretty special for this group.”
And that’s not all – with the win on Sunday, Los Angeles also clinched home-field advantage through the NL Division Series and the NL Championship Series. If they win five more games, they will also secure home-field advantage for the World Series should they advance.
As someone who used to be on the opposing team, Freeman was again able to share his perspective on what home field advantage not only means for the Dodgers, but for the opponents stepping onto the field.
“This is the only stadium with four decks, fifty-plus thousand people, and they are loud. The loudest stadium I’ve ever heard was this place in 2013 when Juan Uribe hit that home run against us. This place can get deafening. So to have the NLCS all the way through that, home-field advantage it’s a big deal. It’ll be huge.”
This team is nothing short of amazing and their stats speaks volumes about the organization and the players within it. Roberts and several of his players had not even realized they had hit some of those milestones until told by the media after the game. It just shows how focused they are on the job at hand.
“That’s a compliment,” Roberts said, when informed of his team’s achievements. “I think that it’s not taking away from ‘we don’t appreciate it’, but I think that in a long season, the hard thing to do is to focus in the present. The easy, what is the most natural way to do it, is hear all the noise and look out. But our guys do a great job of trying to win today’s game. We’ll have plenty of time to look back on our accomplishments.”
The team heads to San Diego Tuesday to battle against the Padres. They then head back to LA on Friday for their final homestand of the regular season against the Colorado Rockies. Their magic number to clinch home-field advantage for the World Series is five.
Here’s to a few more wins – and milestones – along the way!