LOS ANGELES — It’s often lip service when teams say their goal is to win the World Series every year. Most teams are actually happy with a postseason appearance. But for the Dodgers, winning the World Series every year is not only their goal and their mantra. It’s also their sole focus.
The Dodgers spend more than other teams. They also develop players better than other teams. And over the past decade, they have become the best organization in the sport. When it comes to improving their roster, enough is never enough for the Dodgers.
With their payroll and star-studded roster, the Dodgers being World Series-or-bust is no big secret. But in order to win the World Series, you first have to get there.
For the fourth time in eight seasons, the Dodgers accomplished at least that much. On Sunday, they secured a place in the Fall Classic against the Yankees, defeating the Mets 10-5 at home in Game 6 of the NLCS to reach the World Series for the first time since 2020.
“It feels like we finally arrived, I finally arrived,” Shohei Ohtani said after clinching his first World Series berth in his first season as a Dodger. “A lot of the games we played were really tough and hard to win. It was truly a team effort to get here.”
After being down two games to one against the Padres in the NLDS, the Dodgers made a significant change with their season on the line. They seemed to grasp that one name wasn’t going to save their season, but 26 might.
From then on, the Dodgers were a team on a mission. They took out their rival Padres in five games and were on to their next test: the New York Mets and their magical season.
Taking down the red-hot Mets would require a similar resolve to what the Dodgers showed in defeating San Diego. The mindset of all 26 players being essential came into play immediately, with star first baseman Freddie Freeman continuing to be hobbled by an ankle injury and the rotation seemingly in flux.
While it would’ve been easy for a team with this many injuries to make excuses, L.A. just kept finding ways to win. And after coming home to Dodger Stadium with a 3-2 NLCS lead, Game 6 ended up being pretty apropos of this team’s journey — in both the regular season and the postseason — with the group rallying together to score 10 runs and get 27 outs in a collective effort.
“They proved to themselves how tough they are,” manager Dave Roberts said of his team’s resolve. “When you get in the position that we were in against a division…