Dodgers explain how they stay motivated despite NL's best record

NEW YORK – The Dodgers continue their weekend series against the Mets with a 14-game lead in the National League West, a 12-game advantage on the Nationals for the best record in the Senior Circuit, and a seven-game margin over the Astros in the race for home-field advantage throughout the postseason. At 77-32, the fiercest competition Los Angeles has is history, as at the same point in the 2001 season, the Mariners were 78-30 and on their way to setting a modern-day major-league record with 116 wins.

The Dodgers, though, don’t care about any of it.

“The one goal is to try to win the World Series,” All-Star closer Kenley Jansen said. “We know how tough it is to get there. We’ve been trying for the last four years and we know how tough it is. We’re just worried about this moment, worried about today, trying to go out there and beat the Mets. When tomorrow comes, we’ll think about it again, and that’s the thing that helps us tremendously, is we stay in the moment. We’re not looking at ‘let’s win the division’ or ‘let’s try to have the best record.’ Just worry about us, right now. I think that’s why we’re doing what we’re doing right now.”

That's a fancy way of hitting the “one day at a time” cliche, but it’s a theme that runs through the Dodgers’ clubhouse and it’s hard to argue with the philosophy when the team is 40-7 since June 7, when they were two games back in the West. The red-hot run is all the more remarkable considering the Dodgers’ disabled list right now would form the core of a contending team on its own, featuring Clayton Kershaw, Brandon McCarthy, and Scott Kazmir from the rotation, first baseman Adrian Gonzalez, outfielders Andrew Toles and Andre Ethier, and relievers Grant Dayton, Chris Hatcher, Yimi Garcia, and Adam Liberatore.

The Dodgers on Friday night sent trade deadline acquisition Yu Darvish to the mound to be their ninth starter, 23rd pitcher, and 43rd player overall used this season. Darvish didn't disappoint, tossing seven shutout innings in the win.

“It’s been a next man up mentality,” said Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager. “This is three or four years with everybody now, where everybody knows everybody. It’s not learning anybody, so the next guy can step up, and the next guy has stepped up and done it for us.”

It helps that the Dodgers have the resources to go out and get next men like Darvish and relievers Tony Cingrani and Tony Watson, but Los Angeles also has done just fine in developing its own stars, including last year’s Rookie of the Year and Seager and his likely successor for that award, Cody Bellinger. The Dodgers may be without a World Series win since 1988, but they're cruising toward a fifth straight division title with enough young talent to believe they will be in the championship mix for several more years to come.

“That mixture of veterans and rookies, guys are able to help each other either way - the young guys help the veterans and the veterans help the rookies,” said starter Rich Hill. “It’s just been a great mix. It’s been extremely successful. When you’re a rookie coming into a clubhouse, having the freedom to be able to be yourself is something that is extremely important. Guys come into the clubhouse, and it’s a great place to cultivate creativity and it’s a really good working environment.”

Hill was the Dodgers’ big trade-deadline addition last year, and helped Los Angeles come within two games of the pennant before the Cubs prevailed in the NLCS. So, even before the past two months of winning almost every day put the Dodgers in position to chase history, they knew they had a chance to be special. That was the message on the first day of camp.

“Doc (manager Dave Roberts) walked in the clubhouse and told us we’re gonna win this thing this year,” Jansen said. “The confidence that gave everybody was impressive. We didn’t start playing great, but that’s the good thing about this group, is that when guys like Kershaw go down, we pick ‘em up. How we pick ‘em up is try to go out there and continue to win games. It sucks for him to be on the DL. Nobody likes to be on the DL, especially him, but he’s shown you … the way he prepares himself and comes to the game. It’s time for us to pick him up as a team, and that’s what we’ve been doing. When someone goes down, we pick him up as a group and go on and win games.”

The Dodgers also thrived last year when Kershaw was injured, going 38-24 while their ace was on the shelf, in stark contrast to the struggles Los Angeles had in previous years in games not started by Kershaw or the since-departed Zack Greinke.

“Doc makes us have fun,” Jansen said, not taking a direct shot at former manager Don Mattingly, but certainly displaying his happiness with the current skipper. “He makes us loose. He makes us do what we want to do, but also addresses stuff that’s not right. He gets it, and it’s how it’s supposed to be, and you see how everybody’s doing it. We’ve got a great group of guys, man. We all go out there and fight. Everyone on the 25-man (roster), there might be nine guys playing, but we’re all gonna be there for each other. That makes everybody better here.”