TORONTO — By any measure, the Dodgers have their work cut out for them. Arriving on a redeye from LA early Thursday morning, they are tasked with recovery today, and then absolute focus by first pitch on Friday. And manager Dave Roberts seemed ready to whatever it takes to get the series to a winner-take-all Game Seven on Saturday. But first he acknowledged the deficiencies of his offense that put him and his team in that postion.
Roberts didn’t venture into swing-change theory so much as mindset. He said the hitters have to stop living “in between” and meet the ball with conviction. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about this,” Roberts said. “Intent, mechanics, all of it matters, but we’ve got to find a way to win one game. At the end of the day, they’ve just got to compete and fight in the batter’s box. It’s one-on-one, the hitter versus the pitcher, and that’s it. That’s the mindset I’m looking for, and I expect good things to happen from that.”
Could a shakeup in the order help? Roberts left the door open, but only a crack. “I might change it up a little bit,” he said. “I’m contemplating, but I’m still up in the air. So it could be a little bit of a change.”
The conversation turned to Shohei Ohtani and the possibility of using him on the mound behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto or as an opener in Game Seven. Roberts kept it practical. “We’ll see how he comes in tomorrow,” he said. “When you’re facing elimination, you’ve got to have those conversations. Whatever it takes for us to win tomorrow. Yama’s going, and we’re going to do whatever we can to put our best foot forward on the run prevention side, and then on creating runs, too.”
If the series reaches a seventh game, every lever is in play. “We’d consider everything,” Roberts said. “It’s about doing whatever we can to get through tomorrow, then pick up the pieces and see the best way to attack a potential Game Seven. Everything should be on the table, and will be for sure.”
Given the season’s twists, one reporter asked if it almost feels right that it comes down to the last few steps. Roberts smiled at the idea. “Yeah, absolutely,” he said. “I’m in good spirits. Our coaches are. What better way to win the World Series than in Game Seven? But we’ve got to win tomorrow.” What encouraged him most was the group’s response to a voluntary day. “I gave our players an option not to work out today because of the long series and 18 innings and travel and all that,” he said. “Not one guy took the option. That was pretty exciting for me and speaks to where these guys are. They realize the job’s not done, and we’re going to keep going and keep fighting.”
Mindset stayed front and center. “Elimination games, which we’ve had a lot of experience with, are all mindset,” Roberts said. “It’s fight or flight. Whatever adage you want. Leave it all out there. It’s certainly not war, and I’m not trying to compare it to war, but in our world, in our small world of baseball, it is war. And that’s the mindset for me. It’s all mindset.”
The Dodgers have been here before, and that history informs Friday night. “In that moment in 2024 and other moments like it, the urgency of every play stood out,” Roberts said. “We’re in a position right now where we don’t have any margin, so everything is going to be heightened. The extra focus we need to have will be there tomorrow night. That’s a takeaway for me in some of these elimination games.”
As for the specific Shohei questions, those talks were scheduled once the team hit the field. “Not yet,” Roberts said when asked if he’d discussed pitching with Ohtani on Thursday morning. “We’re going to talk about that today when we’re out on the field.” Could Ohtani play the outfield if it comes to that? “We’ll talk about everything,” Roberts said. “Whatever is best, we’ll talk through it. He’s not going to play the outfield tomorrow. I do know that. If we get to Game Seven, we’ll have a good discussion about everything.”
One theory floating around is the layoff before this series knocking the bats out of rhythm. Roberts waved that off. “I don’t think so,” he said. “Even if it was, I wouldn’t say it was.”
The travel grind came up, too, and the answer doubled as a snapshot of how the clubhouse feels heading into Friday. “I think the players got here at like seven a.m., something like that,” Roberts said. “We coaches arrived about an hour [before the presser]. Everybody was sleeping on the flight, then quietly. But they’re ready. They’re all ready.”
Finally, why did players fly ahead while the staff followed later? “That’s more player-driven,” Roberts said. “They like to get to the cities and get situated.”
It all circles back to the task in front of them. The Dodgers need one, then they can think about the next one. Roberts kept bringing it back to that small box where every pitch, every at-bat, every inch matters. “They’ve just got to compete and fight in the batter’s box,” he said. “It’s one-on-one. Hitter versus pitcher. That’s it.” And with Yamamoto set for the ball and every option considered behind him, his team’s posture matched the manager’s words. “They realize the job’s not done,” Roberts said. “We’re going to keep going and keep fighting.”
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