Dodgers Interview: Edman on the Game-Winner, the Grit, and a Team Doing “Whatever It Takes”

PHOENIX — Tommy Edman didn’t celebrate long. He spoke like a man who knows October is coming fast—and who understands why Wednesday night’s 5–4, 11-inning win in Phoenix mattered. His two-out, two-strike RBI single in the 11th was the difference, a compact, cool-headed swing that fit the moment and the message.

“Got down 0–2 with a runner on third, just trying to put something in the outfield,” Edman said. “He hung a slider and I was able to stay on it.” Simple plan, ruthless execution. The Dodgers’ magic number is one largely because Edman refused to expand and cashed in the one mistake he got.

If you’ve watched his at-bats lately, his confidence sounded earned. “I’ve been feeling good,” he said. “I feel like I’ve hit some balls hard recently and just haven’t had much to show for it. Fortunately found some holes today. I feel really good from both sides of the plate right now.” That last point is huge: when Edman is synced up as a switch-hitter, he lengthens the lineup, pressures defenses with contact, and turns late innings into matchup puzzles for opposing managers.

Edman also put the night in context—the late-inning swings, the blown leads, the tightrope endings that have dotted September. “We’re just kind of making everything exciting at this point,” he said with a wry smile. “But that’s what playoff baseball is like. You’ve got to keep fighting back. There are going to be things that don’t go your way, balls that don’t bounce your way. You stay with it, keep fighting, and hope the tide turns.” On Wednesday, it did—because the Dodgers kept giving themselves another chance.

He’s eager to end the division math, too. “We’re going to do everything we can to win tomorrow,” he said. “Hopefully we get that last game and have a happy flight to Seattle, and then use that series to get ready for the next round.” That’s the tone across the clubhouse right now: finish the job, then fine-tune.

The other thing that clearly energized Edman was what he saw from two arms in unfamiliar lanes—Roki Sasaki and Clayton Kershaw—each throwing a clean, high-leverage inning. “It was exciting,” Edman said. “Roki, first time he’s thrown in a few months, looked pretty electric from my standpoint in center field. He did a really good job of attacking the zone and looked confident out there.” Then came the moment that sent a jolt through the dugout and every living room in L.A.: Kershaw jogging in for the ninth. “Kers coming in in a huge spot and having a shutdown inning in the ninth—he’s the toughest competitor out there. That’s the guy you want in that situation. It was good to see those guys succeed in that role.”

Edman didn’t just praise the results; he highlighted what it meant that both pitchers were willing to bend their routines for the team. “We’re at the point in the season where we’re just doing whatever it takes to win ballgames,” he said. “Whether that’s guys doing something other than what they typically do… guys are just doing whatever it takes to win. That’s what’s great about our squad—no egos, just doing what it takes.” He even pointed to last year’s October precedent of a frontline starter taking the ball to close out the final game as the kind of flexibility that wins titles—an ethos, not a stunt.

Zoom in on Edman’s night and you see why that ethos resonates. He tracked balls off the bat from center field, made the routine look routine in a game where nothing felt easy, and then delivered the one swing the Dodgers had to have. Zoom out and his comments map directly onto how this team intends to win in October: persevere through the chop, defend at a high level, let the next man (or role) step in without ego, and seize the one mistake when it appears.

There will be bigger hits in the weeks ahead, but few cleaner distillations of winning baseball than a two-strike single up the middle with two outs in extras. Edman didn’t oversell it—he rarely does—but the meaning was all over his answers: trust your plan, trust your guys, and when the game finally hangs you a slider, stay on it. One more win to clinch, then on to the bigger stage he’s already playing like he expects.

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