Finally, the Great Snooze is almost over.
A spring training that was described as “boring” by manager Dave Roberts is in its final days, the obligatory exhibition Freeway Series against the Angels the only remaining item on the Dodgers’ to-do list between now and Opening Day.
In the five weeks the Dodgers were in Arizona, they didn’t have any season-altering injuries. They didn’t have anyone show up noticeably out of shape. They didn’t have any malcontents disrupt their peace.
Which isn’t to say the Dodgers spent their camp holding serve.
Outside of Roki Sasaki displaying any semblance of consistency, just about everything that could go right for the Dodgers went right.
“I think I would have banked that in a heartbeat, as far as kind of everything in totality, what happened,” Roberts said.
As the two-time defending World Series champions who won the offseason by adding the No. 1 hitter and reliever on the free agent market, the Dodgers could have maintained their advantage over their competitors simply by avoiding any major setback.
They did more than that.
They entered camp with several players at critical junctures in their careers — and many of them enjoyed solid springs.
By the time the Dodgers departed Camelback Ranch, they had increased the distance between them and the 29 other MLB teams.
The Dodgers were 19-8-1 in the Arizona portion of their exhibition schedule. That in itself didn’t count for anything. What mattered were the details.
“You don’t really want to focus too much on results in spring,” third baseman Max Muncy said. “At the same time, you want to focus on how the results are happening. For us, the results were happening from us having good days, putting in the work, focusing on what we’re trying to focus on.”
Most of the projected starters batted over .300 in the Cactus League.
Of the Dodgers’ everyday players, the two worst hitters were Shohei Ohtani (.167 batting average) and Kyle Tucker (.261). Ohtani and Tucker are the two players the Dodgers have to worry least about. They’re All-Stars in their primes. They will hit.
The greater concerns about the lineup pertained to the team’s older players.
Mookie Betts had a down year last season, but the 33-year-old shortstop felt rejuvenated to where he said he expected to return to being an MVP-caliber player. He batted .292 in the Cactus League.
Teoscar Hernandez looked equally refreshed, the 33-year-old outfielder reporting to camp after a 12-pound weight loss and batting .432 with a team-leading 17 RBIs.
Freddie Freeman, Muncy and Miguel Rojas didn’t look as if they aged overnight, either. Freeman, 36, batted .419; Muncy, 35, .333; and Rojas, 37, .357.
Muncy said the group benefited from a relatively standard camp. While their World Series run reduced their offseason by a month, they won’t have to open their regular season in Asia, as they did the two previous years. Opening Day was in Japan last year and South Korea the year before.
“The last two years, you felt like you had about two weeks to get ready, and then you had to fly overseas,” Muncy said. “So it was nice to have a normal spring. Especially nice [after] the back-to-back long seasons you have a normal spring gives you a little more time to think about your rest. For me, that was a big thing, trying to prioritize my rest and recovery.”
On the other end of the experience spectrum was 25-year-old Andy Pages. While Pages was a borderline All-Star as a second-year player last season, he completely vanished offensively in the playoffs, batting just .078 in October. By demonstrating more patience and batting. 341 in the Cactus League, Pages calmed any fears that he suddenly forgot how to hit.
The Dodgers’ pitching is also in better shape than it was at this time last year. Ohtani, who didn’t pitch last year until mid-June, will start the final exhibition game against the Angels on Tuesday and is lined up to make his first regular-season start a week later against the Guardians.
Opening Day starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto struck out seven batters in five innings in his last Cactus League start. Roberts was also encouraged by how Tyler Glasnow looked and sounded in camp.
“It’s the best he’s looked mechanically, where his headspace is at,” Roberts said of Glasnow.
The Dodgers knew before camp that Blake Snell wouldn’t be available for the start of the season, but the left-hander remains on track to be active within a couple of months. As for the bullpen, Tanner Scott (1.23 ERA in the Cactus League) and Alex Vesia (1.35) look as if they could be sturdy bridges to new closer Edwin Diaz.
“We’re ready to start the season,” Roberts said.
Opening Day is Thursday.
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