LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers, after a week in Tokyo and three days of celebrations filled with pageantry, insist they now have closure on their World Series championship season.
Oh, they had a blast, with the World Series banner being hoisted one day, receiving their glorious championship rings filled with more than 300 diamonds the next, and the presentation of Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards on the third day. But now, it’s back to business.
They still have nearly an entire season to be played — well, 157 more regular-season games, to be exact. But they also now have visions of history dancing in their heads.
The Dodgers, despite Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki’s meltdown, won yet again Saturday night, 7-3 over the Detroit Tigers, giving them a 5-0 record for the first time since 1981.
Just like that, the record of 116 regular-season victories by the 1906 Chicago Cubs and 2001 Seattle Mariners could be in danger.
“I think this team deserves everything that is happening right now,’’ Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas said. “All of the hard work, all of the things the front office did, I mean, we got guys that are hungry. Our mentality right now is to win every single day, no matter who we’re playing, or where we’re playing.
“I’m not going to back off what I said before, we can do it. We’re good to go. Our main goal now is to be healthy when October comes.’’
Yes, it may be the first week of the season, but the Dodgers are showing the kind of resiliency that was their trademark last season, surviving a horrid start by Sasaki, who lasted just 1.2 innings before turning the game over to the vaunted bullpen. It was reminiscent of their playoff stretch last season in which they used four bullpen games, and, of course, it was only fitting that Freddie Freeman sent another home run into the right-field pavilion, just like he did in Game 1 of the 2024 World Series.
“It’s been a great weekend,’’ Freeman said. “You appreciate what we did last year, celebrated with our fans this whole weekend, and then went out there and played the game, and win the game. I thought today was a special job from our bullpen.’’
Deja vu?
“It’s like five months ago, we saw what they just did,’’ Freeman said, “especially early on in the season. That’s hard for them to do. For them to want the ball and go out there and execute. … Pretty amazing.
“Just smiles on our face, each and every day.’’
The only negative of the Dodgers’ glorious first week are the struggles of Sasaki, the 23-year-old sensation every team in baseball coveted. He had command problems in his major-league debut in Japan, walking five batters in just three innings, and then was worse in his Dodger Stadium debut. He recorded only five outs, walked four batters, and threw just 32 strikes in his 61 pitches.
He looked rattled, appeared to lose his composure at times, and was ...
