One daunting opponent fell off the Dodgers’ schedule this season — the Dodgers. Or, to be more precise, the ghosts of Dodgers’ past, all those clubs that came up short before the Dodgers finally won their first World Series since 1988 last October.
“This year, it’s 29 other opponents, but I think in years’ past, it’s been 29 opponents plus the burden of 31 years of not winning the World Series,” manager Dave Roberts said Friday. “That was our opponent each year.”
No player felt that burden more than pitcher Clayton Kershaw, the longest-tenured Dodger and face of the franchise who bore the brunt of World Series failures against the Houston Astros in 2017 and the Boston Red Sox in 2018 and the National League Division Series meltdown against the Washington Nationals in 2019.