Dodgers navigate World Series bye week by ‘sharpening’ their skills

The Dodgers will have a bye week in October after all.

Although the club did not finish second in the National League playoff bracket — meaning it did not have a bye during the first round of the postseason as it had the previous three years — its sweep in the NL Championship Series meant they had plenty of time to kill.

By the time Game 1 of the World Series begins on Friday, the team will have had six days off, similar to the rest they had at the start of the playoffs in each of the past three seasons.

And while the Dodgers didn’t handle such long layoffs well in 2022 and 2023, getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs thanks to inconsistent offense, they dusted off a playbook that worked so well for them at the start of last fall, when they changed their bye-week routine en route to a World Series title.

Now, as they did then, the Dodgers are incorporating more simulated game activities into their schedule. On Sunday, they played a seven-inning game. On Monday, they took more rounds of live batting practice.

The team also makes sure to spend time around each other on the field. On Sunday and Monday, the players stayed until the end of each practice, with Games 6 and 7 of the American League Championship Series played on the scoreboard at the stadium.

Mostly, though, the Dodgers are simply trying to maintain the momentum of their 9-1 start in the playoffs, and carry it to the World Series where they will try to become MLB’s first repeat champion in a quarter-century.

“All we’re trying to do here is get four more wins to win the World Series,” veteran player Miguel Rojas said. “Last year, when we said our bye, and the year before that, we were trying to get through another month of baseball. You’re trying to prepare for that. You’re trying to get some guys healthy.

“I feel a difference with this [versus] What we’ve had the last couple of years is everyone is desperate to win a World Series. We’re really close to doing that. Winning four more games is the most important thing.”

Of course, this weekend comes with some downsides.

This year, the Dodgers don’t seem to mind playing in the opening wild-card round right after the regular season, in part because it helped them — and their surging offense late in the season, in particular — maintain the edge that fueled their 15-5 run at the end of September.

“I think it’s good to get comfortable and let everybody take a deep breath and rest or whatever,” shortstop Mookie Betts said. But he added that there is value in “playing and staying in a rhythm.”

“We didn’t have that option, so we’ll just enjoy the break and be ready to go,” Bates added.

That’s where the Dodgers hope last October’s experience will come.

Not only did they navigate a bye week at the start of the playoffs, but they also managed to handle four days off between the end of the NLCS and the Fall Classic last year.

The lesson from that?

“Just relax and keep honing your skills,” Bates said. “Get ready for Friday.”

Scott will likely be available for the World Series

Not only do the Dodgers have fewer injury concerns, but they could have another option to choose from when preparing their World Series roster.

After being removed from the NL Division Series roster because of an abscess on his butt that became infected, former reliever Tanner Scott said he feels healthy enough to pitch in the World Series.

“It showed up, probably, game one [of the NLDS]“I started to feel something,” Scott said. “And then the day off [between Games 2 and 3 of that series]I noticed that something was really wrong. By the time we got back from Philly, it was like, “Hey, we need to take care of this.”

Now that he has done that, the question will be whether Scott will be added back to the Dodgers roster after posting a 4.74 ERA in the regular season.

“I feel a lot better now,” said Scott, who did not participate in the playoffs before having an abscess removed on Oct. 8.

“[The abscess was] Bad timing, but it’s healthy now, so keep moving forward. “That’s all there is to it.”

By the time the World Series starts, it will have been about a month since Scott’s last pitch. However, he said he wasn’t worried about how this long break would affect his stuff, and joked that he was looking forward to facing Freddie Freeman in a live match this week.

“He’s so good it’s so hard to get him out,” Scott said. “He told me that the last time he faced me, he got hit by me. But the last time, I hit him. So I always bring that up.”