Dodgers News: Freddie Freeman Shares on Team Preparation for Rookies in Their First Playoffs
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Every pundit and every Dodger fan knows the Dodgers’ success in the 2023 postseason hinges on how the team's rookies perform. Since the All-Star break, the rookies have performed well, enabling their team to win 100 games.
As every baseball fan understands, the postseason is a different animal from the regular season. The rookies must know how to handle 50,000 screaming fans and the adrenaline to succeed. If they get caught up with both the excitement and pressure, they won’t deliver.
The Dodgers understand they need to prepare the rookies for the postseason. On Wednesday, the Dodgers opened one of their workouts to select season-ticket holders to help the rookies acclimate to the loudness of Dodger Stadium.
Freddie Freeman further shares what the Dodgers are doing to help the rookies prepare for the playoffs.
"Words are words until you step foot onto that field and you've got 55,000 people and every pitch matters," Freeman said. "We do the best talking to James, Bobby, Emmet, Michael and everyone that hasn't been in the playoffs before, to just prepare about what's going to happen but we're humans. Emotions are emotions. And I always tell everyone to just let it happen. You work so hard your whole like to become a major leaguer and then you're wanting to win a World Series. And first time in -- my first one I struck out my first at-bat because I was shaking in the box. That's just how it is. You lay out what it's going to look like but until they get into it and feel it, that's the beauty of being in the situation. Once you get through the first at-bat, the first play, usually everything settles down."
The Dodgers will likely have at least four rookies on the postseason roster, and could even have five. They'll need them to play key roles if they want to advance through the postseason.
