Baseball pundits have been unanimous in their assessment of the 2020 Dodgers; they are a supremely talented group of players with tremendous depth on the 40-man roster, and will not only qualify for their eighth consecutive MLB playoffs, but a favorite to play in the World Series. The team is making the experts look good through the first 16 games of the abbreviated schedule by winning 11 times.

However, to this point in the season, something seems to be missing from this team — an aggressive esprit de corps from the beginning of each game. Six of its 11-victories have been come-back victories with late-inning rallies. Even blowout victories over the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks were the result of late-inning assaults on their fringy bullpens. The modus operandi of this team is low energy early innings. Passive hitters, taking pitches over the heart of the strike zone, then chasing pitches out of the strike zone, and power pitchers who nibble rather than challenging opposing hitters by pitching aggressively.

“The four leadoff walks is not what you’re trying to do,” Dodgers right-hander and Sunday’s starting pitcher Walker Buehler admitted during his postgame presser. “Offense picked me up there late and we got out of here with a win.”

A laid-back team personality has been characteristic of the Dodgers since Dave Roberts became the manager in 2016. That approach has worked well for the team over the last four years of 162-game marathon seasons. But the 2020 season is not a marathon; it is a 60-game sprint that is being played under the cloud of COVID-19 safety protocols. There is nothing normal about this season; just ask the Miami Marlins, Philadelphia Phillies, and St Louis Cardinals.

If the Dodgers want to be 2020 World Champions, they cannot take anything for granted. They must play aggressively from the first pitch to the last of every game.

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