CAMELBACK RANCH, AZ \u2014 NOTE: Manager Dave Roberts addressed the Dodgers in the clubhouse at Camelback Ranch on Tuesday, the first official day of full team workouts. Rather than give a ton of editorial comments, let\u2019s just let Doc have the floor and speak for himself:<\/p>\n
We play for something bigger than ourselves. And that\u2019s something that you guys all got to wrap your heads around because in this world, in this day, it\u2019s always about self-promotion yourselves. But if you can play for your teammates and play for something bigger, what do I tell you, Miggy? The game honors you. Where\u2019s Miguel at? >> The game honors you.<\/p>\n
You guys got to believe that you\u2019re the best option in every moment, in the biggest of moments. When you\u2019re a Dodger, people want to take us down. They want to beat us. And I said it earlier, it\u2019s a Game 7. So, I think that we\u2019ve got to look ahead and say that this is going to be harder than it\u2019s ever been and we got to work even harder. And so, my ask as a team, as an organization, is to push ourselves even more.<\/p>\n
We already got the talent. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s any more talent. There isn\u2019t any more talent in a major league clubhouse than in this room. Guys, we got to be prepared to play through October.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not easy. It\u2019s not easy. It takes a lot of discipline, a lot of hard work, and it takes trust. The challenge is for each and every one of you guys to put yourselves in a state to be prepared when the opportunity presents itself.<\/p>\n
I told the pitchers this the other day. I said there\u2019s something about an athlete that you have to believe that you\u2019re better than you are. Love it. You have to. But the great ones can also look really honestly with themselves and go, you know what? I\u2019m afraid I need to get better at this. I need to get better at that. How can I be that guy when the biggest spot, when you\u2019re down a run and one out and you\u2019re there to take a good at-bat and the world changes when you hit a homer, or the ball\u2019s hit to you in left field in Game 6 and you cheat in because you\u2019re looking for a flare. You get the ball, you double a guy up, you throw a ball and we pick it to make a double play to win Game 6, or to be summoned out of the bullpen to get a big out and get the out. Those are things that we\u2019ve lived them.<\/p>\n
I was talking to Justin Sua. Justin Sua works alongside Brent and he gave me this good analogy. Greyhounds. Greyhounds race, right? And so when you\u2019re the Dodgers, you\u2019re like a greyhound. And so the greyhounds see a rabbit. And so the greyhounds, once the rabbit goes, the greyhounds are chasing the rabbit. They\u2019re not worried about who\u2019s to the side. So it\u2019s kind of like us. We\u2019re the greyhound and all we\u2019re doing is going forward. We\u2019re hunting.<\/p>\n
We used that analogy last year. People are coming after us, but we\u2019re going to be the hunter. We\u2019re going to keep hunting. Keep hunting. And our eyes, when eyes are to the side, you\u2019re looking to hide. When you\u2019re looking this way, when our eyes are in front, we\u2019re looking to hunt. So, we\u2019ve got to keep looking forward. Keep looking forward.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not easy, guys. I\u2019m challenging you guys right now because it\u2019s not easy to take 600 at-bats, to work a day after night game. And so I think for me is like let\u2019s just keep raising the standard and keep our eyes forward. Let\u2019s get better every single day. We got a long road, but I expect the same effort every single day.<\/p>\n
And smart players, smart players, guys, know the importance of locking in, staying focused. If you can\u2019t focus for 20 minutes right now, there\u2019s no way in hell you\u2019re going to focus for nine innings, 162 plus winning 11 games in October. No way. You got to be able to focus. Lock in. Some people it\u2019s hard. Some people it\u2019s easy. How you going to focus on a 28-pitch bullpen? A guy gets a big hit to then focus again and make a pitch to throw strike one, get a ground ball. You got to be able to focus, challenge yourselves. It\u2019s not easy. It\u2019s not easy. But this is a separator from the Dodgers.<\/p>\n
Put youring heads down and let\u2019s go through October every single day. Stay hungry. Stay obsessed. Let\u2019s get after it. Put those blinders on.<\/p>\n
Thank you very much for listening. I\u2019m very, very grateful for every single one of you guys. No one better in the organization, in baseball, in sport. So, we\u2019re very lucky to wear this uniform, guys. And so, I wish everyone the best and let\u2019s have a great year. And this is our journey, our trek to a three, Kik. All right, let\u2019s do it. All right, guys. Have a great day. Thank you very much.<\/p>\n