It wasn\u2019t an unwarranted distinction. In each of the previous two seasons, the team had been upset in the National League Division Series by lesser opponents in the San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. The fall before that, their title defense flamed out against the underdog Atlanta Braves in the NL Championship Series. Yes, they won a World Series in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. But outside of that, it\u2019d been more than three decades since they last triumphed under typical circumstances.<\/p>\n
That checkered history weighed on them. Their urgency to change it in last year\u2019s playoffs was fervent.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat kind of sour taste that you have when you make an early exit from the postseason, our guys are tired of it,\u201d manager Dave Roberts<\/a> said on the eve of last year\u2019s postseason. \u201cSo this is another opportunity. I do sense that edge.\u201d<\/p>\n This week, of course, the Dodgers face a different kind of dynamic.<\/p>\n After their memorable run to a championship last year, the team has gotten the monkey of its full-season title drought off its back. And while expectations are still high, with the Dodgers and their record-setting $400-million roster set to begin the playoffs with a best-of-three wild-card round starting Tuesday against the Cincinnati Reds, the questions about past October disappointments have dissipated.<\/p>\n So, does the pressure of this postseason feel different?<\/p>\n \u201cYou would think,\u201d veteran third baseman Max Muncy<\/a> said. \u201cBut the pressure\u2019s always going to be there. Especially when you\u2019re this team, when you\u2019re the Los Angeles Dodgers, there\u2019s a lot of expectations around you. There\u2019s a lot of pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, after an underwhelming regular season that saw the Dodgers win the NL West for the 12th time in the last 13 years, but fail to secure a first-round bye as one of the NL\u2019s top two playoff seeds, the Dodgers have a new task before them.<\/p>\n Erase the frustrations of their 93-win campaign. Maintain the momentum they built with a 15-5 regular-season finish. And recreate the desperation that carried them to the promised land last fall, as they try to become MLB\u2019s first repeat champion in 25 years.<\/p>\n \u201cFor us, the challenge is not letting that pressure get to you and finding our rhythm, finding what\u2019s going to work for us this year,\u201d Muncy said. \u201cEach year the team has to find their identity when they get to this point. You have an identity during the regular season, and you have to find a whole \u2018nother identity in the postseason.\u201d<\/p>\n The Dodgers\u2019 preferred identity for this year\u2019s team figures to be the opposite of what worked last October.<\/p>\n Unlike last year, the team has a healthy and star-studded starting rotation entering the playoffs. Also unlike last year, the bullpen is a major question mark despite an encouraging end to the regular season.<\/p>\n For the wild-card series, it means the team will need big innings out of Game 1 starter Blake Snell<\/a>, Game 2 starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a> and (if necessary) Game 3 starter Shohei Ohtani<\/a> \u2014 who is being saved for the potential winner-take-all contest in part to help manage his two-way workload.<\/p>\n Ideally, their production should ease the burden on a relief corps that ranked 21st in the majors in ERA during the regular season, and has no clear-cut hierarchy for its most trusted arms.<\/p>\n \u201cThe starting pitching is considerably better\u201d than it was last year, Roberts said Monday. \u201cThat\u2019s probably the biggest difference between last year\u2019s team.\u201d<\/p>\n