Dodgers News: President Andrew Friedman Doesn’t Blame Layoff for Postseason Struggles

Friedman isn't making any excuses for the performance.

Since the Dodgers were eliminated from the postseason, there has been a lot of talk about whether or not the five-day layoff the team saw before the start of the playoffs affected anything. There has been discussion going on all around the industry, and it seems that everyone has a different opinion.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman spoke about the layoff between the end of the regular season and the start of the postseason. He doesn’t blame the time off for the struggles that the Dodgers saw this year.

He did acknowledge that those five days could ruin timing for the hitters, which it certainly seemed to do. The bats went ice cold in the postseason again, and LA couldn’t recover from it.

Andrew Friedman didn't blame the layoff but acknowledged that those five days could ruin timing for the batters.

— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) October 17, 2023

The layoff seemed to kill any momentum that LA had at the end of the regular season. The time off saw the two best players for the Dodgers go for a combined 1-21 in the series.

Having the days off in between the end of the regular season and NLDS is a luxury, even if it ends up hurting the batters' timing. 

This is something that the Dodgers will have to deal with each season and something that they will need to figure out how to navigate. They expect to have the layoff again next season, and Friedman spoke on that as well.

"Our goal next year is to win the division and have those five days off again."

As for the offense, Friedman addressed that as well. But he seemed to be less focused on things there than with the pitching.

"Our goal next year is to win the division and have those five days off again."

Andrew Friedman isn't blaming the layoff and postseason format for the Dodgers' postseason struggles.

— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) October 17, 2023

LA put up record numbers on offense this season, but the bats went cold in the playoffs again. So, maybe the Dodgers do need to put some emphasis on staying in rhythm offensively this offseason.

If the team does what they have been expected to do for years, signing Shohei Ohtani, it would certainly give them a boost offensively. He would essentially replace J.D. Martinez in the designated hitter spot, and Ohtani would bring more star power to the table.

This will be one of the more interesting offseason for the Dodgers in recent memory, and we'll see just how much this front office wants to win.