Max Muncy’s Dodgers run has already stacked up with the franchise’s best, but the milestone that really caught his attention was the one that came with staying power.
By reaching 10 years of service time, Muncy joined a club fewer than 10% of MLB players ever reach. For a player who once lost the love of the game and thought about walking away from it altogether, the achievement landed with extra weight.
“It’s special. It’s a rare accomplishment in baseball,” Muncy said of the feat that fewer than 10% of all MLB players reach.
“It’s something that I’m extremely proud of. There’s not many things that I take personal pride in when it comes to, you know, personal accomplishments.
For me, it’s always about winning rings and doing things as a team.
“But this is one of the few that I’m really, really proud of, and I’ll definitely cherish.”
The numbers around Muncy keep getting bigger. He’s now in his ninth year with the Dodgers, has made three All-Star teams, won three World Series rings, sits fifth in Dodgers franchise history in home runs and owns the most homers ever hit at Dodgers Stadium. But even with all that production, Muncy made it clear what matters most to him.
“There’s not much when it comes to me, personally, that I care about,” Muncy said. “But three rings is definitely what I [cherish] most.”
That kind of arc didn’t go unnoticed by Brock Stewart, who was on that same Triple-A team with Muncy in 2017. Stewart praised Muncy’s steadiness as a teammate and a person, while also pointing to the self-doubt Muncy had to push through to get here.
“He’s always been a good teammate [and] always been a good human,” Stewart said. “I don’t know if he always believed in himself, and I can relate to that, because I didn’t believe in myself all the time … But to see him and how he persevered through that feeling [or] that self-doubt and became what he is now [is] super special.
On the pitching side, the early returns for Tarik Skubal and the Dodgers haven’t matched the hype yet. Mirjam Swanson of the L.A. Times wrote that both sides need to do more for each other before October arrives.
The Dodgers have dropped all three games since acquiring the two-time Cy Young winner. Over his 17 innings with the club, Skubal has given up 15 hits and seven runs. In the other direction, the Dodgers haven’t given him much support offensively, continuing a familiar pattern that has also shown up with Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Clayton Kershaw.
Roberts still sounds encouraged by what he sees from Skubal.
“Wants to win; prepared; great competitor,” Roberts said. “We certainly haven’t seen his best yet, but man, it feels good every time he’s out there. It really does.
“I just still don’t think we’ve seen his best, which is a good thing for us.”
The Dodgers and Skubal have roughly six weeks to sort it out before the postseason begins.
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Dodgers Suddenly Have A Catching Concern After Midgame Exit
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Roberts is expected to update Feduccias condition after the game, and the timing is what makes this worth watching for Los Angeles. The Dodgers had added both catchers to smooth out a position that can get tested quickly over a long season, so any health concern there immediately puts the focus back on the depth they just spent July trying to build. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Are Giving Roki Sasaki An Unusual Edge In Denver
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Dave Roberts said the clubs medical staff prefers players spend as little time as possible at high altitude, and Sasaki will not arrive until two days after the team does. The idea is to limit the effects of Denvers environment and give him the best possible setup for his start, a reminder that sometimes the preparation for a game begins well before a pitcher ever throws a pitch. [Read more 🡒]
Dodgers Depth Picture Shifted Fast After A Loud Triple A Night
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The timing mattered, too, because the Dodgers were already moving pieces around the board. Emmet Sheehan was back with the big club, Charlie Barnes and Blake Treinen were sent to Oklahoma City, and Chris Newell was activated in Double-A. For a team that leans on breadth as much as star power, nights like this can subtly reshape who is next in line, even if the most important name in the whole picture is still the one left hanging for the next turn on the calendar. [Read more 🡒]