Dodgers Team News

Dodgers: AJ Pollock Shares His Thoughts on Legitimacy of 2020 Championship

Dodgers outfielder AJ Pollock joined Rick Monday, Ron Cey, Bill Russell, and teammate Austin Barnes this week on an episode of the Dodgers’ “Conversations with Champions” series. The five champions discussed the similarities of the 1981 and 2021 titles.

1981 was played under a split season format compared to the condensed, 60 game format, version of the 2020 season. The 1981 Dodgers were guaranteed a playoff spot since they finished the first half of the season in first place. The 2020 Dodgers were also presented with a unique playoff format – an extra best-of-three round.



The normally reserved Pollock expressed his feelings about the legitimacy of the 2020 Dodgers championship.

“I don’t think anyone is really putting up their hand and saying ‘hey I don’t think the Dodgers were the best team in 2020’. I think we really earned that.”

The 2020 regular season, without question, was different than any season before it and any season after. COVID testing, the universal DH, and zero home playoff games for LA despite having the best record in baseball.

Every Dodgers player and coach lived in a hotel in Dallas, Texas for most of October. 

Despite the truncated season, Pollock believes there’s no doubt who the best team was in the MLB.

“We obviously won the whole thing, but put an asterisk next to it if you want to because we only played 60 games, but in my opinion we were clearly, the entire season, playoffs, we were the best team.”

In 12 playoff games, Pollock slashed .222/.283/.336, but provided steady defense in left field at sometimes windy, sometimes not, Globe Life Park.

It’s hard not to imagine Pollock’s thoughts on the 2020 title aren’t privately echoed in the Dodgers locker room.

Naysayers will debate the legitimacy of the Dodgers 2020 championship. Either way, the Commissioner’s Trophy still lives at 1000 Vin Scully Avenue this year. 

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Eric Eulau

Born and raised in Ventura, not "Ven-CH-ura", California. Favorite Dodger Stadium food is the old school chocolate malt with the wooden spoon. Host of the Dodgers Nation 3 Up, 3 Down Podcast.

7 Comments

  1. I’ve said it before, but if someone makes the illegitimate argument against their title, just respond with, “The Dodgers had to win more postseason games than any team in history to get their title.” Another thing to remember is the circumstances under which they did it. So I agree with Pollock. Put an asterisk by it if you want, but everyone knows they were the best team from start to finish.

  2. They could have played 200 games and still would have had the best record. An extra round and no fans for home games in the playoffs plus down 2 games to none and 3 games to 1 against Atlanta in the NLCS. It’s not worth talking about any further.

    1. certainly coming back against Atlanta should remove all doubt as they were the 2nd best team in NL last year. The beat the best to get to the WS!

    1. They’re Giants, Padre and Angel fans so yes they think 2017 is legit and ours isn’t

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