Dodgers Get Well-Earned 'Humble Brag' Over Angels When it Comes to Travel

The Dodgers, notably, haven't started any getaway games that late in the day when playing at home this season. Former major league catcher Erik Kratz asked Akasaki to spell out how start times and travel arrangements influence "the Dodgers' view of winning baseball games."

"All of that is really important," Akasaki said. "We sit around and we talk about it. It's debated a lot. I don't know if there's a right answer. Because you do things one way, and our situation — humble brag coming up — is whatever we've decided has worked in the past as far as making the playoffs are concerned."

It's the kind of humble brag that would be easy to gloss over — if a former Angels player had not just accused the organization of effectively doing the opposite: scheduling getaway home games as late as possible, leading to injuries as a direct result.

"This is a fact… Angels have the worst travel… we played a night game on a Thursday in Anaheim and played in Tampa the next day… not only is the team exhausted but I know this is a big reason why they have so many injuries," former Angels infielder Zack Cozart wrote on Twitter/X last week.

Angels star Mike Trout, ever the diplomat, told reporters including Sam Blum of The Athletic that “it’s not ideal for sure" before the team headed off to Minnesota the same night they beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 at home.

Trout injured his knee five games into the Angels' road trip, during which they went 0-5 and were outscored 35-11.

Akasaki didn't directly talk about the Angels' situation during his Foul Territory appearance. He didn't have to; Trout and Cozart already did it for him. Clearly, the Dodgers have a different way of doing things when it comes to travel.

"I don't know if we have the answer," Akasaki said. "We certainly discuss it, and it's debated, but at the end of the day, what time you travel, where you stay, how you get there, what amount of sleep you have — good players win ... games and good health wins games."