Dodgers determined to 'not overthink' wacky stretch of schedule

This story was excerpted from Juan Toribio's Dodgers Beat newsletter. This edition was written by L.A.-based reporter/producer Sarah Wexler. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

LOS ANGELES -- The baseball calendar is full of all kinds of weird quirks. The Dodgers are in the middle of dealing with one right now.

After wrapping up a 3-3 road trip against the Reds and the Mets -- which ended with an 8 1/2-hour delay on the tarmac in New York on Wednesday night -- the Dodgers arrived back in Los Angeles around 7:30 a.m. PT on Thursday (which, thankfully, was an off-day). They proceeded to take two of three games from the Rockies at Dodger Stadium.

Now, they’re heading back east once more for three games in Pittsburgh starting on Tuesday, followed by a return to New York City for three against the Yankees.

The flow of baseball’s schedule has changed somewhat in the last couple of seasons, since MLB implemented its balanced schedule where every team play every other team at least once a year -- meaning fewer games against divisional opponents.

“I think with the balanced schedule now, there are some things that are different for everyone,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “Some teams will play 16 in a row. Some teams have got to play six on the East Coast and fly back to the West Coast for three, and go back to the East Coast. So it is what it is and we're not going to overthink it.”

The road trip is followed by a day off, after which the Dodgers begin a stretch of 12 straight days with a game. They’ll play three against the Rangers and three against the Royals at Dodger Stadium, then head to Coors Field for four. That span ends with an even shorter homestand than the most recent one -- a two-game Freeway Series set vs. the Angels, ahead of a rare Sunday off-day.

A seasoned veteran like Miguel Rojas knows that these things are just part of the pro ballplayer experience, and the stresses can be mitigated by making a variety of adjustments, including a concentrated effort to quickly recalibrate sleep schedules due to the three-hour time difference.

“We would like to stay on the same time zones,” said Rojas. “But at the end of the day, we’re professionals. We have to do it. And hopefully, the schedule is gonna ease up for us. When we hit late June and early July, I think it's gonna be more home games, and we're getting all these East Coast flights out of the way.”