For Dodgers' star trio, it's team first, ego last

LOS ANGELES -- A week after the Dodgers’ loss to the D-backs in the 2023 National League Division Series, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman called Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman.

Friedman wanted to let both players know that the Dodgers would be among the aggressive suitors for Shohei Ohtani in the offseason. Part of that call, as Friedman has done throughout his career, was just to keep both of his stars in the loop. Another reason was to give both players a chance to share any thoughts they might have had.

In reality, not every big-name athlete -- in baseball or across any other sport -- is willing to share the spotlight. It takes the ideal star to make that work. In the case of Freeman and Betts, the Dodgers had that in place, allowing Ohtani’s stardom to take center stage.

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“When you put pieces into a puzzle, sometimes they don’t fit,” Freeman said. “But it seemed like they did all their work and their background, the people and it just fit. It’s a good group. … That plan took me aback when I heard it, but they nailed it.”

Freeman and Betts have both been the faces of a franchise in the past. Freeman was the leader for a long time with the Braves. Betts shared the same responsibility towards the end of his tenure with the Red Sox and was the unquestioned leader of the Dodgers' organization by the end of the 2023 season.

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At this stage in their careers, however, Betts and Freeman aren't concerned with all that comes with being the face of a franchise.

“I don’t think anybody cares about it,” Betts said. “I don’t want to say we don’t want to do it, but it’s not on anyone’s agenda to be the face of anything. I think we all just want to win and we don’t care how we do it or who is responsible for it. I think that’s the beauty of us.”

Betts, Freeman and the rest of the Dodgers’ roster understood adding Ohtani would be a different monster. In a game against the Angels last season, multiple players noticed how much media presence was around before the game. Some questioned if that was going to be the norm if the Dodgers added Ohtani at some point.

They quickly got their answer when they had multiple cameras pointing at them from the moment they entered Camelback Ranch on the first day of Spring Training. Inside the clubhouse, what used to be somewhere between seven to 10 media members on a daily basis suddenly multiplied by four or five times on any given day.

Amidst the craziness, nobody would have blamed either Betts or Freeman for complaining. Most of the questions were about their new star teammate; fewer were about their own greatness.

But Freeman and Betts did the opposite. Instead, they would go out of their way to make Ohtani feel at home with his new club.

“Aside from them being exceptional players, just being able to see each of them work and prepare every single day and how they go about it in the clubhouse,” Ohtani said through interpreter Will Ireton. “It has been something that really stood out to me and has really helped me in the process.”

With four more wins against the Yankees, the three Dodgers superstars will achieve what they signed up for. They all understand their championship window together runs only for a couple more seasons. If they get there, however, a lot of the credit will come down to the sacrifice they all needed to make at the start of the season, one that was necessary for this to all work out.

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“It’s really important to have your star players set the tone,” Friedman said. “Depending on how they handle that stardom and responsibility has a pretty major impact on the culture of your team. For us, beyond the obvious talent with Shohei, Freddie and Mookie, who they are, what kind of teammates they are, those were really strong factors as well when we made our decision to be as aggressive as we were.”