From Dodger Insider magazine: The silver lining for Max Muncy
Editor’s Note: This story is from the pages of Dodger Insider magazine, 2024 Volume 12. Magazines are available at parking stands upon entry at Dodger Stadium for NLDS Game 1.
by Megan Garcia
The 2024 postseason marks Max Muncy’s sixth trip to the postseason in a Dodger uniform. This time is much different from the others.
There were self-doubts that he’d even return to the field this year. He spent more time on the injured list with a right oblique strain than in the lineup.
“Before he got hurt, he was playing really good,” says third base coach Dino Ebel. “He knew this, that when he left with that injury, I said, ‘When you come back, we have to continue that success that you were having on the field,’ meaning be ready, be in shape, be game ready.”
The 34-year-old missed 80 games with the nagging oblique injury. But his first game back showed how impactful he could be. He hit a home run on Aug. 19 and drove in two runs in the Dodgers’ 3-0 win against Seattle.
And for the next month and a half, he continued to be the Max Muncy of old with slugging numbers that put him among the best players in the Majors over that time frame. From his return on Aug. 19 till the end of the regular season, he ranked 12th in the National League with a .520 slugging percentage and sixth with a .925 OPS.
“You reach a point where you’re not sure if you’re going to be able to come back,” Muncy says. “Then you do come back, and there’s always the question of, ‘Can I be the same guy I was before?’ Just to have some assurance that ‘Yes, you still can be that guy,’ it’s huge for me.”
Muncy began the season with a modest start. In 40 games, he slashed .223/.323/.475/.798 with nine home runs and 28 RBI before being sidelined with the oblique strain on May 16.
But his side wouldn’t cooperate, putting a bat that has created pivotal winning moments at questionable for a pennant race.
Low points of frustration and uncertainty accompanied the physical pain that Muncy battled over the summer. He leaned on the Dodger training staff and his family to navigate the hurdles. He gradually built up to swinging off a tee, doing infield drills and running the bases. But the oblique wouldn’t cooperate, even after receiving chiropractic adjustments. It was eventually discovered that he had a displaced bottom rib. After it was reset and an injection, Muncy was back.
By early August, he was suiting up for Triple-A Oklahoma City in a rehab assignment.
Despite the hurdles and setbacks from the injury, Muncy is refreshed for the postseason — a place where he has historically thrived.
Muncy ranks tied for fourth all time in Dodger postseason history with 10 home runs.
“You have to kind of look at it (as a silver lining),” Muncy says of the injury. “From a personal standpoint, you’re not going to have some of the numbers that you want to have. But when you look at it from the team perspective, I’m going to feel pretty fresh going into the postseason. Maybe there’s a little something to it for me to being a little fresh.”
He embraced the challenges. He welcomed the doubt. He bared the weight of it all.
“You have to have a positive mindset and keep working as hard as you can try to get back,” Muncy says. “For me, I think just having a day or two where you just kind of sulk a little bit, I thought that was OK.”
Muncy’s breakthrough first season with the Dodgers in 2018, a year after being released by the Oakland A’s, included a starring role for a Los Angeles team that made the World Series. Muncy homered in his second career postseason at-bat in a 6–0 win in Game 1 of the National League Division Series against the Atlanta Braves.
Later in the postseason, he had one of his signature career moments.
The Dodgers were down 2–0 in the 2018 World Series to the Red Sox and on the verge of a third straight loss.
Muncy foreshadowed the game’s ending in the 15th inning when he crushed a pitch from Boston’s Nathan Eovaldi down the right-field line. It had the sound and distance of a home run, but it was pulled a few feet too far to the right.
He stepped up to the plate against Eovaldi once more in the 18th inning. After three consecutive balls, Eovaldi battled back into the count with two strikes. Then, Muncy ended the night with a solo homer to left-center field. The longest game in World Series history was over.
The 3–2 win in Game 3 was the Dodgers’ only victory in the 2018 World Series. Muncy and the Dodgers eventually tasted glory in 2020 when they bested the Tampa Bay Rays in six games. Muncy hit three home runs and drove in 14 runs in the 2020 postseason. He went 7-for-22 with a home run and six RBI in the World Series.
Muncy is a big reason why the Dodgers have hopes to win it again in 2024.
“He’s a presence. He can hit a homer, he can walk. He’s a threat,” says manager Dave Roberts. “I think when Max is in there, it’s a different dynamic to the lineup. When you have him, whether it’s in the sixth or the seventh (spot), a pitcher has a hard time coming up for air when Max is looming. It’s good to see him swing the bat the way he is.”
From Dodger Insider magazine: The Silver Lining for Max Muncy was originally published in Dodger Insider on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.