Dodgers' Bonding Strategy This Season Involves Multiple Planes

One of the most challenging aspects of building a team — in any sport — is, well, teambuilding. You can have a stunning collection of athletic talent taking the field together; without a sense of themselves as a whole, though, they won’t get far. A sense of camraderie can help teams punch above their weight and accomplish unbelievable feats. How do you harness such an ineffable quality?

For the Los Angeles Dodgers, the answer to that question involved planes.

As the Los Angeles Times‘ Jack Harris reported, the team has begun using two planes on road trips — one for players and one for team staff. The practice began in the 2024 postseason and has continued to the current season. According to Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, the change was made at the request of players. The team’s senior director of travel, Scott Akasaki, told the Times that the process was “reimagining team travel.”

Akasaki went on to tout the therapeutic effects of the strategy. “It’s providing an environment where our players are more apt to get rest and recovery, with just less people on the plane and more room to move around,” he told the Times.

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The Dodgers’ travel strategy isn’t the only way that professional sports teams have sought ways to emphasize team unity. In 2005, a New York Times article noted that the Pittsburgh Steelers had found common ground when they experienced a hurricane together; more recently, The Athletic’s Steve Buckley chronicled the bonds among players for Boston’s many professional teams. And with the Dodgers currently first in the National League West, this strategy seems to be doing something right.