BOSTON — Ordinarily at this time of year, Kenley Jansen would be preparing for a first-round playoff opponent by watching video and studying scouting reports. There would be the usual anticipation for the start of the postseason and the excitement that brings.
But not this year. When the Red Sox’s 2023 regular season wraps up in eight days, next weekend in Baltimore, that will be it. Jansen will head home, his baseball work for the year done, far earlier than usual.
A participant in nine straight postseasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers and then last year with the Atlanta Braves, there are no playoffs looming for Jansen for the first time since 2012.
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This year will conclude in regret and disillusionment.
“Awful,” said Jansen of how it feels being on the outside of the postseason, looking in. “Nothing else than that. But you have to gather yourself and put that emotion to the side. Because in the end, you have another 25 guys here in the clubhouse and we all have to show support for each other. As disappointing as it is, we’re committed to each other as a team. That emotion, that disappointment, I’ll deal with it later.
“But right now, as a group, we have to be here and finish strong.”
With no prospect of a deep October run, Jansen, who was activated off the Covid-IL list before Saturday’s game, finds it difficult to gear up for the last week.
“Pitching right now is hard. I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “At this time, you’re usually pitching for something so you always have that kind of adrenaline that I’m so used to in September. And this is new to me, dealing with the disappointment (of not making the playoffs) right now. You’re not as hyped to do the job. But at the end of the day, you have to force yourself to do it.
“Like I said, the last 10 years, I was always pitching for something at this point of the season. It’s definitely disappointing. But listen, man — you’ve got to be here with each other, as a team and finish strong as a group.”
This will be a new experience for Jansen in the first week of October when the second season begins. But he’s already made a decision on how to deal with the void.
“I’m not watching (the games),’’ he declared. “I’m going to focus on me. I’m going to get in the gym right away, to improve myself, get better, be healthier, focus on my (nutrition), focus on my body and focus for a successful year for 2024. That’s where I already am right now.
“It sucks. I don’t like planning. I hate planning. At this moment, I would love to be planning how we can win the next 11 games (in the postseason), but right now, I have to plan for the future and for 2024 and do all the stuff that I can do to become a better pitcher. I want to keep playing this game for a little bit more.”
Jansen still lives in Los Angeles during the offseason and when he was reminded it might be difficult to block out all of the talk and interest in the Dodgers going on all around him, he remained steadfast.
“Good for them. I’ll be like, ‘Go ahead,’ ” he said. “But my focus is going to be: How can I be better for 2024 as a Boston Red Sox, trying to compete for a title. Nothing else. That’s all I’m concerned about.”
Jansen is driven to win. He won a World Series with the Dodgers in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, but due to the circumstances, it didn’t feel like a typical championship.
“I’m still searching for that ring,” he said. “I didn’t get to enjoy a parade when we won in 2020 and I want to have that feeling next year with the Red Sox. I’m looking forward to having a strong team next year and competing for a title. That’s all I want to compete for — a title.”
Even if he boycotts the game, Jansen will be rooting for his two former teams — the Dodgers and Braves — who could well meet in the NLCS for the right to advance to the World Series.
“I’ll be rooting for them,” he said. “I’ll be rooting for both of them. I won’t be watching, but hopefully both of them will try to win it. My heart will be a Dodger for life, and growing up as a Braves fan, my heart is there too. But my heart is more focused on trying to win a championship for the Red Sox.
“Having these fans around, the experience that I’ve had with them on a team that didn’t make the playoffs, these fans deserve better. These fans deserve a championship again. This is the city of champions. The Celtics, the Red Sox, the Bruins, the Patriots — every year, it’s a year that you compete for a title. That’s what I’ve learned from this city. They deserve it. There are great people around here and I’m looking forward to being back next year.”
Asked how close he feels the Red Sox are to achieving that goal, Jansen didn’t sugarcoat things.
“We’ve got to improve,” he said. “We need more depth, more pitching depth still. My experience over the last 10 teams that I’ve been on, if you have pitching depth, that’s what is going to take you to the promised land. You can’t control injuries, you can’t control anything. So that’s what I would say.”
