PHOENIX — The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t ruin baseball this season with their $400 million payroll.
They didn’t set the all-time record for victories. They didn’t win 100 games, let alone even 95.
The Dodgers, with a 90-69 record and three remaining games, will produce their lowest win total since at least 2018.
Yet, while the Dodgers were wiping the sting of the champagne out of their eyes, popping corks and swigging beers Thursday afternoon after their 8-0 rout over the Arizona Diamondbacks, there was not a single person in the alcohol-cigar smoke filled clubhouse who had the slightest care in the world.
The Dodgers are the National League West Division champions.
Once again, for the 12th time in the last 13 years.
And, yes, despite their dizzying array of pitching injuries, their bullpen woes, their underachieving performances, guess who’s going to the postseason favored to win the World Series once again?
Yep, these same Dodgers, who are trying to become the first National League team to win back-to-back World Series championships since the Cincinnati Reds’ Big Red Machine in 1975-76.
“Very rewarding,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “That’s one of our goals as we started this season, to win the division. Like I say all of the time, no year is the same. But I do feel that in totality we’re playing our best baseball of the season.
“The win-loss [record] hasn’t reflected it, but I think that’s wat’s most important, there just has been a lot of good things.’’
Oh sure, they have warts. They still have no idea who will close out games in the postseason. They will be without All-Star catcher Will Smith for likely at least the first round. The bottom of their lineup has no pop after No. 5 hitter Andy Pages. And, with the exception of DH/starter Shohei Ohtani, who hit his 54th home run on Thursday and will win his fourth MVP award, there’s not a single player in the Dodgers’ All-Star lineup who had a career year.
“This year was harder than ever to get to this point,’’ Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy said. “We went through a lot. We had a lot of injuries. We had a lot of ups and downs. Maybe guys haven’t performed how they feel like they should perform, myself included.
“It was a tough year, but we reached here in the end. I think that speaks to the resilience of this team.”
There have been times the Dodgers wondered if they were the best team in baseball or the worst team money can buy, but despite their roller-coaster ride, here they are, still standing, and will be back playing October baseball.
“Every season is not going to go how you think it’s going to go in spring training,” said All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman, who hit two homers on Thursday. “Same as last year, when we won the World Series. We had a lot of our starting pitching hurt. This year, we dealt with a lot, a lot of injuries again. A lot of ups and downs throughout the course of the year.
“But when you got a good team, great guys, great talent, you’re able to overcome a lot of things. And now we’re starting to play really good baseball as we head into October.’’
Yep, just at the right time.
“You know, I didn’t have too many expectations on how it was going to play out,’’ Roberts said. “I guess the thing that I think is pretty telling is that all we’ve gone through, that this team stayed connected. And that’s where you get to learn a lot about players, individually and collectively.
“You know when it gets rough and gets hot, and you start to struggle with injuries, we didn’t make excuses and we kept fighting. Even when it was our darkest, I just always saw our guys stay together and compete. Now I believe the talent, with the fight, is going to show through October. …
“When you make excuses, you look for outs, that’s just a sign of weakness. That will show itself. They just don’t make excuses, whether it’s by injury or they’re not performing. It’s just figuring it out. That’s what our guys have done.’’
Just like that, the Dodgers actually might feel better about this year’s edition entering the postseason more than any they’ve had during this glorious postseason stretch.
The principal reason?
Look no further than the starting rotation, which was on full display during the three-game series against the Diamondbacks. They absolutely suffocated the D-backs’ powerful lineup this week: 18 innings, 14 hits, 1 run, 3 walks, 20 strikeouts, 0.50 ERA.
Yes, and that trio of starters with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell and Shohei Ohtani will be on full display Tuesday when they open the postseason with a best-of-three wild card round against either the third NL wild-card winner: the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds or Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers’ rotation has been absolutely uncanny since Aug. 1, yielding an MLB-best 2.81 ERA and leading the league with 327 strikeouts, and .194 batting average.
“This is as good as I’ve had a starting staff going into the postseason,’’ Roberts said. “By far.’’
Perhaps outside Cy Young favorite Tarik Skubal — if the Detroit Tigers reach the postseason — there might not be a more dominant starter than Yamamoto, who’s in his second major-league season after leaving Japan. He gave up just four hits in six innings on Thursday, and is now yielding a 0.79 ERA in his last five starts, with 44 strikeouts in 34.1 innings.
“For me, the thing that’s impressed me the most is there’s unwavering confidence now,’’ Roberts said. “I think last year, understandably so, you start to wonder if you’re good enough. But that changed again in the [World Series] game in New York. But this year, there’s real confidence. He knows that when he’s on the mound, he’s the best option. He’s the best pitcher, and the players know that.’’
The Dodgers, who will finish the season in Seattle, know they’ll be the ones hunted in October. They’re the ones everyone will want to take down, whether it’s the wild-card team in the first round, the Philadelphia Phillies in the second round, or whoever awaits them if they survive the NLDS.
“It’s no secret that you either love or hate the Dodgers,’’ Roberts said. “And every team we play, they’re doing everything they can to beat us, and that’s part of what we signed up for, but it takes a toll. It’s tough every day to bring your best when you know that other teams are bringing their best.
“So I think we’ve kind of gotten to a point where I think that our guys are on the attack. … I do feel like we’re all aligned and we’re all in the right mindset.
“We have an opportunity to make history, it hasn’t been easy, but that part shouldn’t be easy.’
How have Dodgers fared in previous 12 playoff appearances?
- 2024 — Won World Series (4-1) vs. New York Yankees
- 2023 — Lost NLDS (3-0) vs. Arizona Diamondbacks
- 2022 — Lost NLDS (3-1) vs. San Diego Padres
- 2021 — Lost NLCS (4-2) vs. Atlanta Braves
- 2020 — Won World Series (4-2) vs. Tampa Bay Rays
- 2019 — Lost NLDS (3-2) vs. Washington Nationals
- 2018 — Lost World Series (4-1) vs. Boston Red Sox
- 2017 — Lost World Series (4-3) vs. Houston Astros
- 2016 — Lost NLCS (4-2) vs. Chicago Cubs
- 2015 — Lost NLDS (3-2) vs. New York Mets
- 2014 — Lost NLDS (3-1) vs. St. Louis Cardinals
- 2013 — Lost NLCS (4-2) vs. St. Louis Cardinals
Follow Bob Nightengale on X: @Bnightengale.