LOS ANGELES -- Appreciation comes in many forms and Dodgers players are showing theirs by emulating what they witnessed during perhaps the greatest regular season from a single player ever.
Shohei Ohtani bolted to the Dodgers in the offseason and dazzled with a year that included the first 50-50 season ever. It officially ended with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases, every bit of which was needed to land another National League West title during a season of crushing injuries.
After so many roster holes needed to be filled, predicting that the San Diego Padres would get past the MLB-best Dodgers in the National League Division Series was actually a practical bet. It didn't pay off but it wasn't without merit.
The Padres were brash, bold and in control of the NLDS with a 2-1 series lead until the measured and business-like Dodgers started using their opponents’ cocksure ways against them.
The Dodgers unleashed an army of pitchers who were able to change speeds and pitch to weak contact. And with the Padres so engrossed with making sure Ohtani did not beat them, trouble brewed all around.
In constructing consecutive victories to leap from their series hole, Dodgers hitters from all spots of the order delivered. Ohtani provided only moderate production during the series, but the Dodgers still hit five home runs over the final two victories. They came from the likes of Mookie Betts, Will Smith, Gavin Lux, Kiké Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez.
The Dodgers’ pitching staff held the Padres scoreless over their last 24 innings. Including right-hander Landon Knack, who made just a brief appearance in the series, Dodgers relievers accounted for 16 of those 24 innings.
If the Dodgers were riding Ohtani’s coattails in the regular season, his teammates were determined to lift up their star, who is appearing in the MLB playoffs for the first time.
After the NLDS victory was complete, Kiké Hernndez made eyes roll when he confirmed that he was on live television and then claimed that the reason the Dodgers were able to overcome the Padres was, “The fact that we don’t give a f---.”
But there actually was a deeper thought process. The Dodgers had managed to remain poised and determined while ovecoming so many recent obstacles, not the least of which was the Padres.
“Whether we don't have the starting pitching — or whatever it is that makes people doubt — inside those doors, inside those walls, we don't really care," Kiké Hernandez said. "And that's where, like, not giving a damn comes into play. ‘I don't care what anybody says. I don't care what it looks like, we're all in this together.’
“We believe in each other and we're going to do whatever it takes to win a ballgame, to win tonight. And it doesn't have to be pretty. We just have to, at the end of the day, get to drink a Gatorade and move on to the next day.”
His version of “Gatorade” might differ from yours, but the points was clear. At the end of a successful work day, long season, playoff series or postseason run, the Dodgers anticipate finishing it off with a glass of whatever they darn please.
Up next in the NLCS is a duel against the No. 6 and final NL seed in the Mets, who are actually an even more souped-up version of the Padres: confident, bold and seemingly unstoppable while on a late-season run.
The series even offers a side duel between the National League’s MVP contenders in Ohtani and the Mets’ Francisco Lindor. Neither has exactly exuded their will over the playoffs so far, but Ohtani’s home run in Game 1 rallied the Dodgers to a victory and Lindor’s grand slam in Game 4 against the Phillies was the difference in the series clincher.
The Dodgers have right-hander Jack Flaherty ready to pitch in Sunday's Game 1 of the NLCS, with right-hander Walker Buehler seemingly lined up right behind him for Game 2 on Monday. Perhaps another bullpen game will be unleashed when the series shifts to the East Coast.
“If you're talking about a series MVP, it's our bullpen, clearly,” manager Dave Roberts said.
But that bullpen, and its ability to take down an entire game, is no secret now. And the Dodgers are still waiting on news from left-hander Alex Vesia, who left Game 5 with back soreness. Roberts was hoping the issue was merely a cramp.
Right-hander Joe Kelly, who was not on the NLDS roster and won’t be on the NLCS roster either because of shoulder soreness, is hardly surprised at the bullpen’s success. Even before the playoffs began, he felt the bullpen was in a good spot moving forward.
“You've seen throughout the history of the past decade of Dodgers bullpens, right?” Kelly said. “They might say, ‘Oh, we don't know if we have enough arms.’ "But, you always go in the playoffs, and it’s usually the part of the team that has the most success.
“If you look at the track record of the past decade, they've taken guys with minimal big league time, and shut down teams that I played on. I played on the Red Sox, and guys in that (2018 Dodgers) bullpen came in that we've never heard of and put zeros on the board.”
So while it was Ohtani leading the way all season, and could be him powering the charge again in the NLCS, the rest of the roster is starting to feel good about itself. Confidence can be a powerful tool.
“I'll say this: I haven't been a part of as much adversity as this ballclub has had,” Roberts said. “And not one time have we made an excuse or given ourselves an out to not win 11 games in October.
“That's a credit to the character of the guys, the coaches, the front office, getting a lot of depth that we've had to tap into. So that's why I told the guys in the clubhouse, I've never believed in a group of guys more than this group. I really haven't.”