The way Dave Roberts framed it, Wednesday was a day for composure, not concern.
The Dodgers manager wasn’t looking for his players to give impassioned speeches, even in the wake of Tuesday’s gut-punch of a loss that ended on a triple play.
He didn’t fire up the clubhouse or hold some impromptu late-season meeting, even with the team’s division lead melting like ice.
Instead, in the second act of this week’s pivotal three-game series against the San Diego Padres, all Roberts desired was a clean, complete performance from his injury-plagued but ever-resilient squad.
“We play 162 games, and there are a lot of heartbreaking games,” Roberts said. “And the thing about baseball players, you have to come back and win the next day.”
With a big helping hand from Shohei Ohtani, that’s exactly what the Dodgers did.
Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres might not have clinched the National League West crown. But with four games to go in the regular season, and the Dodgers’ division lead back up to three games, they can get the champagne bottles and plastic wrap ready.
At yet another juncture where their place atop the standings seemed to be teetering, the Dodgers once again found a way to steady their season.
This time, they had Ohtani first and foremost to thank.
In the latest confirmation of his MVP candidacy, the slugger went two for three with a double, a walk, two RBIs and his 56th stolen base of the season — playing a key role in each of the team’s three scoring rallies, including a go-ahead single in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie.
Scuffling first baseman Freddie Freeman also showed some life at the plate, collecting two hits. Gavin Lux snapped a four-for-37 skid with an RBI single in the fourth, before adding another single in the eighth.
And while starting pitcher Jack Flaherty grinded through a five-inning, three-run start in his final tune-up before the postseason, the Dodgers bullpen was lights out the rest of the way, combining for four scoreless innings while yielding just three walks and no hits.
The Dodgers will now enter Thursday’s series finale with a chance to do something they haven’t done since 2018: Celebrate a division-clinching win at home.
But even if they don’t, they will enter the campaign’s final weekend up by no less than two games, a seemingly comfortable cushion as they head to Colorado to face the last-place Rockies in their regular-season finale.
