Crushed by injuries and underperformance — especially in the bullpen — the Dodgers didn’t have nearly the regular season cakewalk many expected. In fact, if they hadn’t won nine of 11 at the end of the season, the Dodgers might not have won the division.
But that strong finish was a sign of things to come, because the Dodgers have been dominant in the postseason. They did not get a first-round bye and had to play an always-dangerous wild card series, but that’s only added to their overall 9-1 record in the postseason, including lopsided series wins against the Philadelphia Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers, the teams with the two best records in the National League.
Wild Card round — Beat the Cincinnati Reds, 2-0
The Dodgers outscored the Reds 18-9 and had a collective .373/.440/.667 slash line in the series. It was only a two-game series, but both Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández homered twice.
Division Series — Beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-1
What did it take to actually beat the Dodgers? Kyle Schwarber homered twice in Game 3 while Ohtani went 0-for-5, but that was just one game. The Dodgers won the rest, including two games started by Cristopher Sánchez. Blake Snell was terrific in Game 2 and Tyler Glasnow went six scoreless innings in Game 4 (after pitching out of the bullpen in Game 1). Ohtani had a brutal series at the plate (1-for-18) but Mookie Betts, Tommy Edman and Teoscar Hernández had four hits apiece.
National League Championship Series — Beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 4-0
Pitching carried the Dodgers for the second series in a row. Snell, Ohtani, Glasnow and Yoshinobu Yamamoto combined to allowed just two runs in 28 2/3 innings. Yamamoto threw a complete game in Game 2 and Ohtani had one of the great performances of all time in Game 4, pitching six scoreless innings while homering three times as the leadoff hitter and DH.