It was arguably one of the most painful games for Dodger fans to watch since the Bobby Thompson home run game in 1951 – Game-6 of the 2013 NLCS against the St. Louis Cardinals. It was a game that wouldn’t have even been necessary had Dodgers manager Don Mattingly not removed his best player in the eighth inning of a tied Game-1, or had he actually used his best power hitter off the bench even once instead of going with an over-the-hill veteran who ended up going 1 for 10 in the postseason. But alas, these things happened and even the usually automatic Clayton Kershaw couldn’t undo Mattingly’s mistakes and ended up having one of the worst outings of his career in that brutal Game-6.

But that was then and this is now and the 2014 Dodgers are significantly better than the 2013 Dodgers while the 2014 Cardinals are not nearly as good as they were last year. Now this is certainly not to say that the Cardinals do not have a good team, they most certainly do. But with the Dodgers offense finally… finally beginning to hit well from top to bottom, there is every reason to believe that the road to the World Series will come through Los Angeles.

In Sunday’s regular season finale, a meaningless game for the Dodgers and one which saw no regular position players in the line-up after the fifth inning, Adrian Gonzalez went 2 for 2 with a home run and three RBIs, Matt Kemp went 2 for 2 with a home run and two RBIs and Carl Crawford went 2 for 3 and finished the regular season hitting exactly .300. Now granted the Rockies are not the Cardinals, but these three guys, along with Juan Uribe and super-sub Justin Turner have been blazing hot over the last two months and seem to be getting even hotter – if that is even possible.

Adrian Gonzalez blasted his team-high 27th home run on Sunday afternoon and finished the regular season with a MLB-high 116 RBIs. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The 2013 Dodgers finished the regular season with a 92-70 record, winning the NL West by 11 games over the Arizona Diamondbacks. However, after clinching the division on September 19, 2013, the date of the infamous “poolgate” incident, the Dodgers went 4-5 in their final nine games and appeared flat as they coasted into the playoffs. In contrast, the 2014 Dodgers finished the regular season with a 94-68 record, and even though they won the division by only six games over the hated Giants, they won seven of their last nine games and finished the season on a five-game winning streak. Whereas the 2013 Dodgers went 11 days after clinching the division before their first playoff game, the 2014 Dodgers will go only four and appear to be peaking at exactly the right time.

After the All-Star break Matt Kemp hit an incredible .309. He hit his 25th home run of the season on Sunday afternoon, his 17th since the break. He also collected 54 of his 89 RBIs after the All-Star break. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

And then there’s the Dodgers starting pitching. Kershaw is… well, Kershaw and is the hands down favorite to win the 2014 NL Cy Young award and quite possibly the 2014 NL MVP award, having become the first pitcher in history to win four consecutive ERA titles. And right behind Kershaw is Zack Greinke, who picked up his career-best 17th win on Sunday while allowing only one run on four hits with a walk and six strikeouts in five innings of work.

Greinke finished the regular season with a 17-8 record and 2.71 ERA.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

And while it is still uncertain if Dodgers left-hander Hyun-jin Ryu will be ready for Game-3 of the NLDS on Monday, October 6, that is one week from today and there is every reason to believe that he will be ready by then. But even if Ryu can’t go in Game-3, right-hander Dan Haren is certainly up to the task with his 3-1 record and 2.09 ERA over his last seven starts.

Although Mattingly has been extremely tight-lipped about who makes the playoff roster and who does not, it’s safe to say that Darwin Barney and Miguel Rojas will, especially with everyday second baseman Dee Gordon nursing a sore hip and everyday shortstop Hanley Ramirez nursing a sore everything. Other shoo-ins are Justin Turner and Scott Van Slyke, who absolutely will get some at-bats this postseason.

But for every silver lining there is a dark cloud and for the Dodgers it is their bullpen which has been nothing short of horrible this season. The bullpen shoo-ins for the postseason are, of course, Kenley Jansen, J.P. Howell (in spite of his recent rough outings), Brandon League, Jamey Wright and (uggh) Brian Wilson. The guys on the bubble are Paco Rodriguez, Pedro Baez and Carlos Frias, although Mattingly would be foolish to exclude any of these three. (If it were up to me I’d leave Wilson behind and opt for Baez as the eighth-inning set-up man, especially in the short series).

Chances are we won’t know what Mattingly’s postseason roster will be until the last possible moment, which is noon (ET) on Friday. Until then it’s all a guessing game.

Stay tuned…