(Edited September 30 at 11:00 am PT)

When you consider that the Dodgers were founded in 1883, have won six World Series titles, 21 National League pennants and 14 National League West Division titles, it’s hard to believe that they have never made it into the postseason three times in a row.

…until now.

With Tuesday night’s 8-0 pounding of the San Francisco Giants, the Dodgers earned a trip to the postseason for a third consecutive time and join the Atlanta Braves as the only other NL West team to win the division three times in a row. The Braves won the NL West in 1991, 1992 and 1993 before being reassigned to the NL East in 1994, where they went on to win 11 consecutive NL East Division titles (excluding the strike-canceled 1994 playoffs) for an unprecedented 14 consecutive division titles – a record that many believe will never fall.

Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw is mobbed by his teammates after throwing a complete-game one-hit shutout over the Giants to give the Dodgers their third consecutive NL West title. (Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

Since division play began in 1969 there have be 46 NL West Division races, of which the Dodgers won almost one-third of them (30.4 percent to be exact). Yet during that time they never won the division title three times in a row. They did, however, win it twice in a row on two separate occasions – in 2008 and 2009 under manager Joe Torre and in 2013 and 2014 under current manager Don Mattingly. With his third consecutive playoff berth now under his belt, Mattingly becomes the only manager in the franchise’s 132-year history to have done so – something that “Fire Mattingly” pundits will have to deal with going forward.

Although the Dodgers are headed to the postseason for a record third consecutive time, Mattingly’s team needs to do something about the fact that they have lost seven of their last 10 games – and they better do it fast. History has repeatedly shown us that it’s not the best team that wins the World Series, it’s the hottest team – and the Dodgers are anything but hot right now.

Additionally, if the ice cold Dodgers have any hopes of securing home field advantage for the the upcoming Division Series against the red-hot New York Mets, they better find whatever magic it takes to win out the season – a doable but very difficult task. And even if they are fortunate enough to win out the season, they will still need help from the Philadelphia Phillies and the Washington Nationals – both of whom play the Mets play over the final week of the season – to have any shot at home field advantage over the Mets. The Mets currently hold a one-game lead over the Dodgers in this regard. Should the two teams finish the regular season with identical overall records, the Mets would gain home field advantage by virtue of having won four of the seven games against the Dodgers this season.

With Tuesday night’s division-clinching win over the Giants (for the second time in as many years), Dodgers ace and defending NL MVP and Cy Young award-winner Clayton Kershaw improved his record to 16-6 while lowering his ERA to 2.16.

But Kershaw wasn’t just good on Tuesday night, he was Cy Young-caliber good. In his nine innings of work, the 27-year-old Dallas, Texas native allowed no runs and gave up a third-inning single to Giants utility first baseman Kevin Frandsen. It would be the only hit that Kershaw would allow. And although the hard-throwing Dodgers left-hander walked one batter, he struck out 13 (including six in a row at one point) to bring his season total to 294 – just six shy of the coveted 300-strikeout mark; something that no pitcher has done since Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling in 2002 (while on the same team, no less) and no Dodger has done since Sandy Koufax in 1966.

Giants rookie catcher Trevor Brown became Kershaw’s 13th and final strikeout victim on Tuesday night.
(Video capture courtesy of SportsNet LA)

While the Dodgers earned the right to celebrate and did so in grand fashion on Tuesday night, now is not the time for the 2015 NL West Champs to let up on the gas. They must… absolutely must keep the pedal to the metal and get back to being the dominating team that they are capable of being if they are to have any hopes of getting past the Mets and into the National League Championship Series.

…and they’d best start right now.