As they have done many times in the past, last Sunday, April 15, 2018 – Jackie Robinson Day – the Dodgers yet again called upon 30-year-old left-hander Clayton Kershaw to bring an end to their (then) three-game losing streak and help them get out of (then) last place in the National League West. And just as he has done many times in the past, Kershaw did exactly that by absolutely dominating the first place Arizona Diamondbacks in front of a Dodger Stadium crowd of 47,527 with a 7-2 win to stop the bleeding.

As he has done so often throughout his 11-year MLB career, the Dodgers turned to their ace Clayton Kershaw to end their skid and bring an end to their early season woes. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

After that game, SportsNet LA’s Alanna Rizzo asked Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes why the sudden turnaround in a game that saw he and his teammates have their best at-bats of the young season, including Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig, who suddenly seems locked in at the plate.

“Chase [Utley] and JT [Justin Turner] just kind of reminded us of who we are and what made us so successful last year,” Barnes told Rizzo about a closed-door / players-only team meeting that they held prior to Sunday’s dominating 7-2 win over the snakes.

The Dodgers have not lost a game since.

Now granted, the Dodgers last three games were against the San Diego Padres who, prior to April 15, owned sole possession of last place in the NL West. But during that three-game sweep, their first series win of the season, the Dodgers won by scores of 10-3, 7-3, and 13-4 respectively against a Padres team that not only leads the league in errors (18), but also in unearned runs allowed (20).

But of greater importance, in that April 15 game against the division-leading Dbacks and the just-concluded sweep of the Padres, the Dodgers continued to (collectively) have great at-bats and show excellent plate discipline, which helped them put up 30 runs and collect 37 hits against the (once again) last place friars.

“Hitting’s contagious, though. Everybody knew it was going to come,” said Dodgers shortstop Corey Seager after Wednesday night’s pounding of the Padres, a game in which he went 4-for-5 with a walk and three runs batted in. “We finally put together some good ABs the last couple of games and finally found some balls to fall. We finally put some full games together – we pitched a game, we hit a game – we finally put some full games together and got some wins.”

Have a night, Corey Seager. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

But then the soon-to-be 24-year-old (on April 27) Charlotte, North Carolina native and 2016 NL Rookie of the Year said something that echoed what Austin Barnes had said four days earlier.

“We’re starting to play more like us, which is nice,” added Seager. “Get back to that, get back to winning games that night, that’s it.”

This, of course, brings up the burning question: Is the sudden Dodgers turnaround merely a coincidence as a result of that Utley / Turner closed-door meeting held last Sunday, or confirmation of it?

I’m going with the latter.