If you have not already done so, circle June 24 on your Dodgers 2021 calendar as the turning point for the Dodgers regular season.

No, they did not start a winning streak or make a significant player transaction on that date. In fact, they lost 4-0 to the Chicago Cubs on a combined no-hitter. Nonetheless, that loss may have been the defining moment the team needed to break out of their uninspired play and frequent mediocre baseball.

The no-hitter followed a three-game series sweep at the hands of the San Diego Padres, leaving the team embarrassed and frustrated. How the team would respond to the adversity could well decide whether the Dodgers would be World Series participants in 2021 or television spectators.

“No one likes to lose, but to lose three on the road to a division rival and then come home and get no-hit, that doesn’t make anyone feel good,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “I think the word embarrassment probably sums it up.”

Would Roberts’ team continue to play uninspired games relying on individual talent alone to contend or come together with an esprit de corps common among championship teams?

Wake-up calls in sports often come from adversity, players bonding as a band of brothers to overcome obstacles to achieve the ultimate goal. The catalyst may be as simple as a players-only team meeting, or veteran player(s) stepping up as on-field leaders, or perhaps a bench-clearing fracas in support of a teammate. But, there is no doubt that championship teams have that extra something that separates them from the field, a mojo that makes the team better than the mere sum of the parts.

Since being no-hit by the Cubs, the Dodgers have won eight consecutive games, including taking the final three from the Cubs, a two-game sweep of the NL West first-place San Francisco Giants, and the first three against the Washington Nationals in our nation’s capital.

“It’s good, winning baseball,” Roberts said of his team’s current winning streak. “Right now, we’re playing really good baseball.”

Remember that date, Dodger fans. Although the Dodgers lost the game on June 24, 2021, they found their mojo.

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