The Dodgers are returning to the West Coast after being on the road for two series on the East Coast. Los Angeles took three of four from the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park in South Florida but lost two of three to the New York Mets at Citi Field – their first series loss since the end of July. But … “Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.”

But The Boys in Blue still own the best record in Major League Baseball. They were the first team to win 90 games and are currently at 90-40, despite their recent losses.

The highlight of Thursday afternoon was the return of Dodgers ace and future Hall of Famer left-handed pitcher Clayton Kershaw from the Injured List. After a rocky first inning in which he walked a batter with the bases loaded for the first time since August 7, 2015, the southpaw returned to the Kershaw of old.

The 34-year-old Dallas, TX native and Dodgers first-round draft pick in 2006 out of Highland Park High School in University Park, TX allowed just that one run and only one hit – a single up the middle by Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor that was deflected off the glove of Dodgers shortstop Trea Turner on a play that even he will tell you he should have made in that fateful first inning – while walking a very un-Kershaw-like three Mets batters in that fateful first inning, and striking out a very Kershaw-like six batters in his outstanding 5.0 innings pitched. In fact, when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts pulled his star left-hander after his pre-arranged 74(-ish) pitches, Kershaw was on the winning side of the ledger, with the Dodgers then leading by a score of 2-1 in their eventual 5-3 loss.

“You know, no matter how much preparation you do, there’s really no simulation for a big league game,” the nine-time All-Star told reporters after the game. “So, I just needed an inning. Thankfully, I got out of that not terrible, you know with only giving up one run and then after that I was able to try to make some adjustments, figure things out.”

Mets batters went a collective 1-for-16 against Kershaw and his six strikeouts give him 2,764 in his nine-year MLB career – all with the Dodgers – which ranks 26th on MLB’s all-time strikeout leaders list, once again proving that he is one of the most elite pitchers in baseball history.

Dodger fans are well aware of Kershaw’s work ethic and how he hates not contributing to the team. He echoed this postgame with SportsNet LA’s Kirsten Watson.

“It was great to get back out there, obviously,” the left-handed hurler said. “I wanted to be out there for a while, so good to finally do it. Yeah, first inning was a little rough, obviously, but thankful to kind of bounce out of that and get through five at least.”

Despite leading the league and having an 18.0-game lead over the NL West second-place San Diego Padres, many of the Dodger faithful are naturally starting to think about the postseason. The three-time Cy Young Award winner kept things in perspective when asked how the team is lining up for October.

“I think you fall into that trap, right? I mean, I think you know where we’re at as a team, you can kind of keep saying ‘we’re just preparing for October, preparing for October,’ but the way to do that is to win baseball games. So that shouldn’t change our mindset as far as how we do things. We need to come in and try to win the game. I think that’s the best way to prepare. So that’s what I’m going to try to do, too.”

Sage words from a pitcher who has been with the team since his debut in 2008. He has seen a lot of baseball and has been fortunate to play in plenty of postseason games with Los Angeles.

With a healthy Kershaw at the helm, this team is poising for yet another shot at the Fall Classic – something no one takes for granted. And the players are wisely only focusing on one game at a time.

Their next chance to do so will be on Friday evening, when they begin a six-game homestand, with three against the aforementioned Padres and three against their perpetual rivals, the San Francisco Giants, over whom they currently have a 28.5-game lead in the NL West.

Regardless, the Dodgers will come out of this weekend’s three-game series against San Diego with a Magic Number of somewhere between 11 and 14, with 29 games remaining in the regular season after that.

Let’s go Dodgers!

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