When Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Bill Russell and Ron Cey took the field on October 28, 1981 in Game-6 of the 1981 World Series, it would be the final time that ‘The Infield” would start a game together, thus bringing an end to their historic run of playing eight full seasons (and part of a ninth) together. And even though there were times during their record-setting run where one of the four would miss an occasional game, it is extremely unlikely that Major League Baseball will ever see four guys on the same team together for this long again, let alone in the starting line-up nearly every day.

Ron Cey, Bill Russell, Davey Lopes and Steve Garvey – aka “The Infield” – together again at Dodger Stadium on Old-Timers Day 2015. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

The biggest reason for this, of course, is free agency. While it is extremely rare these days for a guy to remain with the same team for his entire career, it is virtually impossible for four guys to do so and will probably never happen again.

When Andrew Friedman and Farhan Zaidi were brought into the Dodgers’ fold a little over a year ago, they brought with them an entirely new baseball mentality. And although many of their decisions during the 2015 season were predicate on unforeseen injuries, they made it very clear very quickly of their intention to utilize the Dodgers entire 40-man roster throughout the season and not just their 25-man active roster – especially when it came to pitching. And while this may have caught many Dodger fans by surprise or off-guard, the writing was clearly on the wall when the team kicked off the season without an everyday third baseman and an abundance of so-called “utility bench players” on their 2015 Opening Day roster.

Granted, one can argue that every MLB team absolutely must have at least two or three utility bench players during the course of a grueling 162-game season (and hopefully postseason), but it seemed as though Friedman and Zaidi (and the Dodgers entire player development and scouting staffs) were actually going out of their way to locate and then draft or trade for guys who were versatile at multiple positions – most notably guys like Kiké Hernandez, Jose Peraza, Chris Heisey and Justin Ruggiano to name only a few.

And then this off-season Friedman and Zaidi avoided nearly every big-name free agent on the market and instead brought in guys like Micah Johnson, Trayce Thompson, Erick Mejia, and Rob Segedin (among others), all of whom can play multiple positions.

Even though Justin Turner has played exceptionally well at third base, is he a true everyday third baseman? (Photo credit – Luis Sinco)

It would be an injustice not to consider Justin Turner as potentially being the Dodgers’ everyday third baseman in 2016 and he will undoubtedly see more playing time at the hot corner than anyone else. But the simple truth is that he, too, is basically a utility bench player. Now this certainly isn’t to say that the extremely popular 31-year-old Long Beach, CA native hasn’t done a great job at third base or that he hasn’t been among the team’s best hitters since joining the Dodgers in 2014, but the painful truth is that he has been somewhat injury-prone and has only managed to stay on the field for 109 and 126 games respectively in his two full seasons with the Dodgers. A true test as to whether or not the Dodgers honestly see Turner as their everyday third baseman will come within the next few days when he and the Dodgers must agree upon a contract or head into an arbitration hearing.

Although the rest of the Dodgers 2016 infield may be uncertain, it’s probably safe to say that these two guys will be out there almost every day. (Photo credit – Jayne Kamin-Oncea and TBS Sports)

The end result is that with no obvious everyday second or third baseman – at least at this point – it is pretty much a given that aside from first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and shortstop Corey Seager, Dodger fans could once again see a different infield out there almost every night. Whether this is a good thing or not remains to be seen, but what there is no uncertainty about is that there is definitely a new Dodgers Way.