The Dodgers have momentum.
Doesn’t matter if the last three victories in their four-game winning streak came against the Nationals.
Momentum is momentum, and momentum in September can be especially valuable, as it can lead to momentum into October.
“Obviously, if you can end it in September playing good ball, then I think it gives you confidence going into the postseason,” shortstop Mookie Betts said.
The Dodgers, who on Monday open a three-game series against the Reds at Dodger Stadium, understand they have to finish the regular season playing better than they did when they posted a 13-14 record last month.
“I think a couple of years ago we finished September not that great, and then it kind of carried into the playoffs,” Betts said.
Betts could have been referencing the 2022 season.
The Dodgers dropped three of their last four regular-season games that year and went on to be eliminated by the Padres in a National League Division Series.
Last year, they recovered from a dreadful July and mediocre August to post a 15-10 record in the final month of the regular season. They won nine of their last 11 games, including each of their last five, and went on to win the World Series.
The year before that, they also posted a losing record in July, only in that season, their comeback started a month earlier. They ran over their opposition in August, maintained their form through September — and guess what? — they won the World Series.
“I think a lot of September is the depth,” manager Dave Roberts said.
Rosters expand to 28 players on Sept. 1 of every season, and the Dodgers use that to give their players breaks.
Shohei Ohtani was out of the lineup for four consecutive days so that he could recover from an assortment of injuries. Max Muncy didn’t play on Saturday because he was sick. Betts is scheduled to take a day off on Monday.
“We’ve kind of done that over the years, and that’s a sign of having a lot of good players,” Roberts said. “But, yeah, it’s important to go into October playing well.”
The early signs are promising.
The starting pitching is coming together, the recent comebacks of Blake Snell and Tyler Glasnow giving the Dodgers four Cy Young Award-caliber pitchers in their projected postseason rotation. Ohtani is expected to return to the lineup on Monday after missing the last four games.
The Dodgers averaged just 3.9 runs scored per game in August. They averaged 5.8 runs in their first six games of September, which included two losses to the Cardinals.
Over their three-game sweep of the Nationals, they scored a total of 18 runs. An offense that previously had difficulties hitting with men on base was 9-for-28 (.321) with runners in scoring position and drove in 11 runs with two outs.
“We’ve just taken good at-bats and continued to get runners on base,” Roberts said. “I just like the at-bat quality. It just seems like every night is someone different.”
Their 7-5 victory over the Nationals on Sunday was an example.
Trailing 4-1 through four innings, the Dodgers collected five hits in the fifth to score three runs and level the score at 4. Of the five hits in the inning, only one was an extra-base hit, a one-out double by Tommy Edman that drove in Muncy for the first run of the frame.
The Dodgers let the Nationals move in front of them again but by only one run.
“I thought we were going to break through, I really did,” Roberts said.
He was right. With two outs in the eighth inning, Alex Call singled and Edman walked. With the two of them on base, Betts stepped into the batter’s box.
The first pitch thrown to Betts by Nationals left-hander Will Dion was up and in.
“I was wishing he would get hit by the pitch,” Roberts said.
Betts sent the next pitch into the left field pavilion for a three-run home run.
Roberts said Freddie Freeman joked with him, “That’s why he avoids the pitch — so he can hit a home run.”
Betts has a .246 average this season, but he’s batting .305 with five homers, seven doubles and 22 RBIs over his last 24 games. His resurgence is overlapping with that of Teoscar Hernández, who is batting .423 with a home run over his last eight games.
The Dodgers have something to play for this month, as they started the week a game ahead of the Braves in the race for the No. 2 seed in the National League, which entitles a team to a first-round bye in the postseason.
Then again, the Dodgers went into the playoffs last year as the No. 3 seed, which required them to play in the wild-card round. They learned something important from the experience: Where they finished in the standings didn’t matter as much as how they played down the stretch.
