LOS ANGELES — It turned out to be nothing more than a dress rehearsal.
The Los Angeles Dodgers disposed of the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night, 8-4, sweeping the two-game wild card series at Dodger Stadium, and will hop on a flight for the real pageant.
It will be the Dodgers vs. the Philadelphia Phillies in a best-of-five series beginning Saturday night in front of a frenzied crowd at Citizens Bank Park .
The Dodgers won’t say it – not wanting to disrespect the other 10 teams still in the dance – but they believe this very well could be their World Series.
Yep, just like a year ago when the Dodgers faced the Padres in the National League Division Series.
The Phillies are the beast of the East, winning 96 games with a star-studded lineup led by Kyle Schwarber, Bryce Harper and Trea Turner, a lethal rotation with Cristopher Sanchez, Ranger Suarez and Jesus Luzardo – and plenty of postseason experience.
The Phillies and Dodgers last met in the postseason in 2009, back when Shohei Ohtani was a 15-year-old at Hanamaki Higashi High School in Japan, and Harper was 17. The Phillies beat the Dodgers 4 games to 1 in the NLCS, just like they ended their season the previous year. The last time the Dodgers beat the Phillies in the postseason was 1978, before any of these players were even born.
But the Dodgers, who lost four of the six games against the Phillies this season, are convinced they are peaking just at the right time.
They have won 17 of their last 22, scoring 113 runs in the last 20 – and their pitching has been unconscious.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto was the latest starter to dominate the opposition. He gave up two unearned runs in the first inning, promptly retired the next 13 batters with six strikeouts, and then got into trouble by allowing three consecutive singles.
The Reds, trailing just 3-2, suddenly had the bases loaded with nobody out in the sixth. But Yamamoto didn’t blink. He induced an infield groundout by Austin Hays, and then struck out Sal Stewart on a curveball and Elly De La Cruz on an even better curveball.
Yoshinobu strutted off the field to a huge ovation from the crowd of 50,465, and then watched the Dodgers’ offense blow the game open the offense with a four-run sixth inning, sending 10 men to the plate, turning a one-run game into a 7-2 rout.
The Dodgers produced 12 hits, everyone but center fielder Andy Pages reached base at least once by the sixth inning, led by Betts’ four-hit game with three doubles and three RBI.
And no one’s on a better heater than Yamamoto, who pitched 6 2/3 innings, and wound up yielding four hits and two unearned runs while striking out nine batters, leaving to a standing ovation.
In Yamamoto’s last eight starts, he is yielding a 1.34 ERA, striking out 65 in 53 2/3 innings.
“What I learned is he prepares very well, very intentional with his preparation,’’ Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “I learned that the moment isn’t too big for him, any moment. I learned that he has the ability to make pitches when he needs to. He always seems like the best option.
“I think that if you’re talking about a player from last year to this year, I’d probably say he’s number one on the growth chart, considering coming over here and trying to get his feet wet, trying to learn the culture, the game, the hitters, create a routine for himself, to then be a really big-game pitcher.’
Now, the Dodgers are off to Philadelphia where Shohei Ohtani will make his first pitching appearance in a postseason game. He’s scheduled to start Game 1 Saturday in Philadelphia, Blake Snell on Monday in Game 2, and back to Yamamoto for Game 3 at Dodger Stadium.
Their only real worry is, well, that bullpen, which had the hometown crowd booing once again. They gave up five runs in the seventh and eighth innings of Game 1, and then another two runs in the eighth inning Wednesday.
“They’ve had stretches of good, they’ve had some stretches where it’s been really tough and challenging,” said Andrew Friedman, Dodgers president of baseball operations. “At the end of the day, as we’re working through it the last couple of weeks, it’s not a talent issue ….
“When the confidence is wavering, the execution is off. When the execution is off, you get behind and you come in zone and you’re just more likely to take on damage. So it’s kind of that imperfect storm in a lot of ways.”
You know the Dodgers are starting to freak out over their bullpen when Dodgers manager Dave Roberts yanked Emmet Sheehan with a 1-and-2 count on Will Benson, put in Alex Vesia, who struck out pinch-hitter Miguel Andujar. Vesia got out of a bases-loaded jam by striking out leadoff hitter TJ Friedl, ending the threat.
Rookie Rōki Sasaki then was summoned for the ninth, closed it out, and the bullpen mess will be a worry for another day.
“It’s sort of a daily kind of conversation with the pitching coaches, the front office,’’ Roberts said, “and just kind of – and most importantly – what I see.’’
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Here’s how Wednesday’s game unfolded at Dodger Stadium:
Dodgers tack on in the seventh, lead 8-2
Mookie Betts hit his third double of the game to score Miguel Rojas and extend the Dodgers’ lead to 8-2 against Tony Santillan.
Dodgers blow it open in the sixth
After narrowly avoiding disaster in the top of the sixth, the Dodgers scored four runs in the bottom of the frame to push their lead to 7-2. Los Angeles scored on Shohei Ohtani’s RBI single, Mookie Betts’ RBI double and Teoscar Hernandez’s two-run double.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto escapes bases-loaded jam
The Reds loaded the bases with nobody in the top of the sixth with three consecutive singles against Yoshinobu Yamamoto but Dodgers manager Dave Roberts left his $325 million man in to fend for himself. Yamamoto got Austin Hays to ground into a force-out that stopped the run from scoring, then struck out Sal Stewart and Elly De La Cruz to somehow escape unscathed.
Dodgers take 3-2 lead in the fourth
Omnipresent postseason hero Enrique Hernández laced an RBI double in the bottom of the fourth to score Max Muncy, tying the game and chasing Reds starter Zack Littell. Miguel Rojas followed with an RBI single to greet Nick Lodolo and put the Dodgers up 3-2.
Cincinnati escaped further damange with Lodolo retiring Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts.
Dodgers pull one back on Mookie Betts RBI
Trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the third, Dodgers catcher Ben Rortvedt led of with a double and came around to score on Mookie Betts’ one-out RBI single cut Cincinnati’s lead in half heading into the fourth inning.
Reds take early lead after Teoscar Hernandez error
Dodgers right fielder Teoscar Hernandez dropped a fly ball hit by Austin Hays with two outs in the top of the first, extending the inning before rookie Sal Stewart laced a two-run single off Yoshinobu Yamamoto to give the Reds an early 2-0 lead at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers lineup tonight
Shohei Ohtani (L) DH
Mookie Betts (R) SS
Freddie Freeman (L) 1B
Teoscar Hernández (R) RF
Max Muncy (L) 3B
Andy Pages (R) CF
Enrique Hernández (R) LF
Miguel Rojas (R) 2B
Ben Rortvedt (L) C
Reds lineup tonight vs Dodgers
TJ Friedl (L) CF
Spencer Steer (R) LF
Gavin Lux (L) DH
Austin Hays (R) RF
Sal Stewart (R) 1B
Elly De La Cruz (S) SS
Tyler Stephenson (R) C
Ke’Bryan Hayes (R) 3B
Matt McLain (R) 2B