CALM DESPITE EPIC COLLAPSE

Dodgers always knew they were Series-bound, even after no-no blowup in Baltimore

- BY JACK HARRIS

DODGERS PLAYERS react to a Shohei Ohtani homer in the NLCS as L.A. has gone 9-1 in the postseason after injuries and slumps. Said Freddie Freeman: "We knew we were OK." BLAKE TREINEN was part of a bullpen that struggled for much of the summer. But L.A. weathered the adversity through better starting pitching and the emergence of Roki Sasaki.

(ROBERT GAUTHIER Los Angeles Times JESS RAPFOGEL Getty Images)

From the outside, the Dodgers know the easy narrative to their season.

About how, after beginning the campaign with the highest expectations imaginable, they spent much of the year failing to live up to the hype.

How, during what was already a dismal second-half slump, they seemed to reach rock bottom when they squandered a no-hitter and three-run lead in a stunning ninth-inning loss in Baltimore last month.

How, in the six weeks since, they’ve looked like a rejuvenated and refocused club, following that nightmarish defeat with a 15-5 finish to the regular season and torrid march through October—going 9-1 en route to a National League pennant and return trip to the World Series, which will begin with Game 1 on Friday night.

In hindsight, however, the Dodgers also insist the story isn’t that simple.

The peaks and valleys of this season, they felt, were never as extreme as they appeared.

"Obviously, the season went the way it went,” veteran third baseman Max Muncy said of a 93-win campaign that, despite including another NL West title, qualified as a disappointment compared to their preseason prognostications.

“It’s a long season. It’s a lot of games. We dealt with a lot.”