Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrate his game winning single with Will Smith #16 and Miguel Rojas #11, to score Jason Heyward #23 for a 3-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds, during the 10th inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Mookie Betts #50 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts during his at bat during the seventh inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Jonathan India #6 of the Cincinnati Reds celebrates his run with David Bell #25 as he enters the dugout after his run on a bases loaded walk to Spencer Steer #7, to tie the Los Angeles Dodgers 2-2, during the seventh inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Gavin Lux #9 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts as Stuart Fairchild #17 of the Cincinnati Reds reaches first on a throwing error from Ryan Yarbrough #56 during the seventh inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts during his at bat in the fifth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers reacts during his at bat in the fifth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Stuart Fairchild #17 of the Cincinnati Reds reacts as he scores on a Santiago Espinal #4 double, to trail 2-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, during the fifth inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Elly De La Cruz #44 of the Cincinnati Reds reacts after a run from Stuart Fairchild #1, to trail 2-1 to the Los Angeles Dodgers, during the fifth inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Freddie Freeman #5 of the Los Angeles Dodgers watches his throw to Landon Knack #96 for an out of Jake Fraley #27 of the Cincinnati Reds during the second inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Enrique Hernández #8 and Austin Barnes #15 of the Los Angeles Dodgers drop a foul ball between them from Stuart Fairchild #17 of the Cincinnati Reds during the second inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers at bat during the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers at bat during the third inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Landon Knack #96 of the Los Angeles Dodgers makes a throw to first against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Hunter Greene #21 of the Cincinnati Reds speaks with umpire Chad Whitson #62 during the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Andy Pages #44 of the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrates his two run home run with Freddie Freeman #5 past Luke Maile #22 of the Cincinnati Reds, to take a 2-0 lead, during the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Andy Pages #44 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a two run home run, to take a 2-0 lead over the Cincinnati Reds, during the fourth inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, left, is congratulated by Will Smith after hitting a walk-off single during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers won 3-2. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, second from right is hit with a bucket of ice and water by Teoscar Hernandez after Ohtani hit a walk-off single during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers won 3-2. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, center, is congratulated by teammates after hitting a walk-off single during the 10th inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. The Dodgers won 3-2. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani hits a foul ball during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani heads to first for a single during the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, right, is safe at first as Cincinnati Reds relief pitcher Sam Moll attempts a late tag during the eighth inning of a baseball game Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani heads to second as Freddie Freeman grounds out to end the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds Sunday, May 19, 2024, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Andy Pages #44 of the Los Angeles Dodgers bats in front of Tyler Stephenson #37 of the Cincinnati Reds in the eighth inning at Dodger Stadium on May 19, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES — You know it’s going to take something truly and seriously substantial to knock these Dodgers off track.
Something much more than, say, miscommunication in the outfield. More than a Mookie Betts error. A Betts day off. More than Freddie Freeman hitting .295 instead of .300-something. More than a season-long Chris Taylor conundrum.
More any bobblehead-induced hassle to dim the vibe at Dodger Stadium, where on Sunday the majority of the announced sellout crowd of 52,656 was still here to witness Shohei Ohtani’s first walk-off hit with his new team in a 3-2, 10-inning victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
It’ll take much more than Sunday’s badly defended bunt to slow these Dodgers, who remain on a regular ol’ regular-season roll, winners of 20 of their past 26 games. They’re 32-17 and eight games ahead of the second-place San Diego Padres in the National League West standings.
It’ll take more to slow this roll than a stellar outing from L.A. native Hunter Greene, the Reds’ hard-throwing hurler who is coming into his own after being selected No. 2 overall in 2017 out of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame. The right-hander held the Dodgers to two runs in 6 ⅓ innings on Sunday, but it takes more than that to beat them. This time of year, it does.
More even than a rotating bullpen door, with 18 relievers having walked through in fewer than 50 games so far – including Anthony Banda, the newest guy.
The 30-year-old left-hander – acquired Friday from the Cleveland Guardians on Friday for cash – met manager Dave Roberts a few hours before Sunday’s matinee. You can learn “a lot about a player and a person,” Roberts said after he’d plugged in Banda with a game in the balance, insisting he walk out there onto the hot coals in the 10th inning with Elly De La Cruz revving at second base – where the Reds’ furiously fast extra-inning free runner stayed.
Because Banda went and retired the side in order, setting the table for Ohtani.
“It’s obviously elite players here … but it’s just trusting your stuff,” said Banda, bespectacled and impressively tattooed. “The first message they told me, ‘Hey, be yourself here. We got you for a reason, we love you.’ So that broke the ice for me, and I went out there and did my thing.”
The Sho goes on, I guess you could say.
Or perhaps: “SHO’S OVER, GO HOME” (@Dodgers); “A SHO STOPPER” (@MLB); “It’s Sho-ver” (@Wittman7). Or, as Lupe Fiasco raps every time Ohtani approaches the plate here: “Just remember when you come up, the show goes on…”
And the Dodgers’ winning machine chugs on, immune to bumps in the road, headwinds or hiccups. For more mortal clubs, molehills might as well be mountains. Murphy’s Law, what can go wrong, will. (Ask Ohtani’s old club.)
For the deep and talented and collected Dodgers, it’s the opposite. What can go wrong… will not even matter. Not this time of year.
They’re leading baseball in OBP (.340) and OPS (.773). Hits (430) and RBIs (245). Opponents’ batting average (just .213).
So it’s going to take something more substantial than any of the would-be adversity they’ve experienced so far to nudge these Dodgers off course.
What might do it? The calendar could.
Something like a days-long, time-killing, timing-killing interruption between the regular season and the start of postseason play for top seeds, like the Dodgers again figure to be.
Something like the monstrous pressure at the end of the book.
Playoff tension that will define this superteam, that will determine whether this show – this Sho? – gets rave reviews or gets panned again, added to the annals of disappointment, the fact that after 11 consecutive playoff appearances, 10 ended without a title.
That’s the real test these Dodgers are plowing toward, one day and one predictable victory at a time.
Everything before that? All this in-season success? Important still. Crucial confidence- and chemistry-building reps, good practice for the real test – for that whole different ballgame, with which the Dodgers are again on a collision course, looking utterly unshakeable again. At this time of the year.
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