USA TODAY International Edition

Dodgers’ depth puts them on brink

- Bob Nightengal­e bnighten@usatoday.com USA TODAY Sports

Can you imagine what the Los Angeles Dodgers would look like if they bothered to bring their best player to Wrigley Field?

The Dodgers can tell All-Star shortstop Corey Seager to hit the beach, work on his tan and chill that champagne as he recuperate­s from his bad back.

They might actually need him next week when they play their next game Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers needed just one more victory to guarantee a World Series date after their 6-1 laugher Tuesday over the Chicago Cubs, taking a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven National League Championsh­ip Series.

In this NLCS, the Dodgers have flaunted their depth against the defending champions, relying on a group of castoffs, broken-down and demoted talents.

These are your Los Angeles Dodgers, who don’t have the Hollywood stars of years past but are a team of grinders, relentless in their pursuit of their first World Series title in 29 years.

“Obviously, you look at the talent,” manager Dave Roberts says. “We’re deep. It’s a very unselfish group. So when you take those components, you can weather a lot. We’ve really played well all year, and we had a tough spell. The focus has certainly been heightened in the postseason. It’s a very focused group.”

So focused that going into Wednesday they had yet to lose a game this postseason, winning a franchise-record six in a row, snuffing out the Cubs’ powerful offense, limiting them to four runs and a .160 batting average.

The Cubs have been so futile that it wasn’t until the ninth inning Tuesday that they produced a hit off the Dodgers bullpen, ending a 0for-29 skid, the longest drought at the start of a postseason in baseball history.

The Dodgers, knocked off by the Cubs in the NLCS a year ago at Wrigley Field and who endured the Cubs’ World Series ring ceremony on their first homestand this year, now would love to return some pain on this same field.

“It would be sweet to do it in Chicago,” Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen says, “to knock off the defending champs at their home. We saw the Cubs win their first championsh­ip in over 100 years last year, and you saw how desperate that city was. Well, it’s the same with us.

“It’s a desperate time. The city needs it. This is a Dodger and Lakers town, but with the Lakers rebuilding, we need to do it for everyone in LA.”

If they do, it’s an ensemble cast making it happen, as Game 3 proved.

Their setup man, Brandon Morrow, who signed a minor league contract after coming off shoulder surgery and opened the year in Oklahoma City, shut down the heart of the Cubs order again, yielding two hits in 71⁄3 innings this postseason.

Their starting left fielder, Andre Ethier, who missed the first five months of the season with a herniated disk, hit his first home run of the year as a starting outfielder.

Their versatile infielder-outfielder Chris Taylor, who opened the year in the minors and was expected to be nothing more than a fourth outfielder, hit a homer and a triple, becoming the first player in postseason history to homer as an outfielder and an infielder in the same series.

Their starting center fielder, Joc Pederson, who was demoted to the minors in August and left off the playoff roster in the NL Division Series against the Arizona Diamondbac­ks, produced a double and scored the run that helped break the game open.

And a manager in Roberts, who wasn’t even given a chance to interview for his own team, the San Diego Padres, and was the second choice by the front office, looking like Casey Stengel with all the right moves.

“It’s kind of been next man up all year,” Morrow said. “We’ve had guys step up in so many different situations. It seems like it was a different person each night during the season, and it’s the same feeling this postseason.”

This has been a star-studded organizati­on that has won five consecutiv­e division titles, but only now is it a complete team, with fewer stars, and a lot of dudes simply trying to prove they deserve a job.

The Dodgers, who have won 110 games this year, realize they still need five more victories to reach the mountainto­p, winning the championsh­ip that has eluded them for 29 years.

Considerin­g only once in baseball history has a team recovered from a 3-0 deficit in any series, the only question is what kind of champagne the Dodgers will order for their first National League pennant since the days of Kirk Gibson and Orel Hershiser.

“This organizati­on has done a great job in making it a priority to win, fielding a successful team, building an atmosphere,” Ethier said, “where winning is important. To win the NL West five years in a row, that’s a big accomplish­ment.

“But I think you can get a little complacent as an organizati­on when you keep coming up short, thinking you’re achieving something, but all you have to show is the NL West championsh­ip and not a World Series.

“We haven’t accomplish­ed our goal.”

Not yet.

“We won 104 games during the regular season for a reason,” Pederson says. “It’s worked so far, so why change things?”

FOOLOW MLB COLUMNIST BOB NIGHTENGAL­E

@BNightenga­le for commentary and insight from the ballpark.

 ?? DENNIS WIERZBICKI, USA TODAY SPORTS ?? The Dodgers’ Chris Taylor celebrates with Cody Bellinger after hitting a solo home run against the Cubs on Tuesday night in Chicago.
DENNIS WIERZBICKI, USA TODAY SPORTS The Dodgers’ Chris Taylor celebrates with Cody Bellinger after hitting a solo home run against the Cubs on Tuesday night in Chicago.
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