At least one Dodgers player sees benefits to being in an NL West dogfight

The journey is just as important as the destination in the eyes of Miguel Rojas, which is why the veteran shortstop isn’t fretting over the fact that the Dodgers are in a dogfight for the National League West for the first time since 2021, the only year they’ve failed to win the division in the last 11 years.

The Dodgers cruised to division titles the past two seasons, winning the NL West by 22 games in 2022 and 16 games in 2023, and what good did that do them?

Thrust into high-intensity games for the first time in weeks, the 100-win Dodgers were swept by 84-win Arizona in the NL Division Series last October, and their 111-win team lost to 89-win San Diego in a four-game NLDS in 2022. Arizona went on to reach the World Series in 2023, and San Diego reached the NL Championship Series in 2022.

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Rojas believes the stress and intensity of a six-week tussle with the Padres and Diamondbacks for the division title and wild-card spots will make the Dodgers far more battle-tested for October than they were the past two seasons.

“Those teams that have to win games down the stretch to get into the playoffs, like the Diamondbacks last year, they roll into the postseason knowing how to win and how to play in those do-or-die games,” Rojas said.

“I think they have the advantage because the pressure is off, the anxiety is gone, because you’ve been playing games like that and winning them. You have the confidence you can win them.”

Sunday’s nail-biter of a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in Busch Stadium had that pennant-race feel, the Dodgers breaking a scoreless tie with two fifth-inning runs off ace Sonny Gray and Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw throwing six shutout innings in which he gave up four hits, struck out two and walked one.

Kershaw, in his fifth start back from shoulder surgery, did not allow a runner to reach second base until the sixth, when he gave up singles to Pedro Pages and Victor Scott II to open the inning.

But he escaped the two-on, no-out jam by getting Masyn Winn to fly out to center field and Willson Contreras to ground to third, where Rojas turned an unassisted double play.

Kershaw’s pitch count was at just 70 when he was pulled in favor of right-hander Evan Phillips, who gave up one hit in a scoreless seventh. Daniel Hudson gave up a pinch-hit solo homer to Lars Nootbaar that pulled the Cardinals to within 2-1 in the eighth.

Michael Kopech then pitched around a one-out throwing error by catcher Austin Barnes in the ninth, getting Nolan Arenado to ground into a game-ending 6-4-3 double play for his second save of the series.

There was no score in the fifth when Gray hung a first-pitch, 80-mph curve to Shohei Ohtani, who smashed a 113.5-mph line drive into the right-field bullpen for his 39th homer of the season and a 1-0 lead. Of Ohtani’s 12 hits in August, seven are home runs.

Mookie Betts walked, and Gavin Lux, who doubled in his first two at-bats, singled Betts to third. Teoscar Hernández struck out for the second out, but Rojas lined a clutch RBI single to left-center for a 2-0 lead.

The win gave the Dodgers a 4-3 record on their trip to Milwaukee and St. Louis and assured that they would remain at least two games ahead of the Padres, who were playing the Colorado Rockies Sunday afternoon.

The Dodgers rotation is still an injury-marred mess, with ace Tyler Glasnow (elbow tendonitis) and Yoshinobu Yamamoto (rotator-cuff strain) on the shelf, and Walker Buehler, who has returned from a second Tommy John surgery and an inflamed right hip, and Bobby Miller, back form an inflamed shoulder, struggling to regain their form.

But the lineup is nearing full strength, having welcomed back right fielder Betts after a seven-week absence because of a left-hand fracture last week. Tommy Edman (ankle sprain) will be activated on Monday, and third baseman Max Muncy (oblique strain) will be activated Monday or Tuesday.

Read more: Why Tyler Glasnow felt obligated to say something about his sore elbow

And the bullpen received a huge shot in the arm with the acquisition of Kopech from the Chicago White Sox, right-hander Ryan Brasier returned on Saturday from a right-calf strain that sidelined him for 3 ½ months, and Blake Treinen (left-hip discomfort) will be activated on Tuesday.

The Dodgers will need all the manpower they can get to fend off the pesky Padres and Diamondbacks, who are nipping at their heels.

“They’ve been hot, but I feel like that gives us motivation to continue to play our game and win games, you know?” Rojas said. “We can’t really relax right now, even though we have the [second] best record in the NL. I think it’s good that we’re playing games we need to win, because that’s how we’re going to have to play in the playoffs.”

Manager Dave Roberts views the tight division race as something of a double-edged sword.

“I think you can look at it both ways,” Roberts said. “Being in a real pennant race, I think brings out the [best in] individuals, in teams, I think. The other side of the coin is, you don’t have the luxury of resting guys or kind of red-lining certain guys because every game is even more magnified. That’s not necessarily a good thing. … But you play this game for competition, and we’re in a competition for the next month.”

Short hops

The jammed middle finger on Freddie Freeman’s throwing hand, injured when he was struck by a sixth-inning ground ball Saturday night, worsened Sunday, preventing the first baseman from playing against the Cardinals, the first time in his three years with the Dodgers he has missed a game because of injury. Freeman, who is listed as day to day, will undergo a CT scan on Monday. Though he could not grip a bat on Sunday, Roberts said the injury is “not too concerning at this point in time.” Muncy took some ground balls with triple-A Oklahoma City on Sunday in case he is needed to fill in for Freeman this week. … The Dodgers called up right-hander Ben Casparious from triple A to add some length to the bullpen. Right-hander Brent Honeywell was designated for assignment.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.