LOS ANGELES -- The raucous champagne celebration will come another day. On Friday night, the Dodgers raised their glasses in a celebratory toast that was twofold.
Firstly, in honor of Clayton Kershaw, who made an emotional final regular-season start at Dodger Stadium. Secondly, to celebrate their 13th straight trip to the postseason.
On a night to remember for Kershaw, back-to-back jacks from Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts propelled the Dodgers to a 6-3 win over the Giants. It was a 1-2 punch that punched Los Angeles' ticket to the postseason -- although technically, the Dodgers didn't need a victory to make their return to playoff baseball official.
They needed either a win or a D-backs loss to the Phillies to clinch a berth, and Arizona fell before final out at Dodger Stadium.
"I wanted to make sure that we raised a glass to Clayton on this day, his career," manager Dave Roberts said. "And then kind of acknowledge what we've accomplished this year to get to the postseason. And that was about it. We understand that there's still a long way to go."
The reigning World Series champions are one step closer to defending their title. No team has repeated as champions in a quarter century, since the Yankees won three in a row from 1998-2000.
“It feels great," Betts said. "It’s the reason why we play. … But we’ve still got to win the division, so we still have something to play for.”
While no trip to the postseason can be taken for granted, getting there is an expectation for the Dodgers. Their sights are set on winning the NL West for the 12th time in the past 13 seasons, and they inched toward that goal by extending their lead over the Padres to four games.
A half-inning after Kershaw walked off the mound at Dodger Stadium for the final time in the regular season, receiving embrace after embrace from his teammates and an outpouring of love from the home faithful, the Dodgers rallied to take the lead for the first time all night.
With two outs and two on in the fifth inning, Ohtani drove a fastball from Giants starter Robbie Ray into the left-field corner. The go-ahead three-run shot was his 52nd homer of the season, hit on the one-year anniversary of his monster game that created the 50-50 club.
The big blast -- and even bigger bat flip -- from Ohtani brought the energy up, but Dodger Stadium was really rocking after Betts went back to back, mashing his 20th homer of the year to left-center to chase Ray from the game.
"That Shohei at-bat, I think that surprised Robbie as well," Roberts said, "because I thought it was a pretty good pitch."
From there, the night of celebration morphed from one centered around Kershaw to one that encompassed what the Dodgers have accomplished this season. But it ultimately goes back to the veteran left-hander, the only one who has been around for the past 13 years -- and before that, when playing in October was even less of a guarantee.
"I’m so grateful I’ve gotten to be here that long," Kershaw said. "We’ve had a lot of great teams throughout the years, had a lot of great people come through those doors. The Dodgers' culture has been established long before me, and it’ll be established long after I’m gone.
"That’s the cruel thing about baseball, is that your career will be gone in an instant and the game keeps going, but that’s also the beautiful thing about it, too, is that this game doesn’t need anybody. I’m so grateful I got to be a small part of Dodger history, for as long as I’ve been here. We’ve had some amazing groups along the way. This one’s pretty special this year, so I’m excited for what the next five, six weeks can look like."
As far as Kershaw was concerned, his Dodger Stadium send-off -- in the regular season, at least -- was "perfect." But it has crossed his teammates' minds that there may be an even better way to cap his legacy.
Not that the Dodgers need any added motivation.
"We’re not done. We want to win a World Series," rookie catcher Dalton Rushing said. "That’s always the ultimate goal, every year. And especially to allow Kersh to go out on Year 18 with a World Series would be pretty special."