Playoff Entry: NL West champions.

Manager: Dave Roberts (fifth season).

Projected Rotation: RHP Walker Buehler (1-0, 3.44 ERA, 42 Ks), LHP Clayton Kershaw (6-2, 2.16, 62 Ks), RHP Tony Gonsolin (2-2, 2.31, 46 Ks) or RHP Dustin May (3-1, 2.57, 44 Ks) or LHP Julio Urías (3-0, 3.27, 45 Ks).

Top Hitters: SS Corey Seager (.307, 15 HRs, 41 RBIs, 38 runs, 12 doubles, .943 OPS), RF Mookie Betts (.292, 16, 39, 47 runs, 10 SBs, .928 OPS), C Will Smith (.289, 8, 25, .980 OPS), LF AJ Pollock (.276, 16, 34, .881 OPS), 3B Justin Turner (.307, 4, 23, .860 OPS), CF Cody Bellinger (.239, 12, 30, .789 OPS).

Top Relievers: RHP Kenley Jansen (3-1, 3.33 ERA, 11 saves), RHP Blake Treinen (3-3, 3.86, 1 save), RHP Joe Kelly (0-0, 1.80), RHP Pedro Báez (0-0, 3.18, 2 saves), RHP Brusdar Graterol (1-2, 3.09), RHP Dylan Floro (3-0, 2.59).

Series Summary: The Dodgers won their eighth straight NL West title with baseball’s best record but are still looking for their first World Series championship since 1988. They made back-to-back World Series appearances in 2017 (lost to Houston in seven games) and 2018 (lost to Boston with Betts on the Red Sox roster). They won a franchise-record 106 games last year and didn’t make it out of the Division Series. … The Dodgers were in first place for much of the shortened season and pulled away from the upstart Padres to win the division by six games. Bellinger, the reigning NL MVP, Max Muncy (.192) and Joc Pederson (.190) will be looking to bust out of their season-long slumps, although the offense has received an unexpected boost from Pollock, Smith and Chris Taylor (.270). Turner’s exploits in October have made him one of the franchise’s greatest postseason performers, but he’s been hobbled of late. He was on the injured list with a strained hamstring in September and tweaked his thumb on the last weekend of the season. … One of the Dodgers’ biggest weapons is their depth. They move players in and out of multiple positions frequently — Betts even started at second base. Roberts has so many options at his disposal that even someone who has a breakout game could be sat down in favor of someone else. Keep an eye on Kershaw, considered by many the greatest pitcher of his generation — but he often struggles in the playoffs. He’s 9-11 with a 4.43 ERA in the postseason and lost his lone start in last year’s NLDS. The three-time Cy Young Award winner can’t afford a letdown in the short wild-card round.