There’s a reason October has its own language. October doesn’t care about run differentials or streaks. It shrinks the game to three imperatives: attack, adjust, finish. For a decade, the Dodgers have operated in that space — sometimes tripped by it, more often defined by it. What they just showed by dispatching the Phillies is the clearest version of their playoff identity in years: a roster engineered not merely to post gaudy 162-game totals, but to tilt short-series margins with relentless star power and rotation depth that actually plays when the volume is turned all the way up.
This wasn’t about chasing 100 wins to satisfy a narrative.