This was the headline in early September:

For struggling Dodgers, another spoiled chance and a repetitive message: ‘It’s got to get better’

That was six weeks ago, and already those words seem sent from another time and place. Surely not these Los Angeles Dodgers. Not the team of superstars that just bullied its way to a National League pennant. The Dodgers have taken down the surging Cincinnati Reds, the loaded Philadelphia Phillies, and the best-in-baseball Milwaukee Brewers. They’ve lost just one playoff game in the process. On paper and on the field, they look like a juggernaut.

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This team was struggling?

For much of the regular season, the narrative around the Dodgers was one of profound disappointment. They were good, but not nearly the unstoppable force their roster, payroll and track record suggested.

So how did a team that underperformed for six months become a relentless steamroller when it mattered most? It started a year ago and has been quietly coming together ever since.

Step 1 — Start with a championship lineup

Won their second World Series in five years last October

Ten players have taken at least eight at-bats for the Dodgers this postseason, and all 10 were with the team last October, too. Four were with the Dodgers when they won in 2020. Despite the in-season focus on the Dodgers’ flaws, it was not as if the entire roster was falling apart. From April 28 to the end of the season, the Dodgers played only two games in which they didn’t have at least a share of first place.

Shohei Ohtani is a favorite to win his third straight MVP award, first baseman Freddie Freeman was top 10 in baseball in wRC+, Will Smith was the best-hitting catcher in the National League, and Mookie Betts — the converted right fielder — led the Major Leagues in Defensive Runs Saved at shortstop and ranked eighth in Outs Above Average, earning a Gold Glove nomination.

Massive expectations didn’t come out of nowhere. The Dodgers were loaded with talent from the beginning.

Step 2 — Rebuild the pitching staff

Signed SP