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Orange County football standings through games of Saturday, Sept. 30:

LOS ANGELES – Buttom’s up, Dodger fans.

You have something to celebrate! A playoff win.

Saturday’s 7-5 victory over the San Diego Padres in Game 1 of the National League Division Series snapped a six-game playoff losing streak and put the Dodgers back in the postseason win column for the first time since Oct. 11, 2022.

For that, you can thank Shohei Ohtani. And Will Smith, Gavin Lux, Tommy Edman and Miguel Rojas.

Together, those guys at the bottom of the Dodgers’ order ran the club’s most effective play: Put runners on base for Ohtani, L.A.’s leadoff man.

“Everybody really contributed today,” said Ohtani, the Dodgers’ $700 million 50/50 man, who went 2 for 5, scored twice and drove in three runs on a second-inning screamer into the right-field pavilion.

The runners he drove in: No. 6 hitter Smith (who’d walked) and No. 7 Lux (who’d singled).

“The entire team,” Ohtani stressed, “including the bullpen, especially.”

And sure, Shohei, the Dodgers’ relay team of relievers deserve praise for keeping the Padres’ potent offense off the board from the fourth inning on.

Everyone would be having a much different conversation – like, “Can you believe the Dodgers are paying Yoshinobu Yamamoto $325 million to give up five earned runs in three innings in his first playoff start? In this economy?!’ – if the Dodgers pitchers behind him hadn’t penned such a successful response.

And also if the bottom of the order hadn’t come through at the plate like they did, combining to score four of the Dodgers’ runs and reaching base in 6 of their 16 plate appearances.

It felt like a game that was, in recent NBA parlance, akin to “The Lonnie Walker Game,” or the Lakers’ Game 4 win against the Golden State Warriors a couple years ago, when a reserve guard exploded for 15 incredibly meaningful fourth-quarter points to help the Lakers take a 3-1 lead in their second-round Western Conference playoff series.

Great teams don’t waste those sorts of efforts, those clutch and necessary performances from unlikely heroes. Those big games that take some pressure off of the superstars who carry so much of the burden at the top of the order.

To beat San Diego on Saturday, the Dodgers didn’t need fireworks from Mookie Betts, who went 0-2 but was gifted a pair of intentional walks, including a curious free pass with the count 2-and-2.

They didn’t need Freddie Freeman to strain his sprained ankle any more than he already was in a willful 2-for-5 outing.

Because it was Smith, Lux, Edman and Rojas applying the pressure.

They worked Padres starter Dylan Cease for 22 pitches before Ohtani came up in the second inning. And Edman caught the Padres unaware with a bunt single in the fourth, when he’d scored on a wild pitch. And Lux did it in the field too, snagging Luis Arráez’s liner at second base to help the Dodgers preserve a two-run lead in the top of the ninth.

“When you see a guy like (starting pitcher Dylan) Cease, who has really big stuff, to be able to grind at-bats, that’s the hard part,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “To be able to take walks, we did that all night. Got the pitch count up, got him out of the game, got looks at some guys – that’s a credit to our guys.”

And maybe we ought to give those guys deep in the order more credit?

If those guys at the bottom of the order can keep feeding, can keep feasting, well … all the Dodgers’ starting pitching problems wouldn’t seem quite so stark. And all their stressing and pressing star hitters won’t have to set the tone, but just join in on the fun.

Talk about upside.

LOS ANGELES — Everyone knew that starting pitching might be the Dodgers weakness this October, but they expected to be able to overcome any starter issues with a deep bullpen.

So far, so good.

After starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto got knocked around to the tune of five runs in three innings, five Dodgers relievers shut down the Padres over the next six innings in their 7-5 victory in Game 1 of the Division Series on Saturday night.

The relievers gave up just two hits to a lineup that had five hits in the first three innings against Yamamoto.

“The whole bullpen pitched really well,” catcher Will Smith said. “That’s why we won the game.”

This was a formula the Dodgers figured they might need to use, based on the way the regular season went. The Dodgers ranked fourth in the majors with a 3.53 bullpen ERA, which helped them manage the best record in the majors despite their rotation having a 4.23 ERA, which ranked 19th.

The Dodgers trailed, 5-3, when Yamamoto threw his final pitch of the night in the third inning. Then the bullpen door began to swing open. Only one reliever was ineffective, and his brief hiccup wasn’t costly because the subsequent reliever bailed him out.

Right-hander Ryan Brasier picked up the first five outs, working around a double. Left-hander Alex Vesia then retired all three hitters he faced. Right-hander Evan Phillips retired four straight.

The only weak link in the chain was right-hander Michael Kopech, who has been practically unhittable for most of the time since the Dodgers got him in a deadline deal from the Chicago White Sox. Kopech entered in the eighth with a two-run lead and walked two of the three batters he faced, Manny Machado and Jackson Merrill.

Right-hander Blake Treinen rescued him.

Treinen entered, with the potential tying run on base, and he got Xander Bogaerts on a popup into shallow left — with shortstop Miguel Rojas making a nice over the shoulder catch — and then he struck out Jake Cronenworth.

Treinen remained in the game to work the ninth, pitching around a single and a walk. He struck out Machado to end it.

Treinen had just one save in 50 games during the regular season, and he never recorded more than four outs. His use in the ninth on Saturday was a demonstration of the Dodgers’ bullpen versatility as they’ve used different relievers to finish games since Phillips struggled earlier this season.

“Super proud,” Phillips said. “I think we take a lot of pride in being available for our team like that. We’ve had situations throughout this season and in previous seasons where we’ve been asked to take on a big workload. And I think we take a lot of pride in preparing our bodies and taking a plan out there to get guys out. We just pass it on, one to another. That tells the story the most about how the ‘pen is. We don’t care what inning it is. Up, down however many runs, just pass the torch to the next guy, and just continue to try to stack up those outs and give our offense, which is fantastic, a chance to bounce back and then keep us in the game.”

The bullpen was particularly good at handling more “up-downs” than usual. Typically, relievers start with a clean inning and pitch only that inning, but four of the five relievers the Dodgers used were asked to finish one inning, sit down, and then come back to work a part of the next inning.

“We haven’t done a lot of that this year,” Treinen said. “Sometimes we have for matchups, but the way it was shaping up, it was just going to kind of be, get your guy, get a couple other guys. The next guy comes in and gets the last out, rolls to the next inning. It is what it is. I don’t really put too much thought into it, man.”

Phillips said the relievers typically have an idea going into the game which pocket of hitters they are likely to face, so it’s not as much of a jumble as it may seem.

“A lot of it’s match-up based for what stretch of hitters we’re going to be facing that night,” Phillips said. “When’s the last time we faced those guys, and how tuned in are those hitters to us. Things like that all go into it. That’s really well communicated here. We’re given plenty of notice before the game, before the series, whatever it may be, to basically be ready for whatever situation we’re called upon.”

“Once the phone rings, we just lock it in, and we just pay attention to what we’re supposed to do,” Treinen said. “And I think that’s a beautiful thing. There’s no egos. There’s no, Why am I here? Why am I not there? When our name is called, we get our lanes, we go execute. We’re a tight knit group that’s very fortunate to have a lot of guys that are pulling on the same rope. I don’t think every team is that way. I’m sure there’s a lot of teams that are still that way, but this organization does a good job putting good pieces together.”

CARSON — The key to any successful season is your play at home.

In recent years, the Galaxy have struggled at home, including last season’s 6-5-6 record.

This season, opponents haven’t been treated friendly at Dignity Health Sports Park and that continued in Saturday’s final home game of the regular season.

Dejan Joveljic’s 76th minute goal helped the Galaxy (19-7-7, 64 points) hold off a pestering Austin FC side for a 2-1 win in front of a sellout crowd of 26,574.

The win is the Galaxy’s 13th at home, giving them a regular-season home record of 13-1-3. The only loss came to LAFC at the Rose Bowl. The Galaxy earned 42 points at home this season.

“There was great energy in the stadium and it shows the amount of support this group has had,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney said. “They rode it. The fans bring energy and the players are running, creating goal-scoring chances and it feeds into it.”

The celebration was held off due a 12-minute stoppage period that the teams had to play due to a hectic second half, that saw bodies hitting the floor as if it was a MMA fight.

Austin pushed for the equalizer during the marathon-stoppage time. In the seventh minute, Jon Gallagher got behind the Galaxy and popped in a header for the potential game-tying goal, but the linesman raised his flag for offside.

In 10th minute of stoppage time, Austin FC earned a free kick, that Alex Ring sent directly toward Galaxy goalkeeper John McCarthy, who wasted a little bit of time and eventually referee Ted Unkel blew the whistle.

Even later into stoppage, a near melee erupted as an Austin FC player took out Riqui Puig. Players from both sides had to be separated. The final card count was high: the Galaxy were assessed six yellow cards, Austin FC four and one red card.

“It was chippy, they were fighting for their life, I think we could have put the game away early, but I’m glad how the whole team rallied,” defender John Nelson said. “It was chippy, but I think it was good to prepare us for the playoffs. Guys were backing each other up.”

Joveljic’s goal snapped a 1-1 tie after Austin FC has tied the game in the 55th minute on Sebastian Driussi’s goal.

Joveljic’s goal could be one of the biggest this season because it led to the Galaxy restoring their six-point lead ahead of second-place LAFC in the Western Conference.

LAFC has two games remaining, including next Sunday during the international break. The Galaxy has one game remaining and that’s on Decision Day, the final day of the regular season on the road against the Houston Dynamo.

The last thing the Galaxy has to clinch is their seeding in the Western Conference playoffs. There were possibilities that could have seen them clinch the No. 1 spot Saturday. However, LAFC defeated Sporting Kansas City to move to 58 points. The Galaxy could likely clinch the top seed after LAFC’s game against the Vancouver Whitecaps next Sunday.

Gabriel Pec opened the scoring in the 31st minute with his 15th goal of the season. Riqui Puig was credited with the assist, switching the ball to the right to Pec, who beat his defender, then went far post, alluding Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver.

The game went into halftime with the Galaxy leading 1-0.

“Today is a moment we have to grow from,” Vanney said. The playoffs are going to be another test for us, next we have Houston and that’s an important game seeing where things are at.”