Wild card round? The defending champions<\/a> are nobody\u2019s wild card.<\/p>\n The Cincinnati Reds<\/a>? Human byes.<\/p>\n October came a day early to Chavez Ravine Tuesday and the shouldn\u2019t-be-here Dodgers welcomed it with their annoyance, tying a club postseason record with five homers and dismantling the Reds 10-5 in the opener of a three-game wild-card series that should be mercifully completed by midweek.<\/p>\n The Dodgers finished 10 games ahead of the Reds in the standings, and won five out of six during the regular season, and only got lumped with the pretenders when their bullpen fell apart and they blew a chance at having the week off<\/a>.<\/p>\n If the Dodgers had taken care of business they would have finished with one of the two best records in the National League and would have drawn a first-round bye as they did the previous three seasons. But, no, they finished behind Milwaukee and Philadelphia and so, even though they claimed the National League West title for the 12th time in 13 years, they were forced into a three-games-at-home wild card round.<\/p>\n Hello, Reds.<\/p>\n Good-bye, Reds.<\/p>\n The Dodgers will sweep this series with a win in Game 2 Wednesday, and considering they\u2019re sending ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto<\/a> to the mound, a victory seems likely. In any event, there\u2019s no way the Reds are winning two straight at rollicking Dodger Stadium, so book your attention to Philadelphia this weekend for the beginning of the five-game division series against the Phillies.<\/p>\n The only way the Reds made it this far was because the New York Mets stumbled down the stretch and lost in Miami on the final day of the season. And if Tuesday was any indication, there\u2019s no way the Reds are getting out of here alive.<\/p>\n The Dodgers knocked them backward on the game\u2019s fifth pitch with a scorching home run by Shohei Ohtani<\/a> against Reds ace Hunter Greene, the second consecutive year Ohtani has started the Dodgers postseason with a longball.<\/p>\n The Dodgers knocked them flat two innings later with four runs on homers by last season\u2019s playoff heroes Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> and Tommy Edman<\/a>.<\/p>\n The game was over within its first hour, and the Dodgers were just getting started.<\/p>\n Hern\u00e1ndez later added a second home run and, oh yeah, so did Ohtani, two of last season\u2019s postseason stars who love the moment.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s the clutch gene,\u201d said Dodger Manager Dave Roberts. \u201cI think they\u2019re not afraid to fail. They like the spotlight. And it\u2019s just a really good heartbeat for those guys in those big moments.\u201d<\/p>\n And to think, neither qualified as the game\u2019s hero.<\/p>\n That title belonged to starter Blake Snell<\/a>, who fooled the Reds into quick swings, wild swings, silly swings, and just four hits with nine strikeouts in seven innings. Perhaps just as important, he lasted 91 pitches, allowing Dodger Manager Dave Roberts<\/a> to stay out the dreaded bullpen as long as humanely possible.<\/p>\n \u201cThe deeper that the starters go in the game, one, it means we\u2019re pitching good; but, two, it means you\u2019re giving the bullpen a break and breather,\u201d said Snell. \u201cAnd they get to be 100 percent every time they come out. So it just makes for a different game that favors us.\u201d <\/p>\n Dodgers pitcher Blake Treinen, right, and catcher Ben Rortvedt (47) embrace after Treinine closed out the team\u2019s 10-5 win over the Cincinnati Reds.<\/p>\n (Robert Gauthier \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Of course, Roberts had to eventually crack that left-field door, and disaster very nearly occurred when three Dodger relievers accounted for four walks that led to three eighth-inning runs. But Jack Dreyer<\/a> managed to get two outs with the bases loaded and Blake Treinen<\/a> finished the game by allowing just a bloop single in the ninth.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we don\u2019t feel comfortable using certain guys with an eight-run lead, then we\u2019ve got to think through some things,\u201d said a dismayed Roberts.<\/p>\n It turns out, even the weakest part of this Dodger team was enough to eventually quiet the visitors, who shouldn\u2019t be here too much longer.<\/p>\n It\u2019s almost as if the Reds were intimidated even before the game began, as the Dodgers buried them in their thickest pregame brine.<\/p>\n Ice Cube was on the video board screaming that it\u2019s time for Dodger baseball. Mariachi Joe Kelly was on the mound delighting the roaring crowd with a ceremonial first pitch that appropriately bounced. Keith Williams Jr. was bringing the chills with his usual falsetto-laden national anthem.<\/p>\n Jason Alexander was on the video board begging the fans to cheer louder\u2026 wait a minute. Jason Alexander? Didn\u2019t his Seinfeld character work for the New York Yankees? What was he doing in the heart of Dodgerland? No wonder the fans were ignoring him.<\/p>\n Alexander\u2019s appearance was one of the only mistakes on a night that gave hope that the Dodgers\u2019 late-season steam \u2014 they finished 9-2 and led the league in scoring in the final weeks \u2014 could carry them far past this miserable little first-round dalliance.<\/p>\n \u201cMomentum is real,\u201d Roberts said, later adding, \u201cI think that whether it\u2019s the Rangers find their way into the postseason to then win the World Series or some team finishing hot and remaining hot or in a particular game, I do believe in a postseason game, momentum is real.\u201d<\/p>\n As usual at Chavez Ravine, that momentum built as the game went along, rare empty seats in the stands but full-throated scream from the fans, yet another reason the Dodgers blew it by not getting home-field advantage in later rounds.<\/p>\n \u201cI do love being at home because a lot of times that\u2019s what perpetuates it, the home crowd, the energy,\u201d said Roberts.<\/p>\n But, seriously, about that bullpen\u2026<\/p>\n <\/p>\n