According to Dave Roberts, Wednesday was a day for calm, not concern.

The Dodgers manager wasn’t looking forward to his players making impassioned speeches, even after Tuesday’s painful loss that ended with a triple play.

He didn’t set the locker room on fire or hold an impromptu meeting at the end of the season, even though the team’s division leader had disappeared like snow in the sun.

Instead, in the second act of the crucial three-game series against the San Diego Padres, Roberts simply desired a solid, complete performance from his injury-plagued but ever-resilient team.

“We play 162 games, and there are a lot of heartbreaking games,” Roberts said. “And the thing about baseball players, you have to come back and win the next day.”

And that’s exactly what the Dodgers did, thanks in part to Shohei Ohtani.

Wednesday’s 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres may not have clinched the National League West crown. But with four games remaining in the regular season and the Dodgers’ division lead extended to three games, they can get the champagne and plastic wrap ready.

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At a time when their position at the top of the standings was again shaky, the Dodgers managed to keep their season stable again.

This time it was mainly thanks to Ohtani.

In the final confirmation of his MVP candidacy, the slugger went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, two RBIs and his 56th stolen base of the season. He played a key role in each of the team’s three scoring rallies, including a go-ahead single in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie.

Struggling first baseman Freddie Freeman also showed some life at the plate, with two hits. Gavin Lux broke a four-for-37 skid with an RBI single in the fourth, before adding another single in the eighth.

And while starting pitcher Jack Flaherty threw five innings and three runs in his final preparation for the playoffs, the Dodgers’ bullpen was stellar the rest of the way. They went four innings without scoring a run, giving up just three hits and no hits.

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The Dodgers now enter the final game of the series on Thursday with a chance to do something they haven’t done since 2018: celebrate a division-deciding win at home.

But even if that doesn’t happen, they’ll enter the final weekend of the season with a two-game lead. That seems like a comfortable lead, as they travel to Colorado to take on the last-place Rockies in the final round of the regular season.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.