Column: One Dodgers great thinks this club has the look of ’88 champions

There are 10 games remaining in the regular season and the Dodgers are closing in on their fourth consecutive division title.

Normally, this is around the time Los Angeles starts to wonder if this will be the Dodgers’ year.

Except this isn’t a typical September.

Around the city, there is a noticeable lack of buzz. Expectations are tempered.

“It’s like our ’88 team,” Orel Hershiser said.

You had the same thought, didn’t you? How could you not?

The Dodgers aren’t supposed to be in this position, similar to how the Hershiser-led 1988 edition of the team wasn’t supposed to win the franchise’s sixth championship.

Remember Vin Scully’s famous call when Kirk Gibson blasted the most dramatic home run in baseball history in the opening game of the World Series that year?

“In the year of the improbable …”

What would be more improbable than the Dodgers winning the World Series this season?

They have a rookie manager in Dave Roberts.

They have a patchwork rotation and Clayton Kershaw remains at less than full strength.

They are in the same league as the Chicago Cubs, who will enter the postseason with more than 100 victories to their name.

The Dodgers don’t look like a World Series team. But Hershiser’s Dodgers didn’t, either.

The Cy Young Award winner and World Series most valuable player in 1988, Hershiser sees something else in common between the teams: How they responded in times of crisis.

Less than two months into the 1988 season, the Dodgers lost shortstop Alfredo Griffin to a broken hand. Pedro Guerrero was traded. Fernando Valenzuela injured his shoulder and was sidelined for the majority of the final two months.

“All the different things, and people keep filling in,” said Hershiser, now a Dodgers broadcaster.

Dave Anderson stepped in at shortstop while Griffin was sidelined. Rookie Tim Belcher became a key part of the rotation.

This season, the Dodgers were struck by a potential calamity in late June, when Kershaw landed on the disabled list. The Dodgers were trailing the San Francisco Giants at the time.

The Dodgers were 14-2 when Kershaw started and 29-35 in their other games.

With contributions from rookie starters Julio Urias, Ross Stripling, Brock Stewart and Jose De Leon, the Dodgers surged past the Giants. In the process, they gained an identity that reminded longtime observers of their team in 1988.

“When they didn’t collapse when Kershaw got hurt and they started winning and playing the game at the level they were capable of playing, that’s when they got that reputation,” Hershiser said.

Hershiser is encouraged by how the Dodgers have improved throughout the season in various areas, from their relief pitching to their offense.

“When the offense was bad in the first half, everybody was like, ‘They don’t grind out at-bats, we’re not having enough quality at-bats,’” Hershiser said.

Hershiser pointed to the Dodgers’ series-opening victory over the Giants on Monday. Trailing by a run, they collected four consecutive hits in the bottom of the ninth inning to claim a 2-1 victory.

“Really good grind-it-out at-bats,” Hershiser said.

Looking ahead to October, Hershiser said he isn’t bothered by the team’s season-long problems against left-handed pitchers. The Dodgers entered Wednesday batting .210 against left-handers, which was the worst mark in baseball.

But Hershiser warned that statistics can be misleading, pointing to how Roberts sometimes used games against left-handed pitchers to give days off to his top left-handed hitters, including Adrian Gonzalez and Corey Seager.

“Now, when the games have significant value, you’ll see a different lineup,” Hershiser said. “I think you’ll see the lineup that just needs to play.”

That was the case Wednesday. Giants left-hander Matt Moore, who came within an out of pitching a no-hitter in his previous visit to Dodger Stadium, failed to record an out in the second inning.

“When players say cliches about, ‘It doesn’t matter what happened in the past when we get to this point in the season,’ it really is true,” Hershiser said.

He cited the Dodgers’ record against the New York Mets in 1988 as an example. The Dodgers dropped 10 of their 11 regular-season games against Mets, only to take the National League Championship Series in seven games.

As for the lack of excitement in L.A. about the current Dodgers, Hershiser attributed that to something other than their ability.

“One of the main reasons people don’t say, ‘This is a great team,’ is because these guys are not household names,” Hershiser said. “We don’t have those Hollywood-buzz guys.”

A World Series will change that. Hershiser knows.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

Twitter: @dylanohernandez