LOS ANGELES — When they’re rolling like this, there is no catching these Los Angeles Dodgers. During an underwhelming regular season, it felt at times like a video game, as if the Dodgers were simulating to the end of October.

But the juggernaut is here, right on time. The Dodgers have romped through this postseason like they were expected to do from March through September by winning eight of their nine games.

They beat the Brewers 3-1 in Game 3 on Thursday to go up 3-0 in this NLCS. They are one win away from becoming the second reigning champion in 23 years to punch a return ticket to the World Series.

“They’re battle tested, and they know that I’ve never lost faith in them,” manager Dave Roberts said. “They’ve never lost confidence in each other. So to see what they’re doing right now, I’m not surprised.”

The Dodgers have done it while fielding one of the best postseason rotations ever assembled. Shohei Ohtani, the likely MVP, has been quiet for almost all of the playoffs, but it has hardly mattered. Their converted shortstop, Mookie Betts, is playing like the Gold Glove finalist he is, making every play from the fundamental to the spectacular. Against Milwaukee, the Dodgers have absorbed the full-court press and returned the favor. One team looks broken, and it’s not Los Angeles.

“We’re just playing really good baseball,” Will Smith said.

Tyler Glasnow delivered the latest strong start for a Dodgers’ rotation that has a 1.54 ERA this postseason. (Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)

When you have the game’s most talented and expensive roster clicking, that’s what you’ll get. The Dodgers did not win 120 games or break the sport as people thought they would with their half-billion-dollar payroll. They went 93-69, which was solid but unspectacular. None of that will matter if the Dodgers finish off 13 wins in October.

“We’ve been here,” Max Muncy said. “We know what it takes.”

“(Playing) 162 games is a long season,” Alex Vesia said. “Things go our way, things don’t. But it is a breath of fresh air when October rolls around.”

Thursday was just the latest example of why they are on the brink of a return to the Fall Classic. Tyler Glasnow did not threaten to go the distance, as Blake Snell and Yoshinobu Yamamoto did while twirling gems in the first two games of this series. But Glasnow still kept the line moving.

The Dodgers have allowed just three runs this series, with Glasnow tossing 5 2/3 innings before giving way to a bullpen that delivered 10 effective outs. The Dodgers outlasted the firebolt that was “The Miz,” waiting out Brewers rookie Jacob Misiorowski until after the shadows crept out of sight before punching through the final go-ahead blow. Tommy Edman broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth with an RBI single.

The Dodgers did not succumb to the pressure the Brewers thrive on generating. They’ve hardly given them a chance.

One opportunity presented itself in the second inning, before Glasnow could find a rhythm for his long-levered delivery. Caleb Durbin flipped a 3-2 pitch on his fists into left field that turned into a triple when Kiké Hernández dove and couldn’t come up with it. Jake Bauers followed with a single past a drawn-in infield, the first counterpunch the Brewers have been able to land in a series in which they’ve held a lead after just one inning.

There, the Brewers’ havoc seemed to start. Bauers swiped second. When Glasnow tried to pick Bauers off second base, he sailed his throw into the outfield and put the go-ahead run within 90 feet of scoring with just one out.

The Dodgers brought the infield in again. Joey Ortiz flung out his bat and hit a soft grounder to Muncy’s left at third base. The veteran of 71 postseason games slid to his left to field it, coolly executing a fundamental throw home to nab Bauers and keep the game tied, 1-1.

It’s the closest the Brewers would come to scoring the rest of the night.

“That was the play of the game, for sure,” Glasnow said.

Glasnow steadied himself from there, retiring 12 of his last 14 batters and not allowing the Brewers a chance to stretch their legs. He’s more than done his part for a Dodgers rotation that has put up a 1.54 ERA in 58 1/3 innings this postseason.

“I really have never seen anything like it before,” Edman said. “Four aces in our playoff rotation.”

Muncy’s stellar defensive play bought time for the Dodgers to figure out Misiorowski, whose velocity was fading as he threw his most innings and pitches in nearly a month. The Dodgers tested the rookie, waiting for the pitch clock to tick down as long as possible without a violation before stepping into the box in the sixth inning.

Misiorowski’s fastball touched 102.5 mph, but the Dodgers found cracks. Will Smith lined a hanging slider for a single. Freddie Freeman toyed with Misiorowski’s timing before the right-hander missed badly with a 97.9 mph fastball to walk Freeman. Edman struck the knockout blow to get him out of the game, staying back long enough to lift a slider into the outfield and put the Dodgers up, 2-1.

This time, the Brewers broke. Abner Uribe, who has never allowed a stolen base in his big-league career and appeared unaware that Edman’s nagging right ankle has kept him from running much, tried to pick Edman off first. He spiked the throw, a sinker that bounced before first base and allowed Freeman to score another insurance run.

Milwaukee has fashioned itself as a scrappy underdog. The Brewers’ grasp on the little things has been their separator. But the Dodgers have fielded better players who fit that profile because they’re better at executing, too.

“That’s kind of what they thrive on, is creating havoc, creating chaos on the infield,” Muncy said. “They have a lot of speedsters, they steal a lot of bags and they have a lot of infield hits. Just trying to play as clean of baseball as we can, it’s been the difference.”

Experience helps, particularly when you have your opponent outmanned.

“We have guys who have the slow heartbeat, and that’s kind of what makes us successful in the postseason,” Edman said. “Nobody gets too excited, nobody gets too up, too down. They just kind of do a good job of staying in the moment. And I think that rubs off on each other.”

Vesia finished off the sixth with a zero before the Dodgers took their 3-1 lead. A line of Vesia, Blake Treinen, Anthony Banda and finally Roki Sasaki recorded the last few outs while allowing just one runner, with Sasaki following up a shaky Game 1 performance with a perfect ninth.

It was perfect because the Dodgers’ talent shone through again. Andrew Vaughn struck a groundball that went to Betts’ right at shortstop to lead off the ninth. Rather than simply trying to get to the ball and keep it in the infield, Betts grabbed it and left his feet as he threw. It was a one-hop strike to Freeman at first for the first out.

“I kind of just blacked out,” Betts said. He erupted, raising a single finger in the air. One away in the inning. One more game to get the Dodgers back in the World Series.

The Dodgers will have a chance to end Friday night with another celebration. This, despite what has still gone wrong. Their offense hasn’t quite exploded like they’d like. Ohtani led off the Dodgers’ first inning with a triple and scored a run, but he is still amid a 4-for-33 slump that has featured 14 strikeouts.

“It’s kind of like the Bulls playing without Michael Jordan sometimes,” Betts said. “So we get him going, and then it’s really going to be hard to beat.”

The thing about those Bulls: They launched a dynasty. The Dodgers are five wins away from establishing just that, and their NLCS has been a clinic in showing why they’re in this spot.