Column: Dodgers don’t have to play through injuries as they get set up for a postseason run

Reporting from San Diego —  Clayton Kershaw made occasional on-field appearances during the five-plus weeks he was on the disabled list, sprinting toward rookie Kyle Farmer one day, leaping into the arms of Yasiel Puig on another.

How Kershaw celebrated some of the Dodgers’ walk-off victories in recent weeks was evidence that what he said about his back injury was true: It wasn’t nearly as severe as the setback he encountered last year.

“We slow-played it,” manager Dave Roberts acknowledged Friday afternoon in the hours leading up to Kershaw’s return.

The benefits of doing so were obvious that evening in a 1-0 victory over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park, where Kershaw fired six scoreless innings, retiring 12 consecutive batters after starting the game by allowing an infield single to Manuel Margot.

Kershaw threw 70 pitches, five fewer than his designated pitch count. He should throw around 90 in his next start.

What the Dodgers did with Kershaw, they also did with Yu Darvish, Alex Wood and Cody Bellinger, and they are now doing with Corey Seager.

With a 16-game lead in the National League West, the Dodgers aren’t beholden to the standings. They can dictate their own timelines.

It’s a special luxury afforded to a special team, and Roberts expects to utilize it as he navigates what could be a tricky month for the World Series favorites.

Major League Baseball has existed for almost a century and a half and there is still no established formula for what teams should do in September to prepare themselves for October. The Chicago Cubs continued smashing opponents over the final month of the regular season last year, while the Kansas City Royals went into the tank the previous year. Both teams went on to win the World Series.

“Every team’s different,” Roberts said. “Every season’s different.”

The Dodgers began Friday on a five-game losing streak, but what did that mean?

“One hard thing is the amount of days off between when the season ends and the postseason starts,” third baseman Justin Turner said. “I think you have like five days off, if you’re not a wild-card team. You could look at it either way. You don’t want to lose 20 games in a row going into the postseason, but you can be hot as hell and have the momentum and have to sit around for five days.”

Roberts would rather enter the playoffs with momentum, which is why he will devote the next couple of weeks to improving his players’ health and the two weeks after that to making them sharp.

The Dodgers are in the early stages of a 16-day stretch in which they will play 17 games, including a doubleheader Saturday at Petco Park. Roberts will be particularly mindful of his players’ workloads.

So when Darvish felt discomfort in his lower back last month, the Dodgers placed him on the DL and used that period to work on problems with his delivery. When Wood had pain in his chest area, the Dodgers moved him to the DL too.

Darvish will pitch in the second game today, Wood in the series finale Sunday.

Bellinger sustained a mild ankle sprain last month and the Dodgers didn’t rush him back. They didn’t have to.

Now, it’s Seager who is on the mend. Sidelined with inflammation in his right elbow, the All-Star shortstop isn’t likely to start throwing until Monday.

Perhaps the plan contributed to the season-long five-game losing streak that ended Friday. Turner and closer Kenley Jansen weren’t concerned, as they found comfort in the details.

“We have to stay with the same mind-set, to expect to win every day,” Jansen said. “We’ve had that mind-set lately. It just hasn’t gone our way. Nothing has changed.”

Jansen pointed to how the Dodgers nearly came back and won in some of their recent defeats; their blowout loss to Arizona on Thursday was an exception.

Patience isn’t one of Kershaw’s virtues, and the three-time Cy Young Award winner said his stay on the DL “felt like a long time.”

He also said he understood the organization’s thinking. The Dodgers aren’t playing to win the NL West. They are playing to win the World Series.

dylan.hernandez@latimes.com

Follow Dylan Hernandez on Twitter @dylanohernandez