LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers ramp up their bid for back-to-back World Series crowns as Major League Baseball’s (MLB) playoffs get under way on Tuesday.

Aiming to become the first team in 25 years to successfully recapture the MLB championship, the Dodogers open a best-of-three wild card series in Los Angeles against the Cincinnati Reds.

The big-spending defending champions, who defeated the New York Yankees in last year’s World Series, went into the regular season with most pundits predicting a stroll into the playoffs.

But the Californian franchise’s season has not gone entirely to plan. 

Injuries, inconsistent form and a disastrous first season from newly recruited $72 million closer Tanner Scott have meant that the Dodgers will enter the playoffs as third seeds in the National League.

Despite winning the National League West divisional title for the 12th time in 13 seasons, the Dodgers must now navigate the wild card round before a potential best-of-five series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Yet, recent results suggest the Dodgers may be rounding into form at just the right time as Tuesday’s playoffs approach.

The MLB champions have won eight of their last 10 games, and concluded their season with a 3-0 sweep on the road against American League second seeds, the Seattle Mariners.

Most significantly, the Dodgers also have a fully fit starting pitching staff that is the envy of the rest of the league.

Former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell will start on the mound for game one against Cincinnati on Tuesday with the dominant Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting on Tuesday. 

Ohtani, the two-way threat who has excelled after returning to the mound this season while blasting a franchise-record 55 home runs, will pitch in game three if a decider is necessary. 

In the other side of the National League draw, the fifth-seeded San Diego Padres travel to Wrigley Field for a three-game wild card series against the Chicago Cubs.

The winner of that game will advance to a divisional series against the Milwaukee Brewers, the top seeds who finished the regular season with the best record in baseball (97-65).

In the American league meanwhile, all eyes will be on an electrifying wild card showdown between last year’s World Series runners-up, the Yankees, and the rival Boston Red Sox.