Column: It might be World Series or bust for Don Mattingly

There was joyous laughter on the field. There was muted terseness in the dugout.

The Dodgers’ players swung bats, chased fungoes and bounced around like kids on monkey bars. The Dodgers’ manager answered questions while bracing his back like a man on trial.

The disparate scenes at the Dodgers’ first postseason workout Tuesday were a fitting metaphor for their upcoming playoff run, which begins Friday night at Dodger Stadium with the opener of the National League division series against the New York Mets.

Dodgers players will be mostly playing for legacy and love.

Their manager will be managing for his job.

Nobody is going to strip the jersey from Clayton Kershaw if he still can’t beat the St. Louis Cardinals, or Adrian Gonzalez if he bats .188 in the first round again, or the kid Corey Seager if he suddenly acts like a kid.

Mattingly has led the Dodgers to three consecutive NL West championships, but the guess here is that if he can’t lead this team to a World Series his locker will be empty by Halloween.

Somebody is going to have to take the fall if baseball’s richest team still can’t find the Fall Classic after 27 years of classic falls, and Mattingly is the one wearing the target.

Management demoted Ned Colletti, traded Matt Kemp, let Hanley Ramirez walk. The Dodgers have rid themselves of every perceived problem from the previous two seasons, and now, if they fail again to survive two rounds of the tournament, it would figure to be Mattingly’s turn.

“I haven’t even thought about that,� Mattingly said when that speculation was posed to him last weekend. “I don’t hear anything about that stuff. I’m just trying to win a championship.�

His shock is backed by statistics. His .551 winning percentage in five seasons is better than any Dodgers manager since Walter Alston. He is the only manager in franchise history to lead a team to three consecutive postseason appearances.

But his shock is betrayed by what has become, in the current Dodgers climate, the most important number of all. Of the four Dodgers managers who have managed at least 10 postseason games in the last 60 years, Mattingly is the only one with a losing record, going 6-8 while making several excruciatingly maddening decisions along the way.

That target on his back grows clearer when you consider that Mattingly was not hired by new Dodgers baseball boss Andrew Friedman. That target takes even more shape if you recall Mattingly is working with his second bench coach, after the Dodgers fired his buddy Trey Hillman two seasons ago.

The target becomes indelible when you know Mattingly next season would be entering a lame-duck final year of his contract, a situation that caused him to publicly protest two years ago before the Dodgers gave him a new contract.

Remember what he said at that awkward news conference after the 2013 season when he was faced with managing under a one-year deal?

“With the payroll and the guys that you have, it puts you in a tough spot in the clubhouse,� Mattingly said at the time. “Really, what it does, it puts me in a spot where everything I do is questioned because I’m basically trying out or auditioning.�

The Dodgers know they probably have to either give Mattingly a contract extension or fire him. All or nothing.

World Series appearance or bust? It sure seems that way.

“This is what you play for,� Mattingly said of the postseason Tuesday during an uncharacteristically stilted workout interview in front of a pressing media horde. “Trying to see who shines, who steps up.�

He could have easily been speaking about himself. Every issue his detractors scream about during the regular season — his game strategy and bullpen use — has been magnified by decisions in each of the Dodgers’ series losses to the Cardinals.

There was his decision last year to bring in little-used Scott Elbert in Game 3 of the NLDS. Double, bunt, home run, game. In four pitches, Elbert and the Dodgers were done. There was also his decision to pinch-run for Gonzalez as he stood on first base in the eighth inning of the opener of the 2013 NL Championship Series. With Gonzalez’s bat gone, the Dodgers were eventually shut down during a 13-inning loss. And, of course, some folks are still howling about his decision both years to repeatedly leave Kershaw wilting on the mound.

Is this sort of microscopic examination fair? Especially when it rarely happens during the regular season? Especially when today’s managers are judged as much for their clubhouse style — Mattingly’s strength — as their dugout decisions?

“It’s about as unfair as it gets,� said Dodgers third base coach Ron Roenicke, who managed in one postseason during four-plus years with the Milwaukee Brewers. “You can make those moves all season and that’s what works, but when you get to postseason, even if it works, you’re going to be questioned on it, and it drives you crazy.�

It’s reality everywhere: Just ask Kansas City Royals Manager Ned Yost, who last season was vilified all the way to the World Series.

Mattingly’s reality is even more apparent considering he’s managing a team that hasn’t been to a World Series since 1988.

The new Dodgers administration, which should be held to the same high standards that apply to Mattingly, has offered nothing but full public support for the manager. But with the highest payroll in baseball, and after a season filled with countless moves, the bosses are clearly going to expect results.

“He’s handled some of the strategic challenges of our roster very well, and I expect that to continue into the postseason,� General Manager Farhan Zaidi said. “We all have faith that he’s going to push the right buttons and the game is going to be answered on the field.�

It is well known that Mattingly played in one postseason series in his 14-year New York Yankees career. It was in his final season. In that five-game loss to the Seattle Mariners in 1995, he batted .417. with an OPS of 1.148.

Yep, with stakes high, he knows how to shine, he knows how to step up. He must do it again. Do it now. Do it like his job depends on it.

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Twitter: @billplaschke