CINCINNATI –– There was no champagne shower. No dogpile on the mound. No raucous celebration of what, for most other clubs, would be a triumphant accomplishment.

Instead, on the day the Dodgers officially clinched a playoff berth for a 14th-straight season, they simply strolled out of the dugout for routine high-fives on the field in the wake of a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds.

Getting to the playoffs, after all, was never the goal for the two-time defending champions.

And over the rest of the regular season, there is more work to do to bolster their three-peat bid.

First and foremost is locking up the National League West division, something the Dodgers could do this week with their magic number now down to three.

While that will come with a more formal clubhouse party, the even bigger priority is securing a top-two NL playoff seed and a bye through the best-of-three wild card round to open the playoffs.

Though the club navigated that elongated path last year, an extra week of rest will be paramount for the team now.

Already, the Dodgers’ lineup has been without Shohei Ohtani, Andy Pages and Dalton Rushing on the injured list. This week brought renewed uncertainty to the health status of Freddie Freeman (who missed his third game in the last week Monday with a right knee injury) and Miguel Rojas (who aggravated a shoulder injury on a diving play Sunday, but was able to play through soreness on Monday).

On the pitching side, more questions abound, especially after breakout right-handed reliever Edgardo Henriquez hit the injured list on Monday with a back problem, and $69 million closer Edwin Díaz suffered a five-run implosion during a triple-A rehab outing this weekend that put his chances of making the playoff roster in doubt.

“I mean, it’s always helpful in the sense of giving your guys a break to reset,” manager Dave Roberts said when asked of the importance of getting a first-round bye this year. “But given all the tax and where our guys are health-wise, to get that week would be huge. So we still got to play well to finish out the season to get to that point.”

Monday was a positive step in that direction, at least, with the Dodgers rebounding from a frustrating series defeat in Miami over the weekend.

Tarik Skubal turned in his best (and first scoreless) start with the club since arriving at the trade deadline, blanking the Reds over seven dominant innings with only three hits allowed and nine strikeouts.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Kyle Tucker continued his slow, but increasingly steady, late-season turnaround by opening the scoring with a solo home run in the second, his fourth long ball in the last 10 games.

Teoscar Hernández kept up his resurgent September performance by following a walk from Tucker in the fourth with a two-run blast to give the Dodgers some breathing room.

As a result, the Dodgers remained three games clear in the loss column of the Atlanta Braves, the team closest on their heels for the NL’s No. 2 seed.

They also, of course, wrapped up a playoff bid that –– while expected –– still gave them something to celebrate, checking one item off their to-do list in search of another World Series title.