Dodgers figuring out how to score runs without Shohei Ohtani

Super Mario ran into a mushroom. Popeye devoured a can of spinach.

The Dodgers are scoring runs in bunches again.

Say what you want to say about the quality of opposition or small sample size, but the numbers are the numbers.

Ninety-seven runs in their first 17 games of September.

Nineteen home runs in their last nine games, including five in their 8-2 win over the Giants on Friday night.

With a little more than a week remaining in the regular season, the Dodgers are finally starting to resemble the team they were expected to be.

Even without Shohei Ohtani.

The Dodgers doing this with Ohtani on the 15-day injured list is the most promising aspect of their recent offensive resurgence.

Because they will likely have to do something like this to give themselves a chance to complete their three-peat.

Manager Dave Roberts reported Ohtani was “in a good spot” as a result of “a really productive last three to four to five days,” but the reality is that the Dodgers have no credibility on this subject whatsoever.

Remember when general manager Brandon Gomes said earlier this month that Ohtani might pitch again this season? Or when Gomes said “nothing has indicated” Ohtani would have to be placed on the IL the day after a game in which he was shaking his arm and looking as if he was hitting on one leg?

Knowing Ohtani, he will be in the Dodgers’ lineup when the playoffs start, but his presence will be more a reflection of his willpower than of his health. The Dodgers can’t count on him to produce, at least not with any consistency.

Which is why it was important that Mookie Betts homered twice on Friday night.

Or that Max Muncy, Kyle Tucker and Will Smith also went deep.

Or that Ohtani’s replacement at designated hitter, 21-year-old rookie Josue De Paula, scored the run that tied the game in the fifth inning and doubled in the go-ahead run in the sixth.

“It’s a high-floor talent level,” Roberts said. “I just like the way we’re taking better team at-bats and making up for not having Shohei in there.”

The Dodgers have scored an average of 5.71 runs per game this month, an improvement from their average of 4.89 through Aug. 31.

They are doing what Betts previously called on them to do, to build momentum in September that can be taken into October.

“We just gotta keep playing good ball and want to keep going through the end of the season,” Betts said. “We don’t want any letups. We don’t want to try and turn anything on once the postseason starts. We just want to play good ball, and we want that to be our identity.”

Betts has played a major role in that, batting .333 with seven home runs and 23 RBIs over his last 25 games.

He isn’t the only player on a hot streak.

Tucker is batting .438 with five homers and 11 RBIs in his last nine games. Teoscar Hernandez is hitting .362 with three homers, three doubles and a triple this month.

De Paula has shown advanced plate discipline, as he’s registered an on-base percentage of .448 in his first eight major league games. He’s walked eight times in 29 plate appearances and struck out only twice.

“Nothing too different, to be honest,” De Paula said when asked to compare the major leagues to Double- A.

He continued, “I always felt like I was a good hitter. I know these pitchers know how to execute a little bit better and stuff, but I know I’m up for the challenge.”

Roberts said De Paula has played his way into consideration for a spot on the playoff roster. What Roberts didn’t say was that De Paula could be an insurance policy at DH in case Ohtani’s body doesn’t hold up over the postseason.

Roberts has insisted that when Ohtani returns, he will be slotted right back into the leadoff spot, but Betts could give the manager something to think about.

Twice in the last week, Roberts batted Betts at the top of the lineup, and Betts was a combined 5-for-8 in those games.

Of hitting first, Betts said, “It’s fun and kind of feels home. But there’s a guy named Shohei that needs to be up there to get us going.”

Roberts also made no effort to downplay Ohtani’s importance.

“Obviously, we’re a better team with him,” Roberts said. “But it is nice to see that there hasn’t been a drop-off with him not in the lineup.”

The Dodgers can’t expect Ohtani to shoulder as much of the offensive burden as he did last year in the playoffs, when he was responsible for eight of their 24 home runs.

When the team wasn’t hitting in July or August, that would have sounded like a death sentence. Now, a more balanced offense sounds like a possibility — or at least more possible than it was earlier in the season.