Column: If the Dodgers want to win it all, they’ll need to turn to Corey Seager, and he’ll have to deliver

Kirk Gibson batted third for the Dodgers in the playoffs. So did Mike Piazza, Manny Ramirez and Adrian Gonzalez.

Last October, when the team opened its National League division series against the New York Mets, that responsibility became Corey Seager’s.

He was 21.

See the most-read stories in Sports this hour>>

Seager was one for four and struck out twice in the series-opening loss. He batted .188 in the series, which the Dodgers dropped in five games.

Too much was expected of him too soon.

Now, as Seager prepares for his first opening day in the major leagues, the Dodgers are saying what they can to lessen the burden shouldered by their prized shortstop. Seager might be the sport’s consensus No. 1 prospect, but the Dodgers are mindful that he has only about a month of major league service time.

“We’re not expecting him to carry the load in any way,” Manager Dave Roberts said.

That’s a nice thing to say, but here’s the truth: If the Dodgers are to return to the postseason for the fourth consecutive year, Seager will probably have to hit. If they are to win their first World Series championship in nearly three decades, he will definitely have to.

Whatever platitudes the Dodgers might be reciting at their spring-training camp — “He’s just one of 25 on this team,” General Manager Farhan Zaidi said — the fact is that their offense is the same as it was when they went into that series with the Mets.

Or worse. Top producer Gonzalez will be 34 in two months and has a bulging disk in his neck. Joc Pederson has to recover from an awful second half of the season, and Yasmani Grandal from a shoulder operation.

Yasiel Puig? Good luck with that.

Because he has an older sibling in the major leagues — brother Kyle is a former All-Star third baseman with the Seattle Mariners — Seager understands what awaits him. He knows what batting .337 as a September call-up will do.

“Expectations are higher,” said Seager, who turns 22 next month.

Jokingly told the team’s impatient fan base could turn on him if he fails to play up to the hype surrounding him, Seager smiled and replied, “It could. You hope it doesn’t.

“You can’t look at it, you can’t think about it. You have to go out and play that day.”

What Seager says and how he says it bears a striking resemblance to the franchise’s last mega-prospect. That was Clayton Kershaw, who shook his head in disagreement when told of their similarities.

“He’s way better than I was when I was at 20, 21,” Kershaw said.

Kershaw added, “He’s one of the guys I worry about the least.”

Seager certainly has the demeanor of a more-experienced player. Asked about perhaps the most critical mistake of that NLDS against the Mets, Seager didn’t become defensive, as baseball players typically do when questioned about failure.

On the play in question, the Dodgers had third baseman Justin Turner shifted over to the first-base side of the infield as they were protecting a one-run lead with a man on first base in the fourth inning of Game 5. Daniel Murphy advanced to second base when Zack Greinke walked Lucas Duda, but Murphy didn’t stop there, stealing an uncovered third base. Murphy went on to score the tying run and the Mets won the game.

Seager said he has replayed the sequence in his head.

“It was a huge mistake. It needed to be covered,” he said. “It’s one of those freak plays you don’t realize you’re not covering it until it happens.

“Somebody had to be there. Probably me.”

He also said he learned something by facing Mets pitchers Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey, who overpowered the Dodgers.

“Those guys are good,” he said. “Those are the guys you don’t expect to get two hits off of a night. You have to grind out [at-bats], try to walk, whatever you can to get on base.”

But to beat them, eventually someone has to step up with a big hit, or even two. Ready or not, it might have to be Seager.

Follow Dylan Hernandez on Twitter @dylanohernandez