CHICAGO -- It was a good day to be Brandon McCarthy, the Los Angeles Dodgers' right-hander and bustling part owner of a professional soccer team.

Not long after McCarthy's Phoenix Rising soccer team signed legend Didier Drogba on Wednesday, McCarthy went out and handcuffed the World Series champion Chicago Cubs while leading his club to a 2-0 victory.

And there was some significance to the fact that McCarthy's spirited outing happened at Wrigley Field, the site where the Dodgers' 2016 season ended in a Game 6 defeat in the National League Championship Series.

As the Dodgers were packing up their equipment for the winter, the prevailing sense was that they simply ran out of starting pitching in October. Rich Hill and Clayton Kershaw were able to prop up the pitching staff for only so long.

Back at Wrigley for an early visit this year, the Dodgers not only were seeing their No. 4 starter fire a gem at an offensively proficient Cubs lineup Wednesday, they got another look at just how deep they are with starting pitching. Ross Stripling, working out of the bullpen until a starting role opens for him, had his fourth impressive relief appearance of the season, firing 1⅔ scoreless innings.

The Dodgers knew they were deep, bringing 10 starting pitching candidates to spring training. They are seeing it more than just in concept now, with Alex Wood having already replaced an ailing Hill on the starting staff.

"You put this roster together and you see the depth as far as quality pitching," manager Dave Roberts said. "You see what Mac did and [Hyun-Jin] Ryu is going to try to match that or better him [Thursday]. You get that and go back to [Kershaw], that's kind of how you get rolling. Last year, we never really had a chance to kind of maintain traction with our starting pitching."

McCarthy's potential level of contribution was a mystery coming into spring training. He closed out 2016 throwing the baseball any and all directions, just not those intended. He later admitted in the winter to a mental block that was causing what is otherwise known as the yips.

"The way last year ended sucked, but it didn't stew and fester in me," McCarthy said. "I wanted to get back to work, that was really it. The offseason was relaxing in that regard, that I was able to get back to what I wanted to do. And then with the season starting, it just felt natural like any other year."

The Dodgers were locked in at three starting spots when the spring began with Kershaw, Hill and Kenta Madea. In winning the No. 4 spot, McCarthy was essentially the best of the rest. He has continued to show that winning edge, firing his first scoreless outing since his third outing back from the disabled list last year.

Things would only turn from there last season as McCarthy walked a combined five batters over his next two starts, then walked five in each of his next three starts for a total of 20 free passes in five games. McCarthy did walk three Wednesday, but that was against a Cubs lineup adept at working counts.

In delivering six scoreless innings, McCarthy has allowed just two runs in his two outings. Kershaw has allowed five runs in his two outings, while Maeda has allowed seven.

"This game is about opportunities, and our guys, with the way we use them, I trust them," Roberts said. "We're going to put them in certain opportunities to get their chances and right now they're all performing."

Stripling has given up just one earned run in his 6⅓ innings of work over four outings, and in just a week and a half into the new season he has advanced from long man in the bullpen to pitching high-leverage situations against the middle of opponents' batting orders. And this is a guy that can't crack the rotation.

"For Wood to be able to plug in for Rich like that is a big advantage that I assume a lot of other organizations don't have," Stripling said. "And if something weird were to happen, I could plug in too. We also have guys in Triple-A and Brock Stewart [shoulder] is coming off the disabled list soon.

"Yeah, it gives everyone confidence knowing that we have guys who can go out and go through a lineup at least twice, if not a third time. And obviously Kershaw is Kershaw. Hopefully it will give us a little more length than we had last year."

McCarthy has already gotten into "attack mode," as Roberts called it, challenging hitters while making his pitches. It seems that perhaps McCarthy had to have more of a sense of urgency this spring with so many starters in the mix, but that was actually a concept he tried to avoid.

"I just wanted to pitch well," McCarthy said. "There is no sense of urgency, no numbers, no anything. It's just simply that I want to pitch as well as I can every time out and then get us wins. That's just really as simple as my focus is right now. Everything else is just noise off to the side."

Some of that noise to the side, though, might not have been completely unwelcome. Drogba will be a player for McCarthy's Phoenix Rising. In a few years, he likely will join McCarthy on the ownership team. A move to MLS might come eventually as well.

But first, McCarthy has his day job to contend with. He is giving the Dodgers that rotation traction Roberts is looking for.