It has been a week since Clayton Kershaw left a start after two innings and Dodgers Nation immediately entered a state of mass anguish. In the midst of the best regular season in team history, the best pitcher in the game had injured his back -- a back that has often carried the Los Angeles Dodgers in recent years.

Consider that in winning four consecutive division titles from 2013 to '16, the Dodgers were 79-35 in games Kershaw started, a .693 winning percentage. In games he didn't start, the Dodgers went 290-242, a .543 winning percentage. Remove Zack Greinke from the equation -- he was with the team for the first three of those division titles -- and the Dodgers were 226-214, basically a .500 team without one of its two aces on the mound.

This is a different Dodgers team, however, one that is making a push as one of the best in major league history. The Dodgers won the game Kershaw left early. They won the next one after that. And their next four. They enter Sunday night's game against the San Francisco Giants (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET) riding a seven-game winning streak. They're a remarkable 73-31, a .702 winning percentage that has them on pace for 114 wins, which would shatter the National League record of 108 in a 162-game season and match the 1998 New York Yankees for the second-most wins of the 162-game era, behind only the 116 wins of the 2001 Seattle Mariners. (The '98 Yankees were 77-27 through 104 games and the '01 Mariners were 75-29.)

With Kershaw, the Dodgers have been nearly unbeatable, going 19-2 in his starts (Kershaw was 15-2 with a 2.04 ERA). When he doesn't start, they're still 54-29, a .651 winning percentage that would still rank as the second best since the franchise moved to Los Angeles. So this is a spectacular team even minus Kershaw, one that will roll to the NL West title no matter how many starts he misses.

On a sabermetric level, Kershaw was worth 4.5 wins above replacement in his 21 starts. Take away his last start, he was worth about .225 WAR per start. Consider a worst-case scenario where he misses 10 starts, and the math says he would cost the Dodgers about 2.25 wins. Of course, they're not using a replacement-level pitcher in his place, but somebody like Hyun-Jin Ryu, who starts Sunday night, or Brock Stewart, who joined the rotation with Kershaw and Brandon McCarthy sidelined. Ryu and Stewart both project as decent back-end starters in a big league rotation. Still, we might consider that the Dodgers win two fewer games without Kershaw, not enough even for the Washington Nationals to likely challenge the Dodgers for best record in the NL. (The Dodgers hold a 10.5-game advantage entering Sunday.)

Of course, Kershaw's injury is more about what will happen in the postseason. The Dodgers have those four straight division titles but no trips to the World Series in that span. They reached two NLCS, but overall they've gone 13-17 in the postseason, including 6-6 in games Kershaw has started.

Has Kershaw been great in the postseason? On one hand, no. Since 2013, he's 4-6 with a 4.28 ERA and has pitched seven innings just three times in 12 outings. And he's never pitched more than seven frames, even though in the regular season in those years he pitched more than seven innings in 43 percent of his starts.

On the other hand, his postseason struggles are a little overstated. He's allowed opposing batters a .220/.264/.339 line, which is still pretty dominant, although not quite as dominant as the .193/.232/.280 line in regular season (again, just over the 2013-16 seasons). He's run into trouble with big innings, often tiring in the sixth or seventh. It hasn't helped, of course, that he's made five of his 12 starts on short rest.

The obvious scenario, assuming Kershaw comes back, is the Dodgers are probably better off going with a four-man rotation in the playoffs, instead of using Kershaw on three days' rest even if they're behind in the series. Bottom line is that usage hasn't worked either for Kershaw or the Dodgers in previous postseasons.

All this leads to the question of whether the Dodgers need to acquire another starting pitcher. This team is so deep in the lineup and the bullpen has been so good -- second in the majors in ERA -- that it has been on a 100-win pace when Kershaw doesn't start. That might indicate the Dodgers are still in good shape, but there are obvious injury worries throughout the rotation, aside from the condition of Kershaw's back.

Rich Hill has missed time with blisters each of the past two seasons. While he's fine now, you never know when that issue may pop up again. McCarthy is out with his own blister issues. Alex Wood is healthy but missed much of 2016 with an elbow injury and a couple of weeks this year with a sore elbow. Kenta Maeda looked gassed by the postseason last year. While he's not going to pitch as many innings, he also hasn't been as effective.

If the Dodgers don't make a deal, that's certainly a sign they anticipate a healthy Kershaw in a few weeks. Last year, when he missed time, he came back in September to make five starts before the postseason. I would argue, however, that even then, a deal for another starter makes sense. At the minimum, you'd be bumping Maeda or McCarthy from the rotation and have further insurance if Hill or Wood goes down. I understand the reluctance in not wanting to give up a premium prospect for Sonny Gray when you may not really need him, so a rental like Lance Lynn or Yu Darvish makes more sense.

A team this good is a rare and beautiful thing. The Dodgers' front office should make that one last move to improve their chances to reach and win their first World Series since 1988.