CHICAGO -- The images are out there, living on the Web and searchable. Dee Gordon was wearing his uniform pants and a blue cut-off Los Angeles Dodgers' T-shirt and gray undershirt, a SCUBA mask strapped to his head, celebrating the team’s division title in the Arizona Diamondbacks' pool last September.

Gordon was there, but he didn’t feel part of it, he said Sunday. He said he is looking forward to the Dodgers’ next playoff-clinching party because it will feel like his first. Gordon spent most of last season at Triple-A Albuquerque, starting just 23 games for the Dodgers. Even though he made the postseason roster, primarily so he could be used as a pinch runner, Gordon said he didn’t consider himself part of that 2013 team that made it to the NLCS.

“That didn’t count,” Gordon said. “I didn’t feel like I was part of it, to be honest. I hadn’t been there all year. This will be a great moment for me.”

Gordon, 26, is now the Dodgers’ everyday second baseman and catalyst. He leads the team in hits (173), runs (90), stolen bases (64) and triples (12). He was batting .293 and had multi-hit games in eight straight entering Sunday’s game against the Chicago Cubs.

Dodgers manager Don Mattingly has talked all year about Gordon’s growth as a player, how he hasn’t tinkered with his swing or approach every time he hits a cold patch and how it has allowed him to finally gain consistency. In fact, he has contrasted Gordon’s approach with Yasiel Puig's more than once. Gordon said he won’t play with any more urgency this week with the San Francisco Giants coming to town and the Dodgers having a chance to clinch in front of their rivals for the first time in 10 years.

“I just want to play well and play hard,” Gordon said.