LOS ANGELES -- A year ago, Rich Hill pitched the Dodgers to the apex of their season and the closest they've come to a World Series berth in 29 years. Facing the Cubs in the National League Championship Series, Hill turned in a gem -- six two-hit frames that pushed Los Angeles to a 2-1 series lead.
Things caved in on the Dodgers rather quickly after that. The Cubs won three straight to reach the World Series, and Hill didn't take the ball again, leaving him only to ponder the Game 7 start-that-might-have-been.
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Second chances don't always come gift-wrapped like this. But Hill and the Dodgers earned it with a second consecutive trip to the NLCS. Sure enough, it's the Cubs who await Hill in Game 2 of the NLCS presented by Camping World on Sunday following the Dodgers' 5-2 win in Game 1.
"It's something that everybody who is a competitor wants to do," Hill said. "You want to challenge yourself against the best, and they're the defending champions. That's the club that we wanted to play and the team that we want to beat to get to the next step, which is the World Series."
Sixteen years into his professional career, Hill has yet to reach that step. He made his first postseason start for the Cubs in 2007 as a wide-eyed 27-year-old, who was roughed up by Arizona. Ten years later, he's hardly the same pitcher.
Much has been made of Hill's journey from the Majors to independent ball in 2015 and back to the big leagues again. He joined the Dodgers at the non-waiver Trade Deadline last season and re-signed with the club in the offseason.
In that time, Hill has established one of the sport's best fastball/curveball combinations. He's mastered the art of changing eye levels, using one to set up the other. Aside from those pitches, there's not much deception. He threw a four-seamer or a curveball 95 percent of the time in 2017.
"I'm going to attack these hitters, because I'm pretty plain and simple," Hill said. "Here it is, hit it."
A year ago in October, the Cubs couldn't. But Hill, who didn't face Chicago during the regular season, was quick to note that last October's outing carries little weight.
"Every single opportunity is different," Hill said. "No matter if it's against a similar team, it's still a different circumstance, a different year, a different day, whatever it might be. The only constant for me is bringing that effort every single time that I go out there and making sure that's consistent."
That's a mantra Hill lives by. Before his start against Arizona last week, Hill spoke about his desire to be "process-oriented, moment-oriented instead of result-oriented."
It's what allows him to look back on last year's NLCS -- a disappointment for so many in Los Angeles -- as merely a stepping stone for the Dodgers to get to where they are now.
"What we gained in experience was huge to get to this point," Hill said. "A lot of guys that were on that roster last year with the Dodgers are back again this year. We're able to feed off of those experiences.
"Where we got to, it wasn't such a failure. It was more of a learning point in moving forward."
"Moving forward" only means one thing for the Dodgers: a trip to the World Series for the first time since 1988. Hill can pitch them a step closer Sunday night.