As the Los Angeles Dodgers enter the home stretch of their quest for the winningest campaign in baseball history, Jeff Nelson understands their situation perhaps better than anybody on the planet. A standout reliever from 1992 through 2006, Nelson pitched for two of the most dominant teams of his or any other generation: the 1998 New York Yankees and the 2001 Seattle Mariners.

The former finished with 114 regular-season victories and blitzed the competition in the playoffs en route to a World Series sweep, earning the reputation...