The Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League West for the seventh consecutive year, not only having the best record in the league but also the best in franchise history at 106-56.
Because they had the best record in the NL, the Dodgers will be taking on the Washington Nationals in the NLDS after they defeated the Milwaukee Brewers in the Wild Card Game on Tuesday night.
The win was a thrilling one as Juan Soto drove home three on a hit off Josh Hader that also included an error. Soto’s single into right field helped the Nationals come back from a 3-1 deficit.
There were seven head-to-head meetings between the Nationals and Dodgers during the 2019 regular season, with four games taking place at Dodger Stadium and three at Nationals Park. The Dodgers won four of those seven games.
Series at Dodger Stadium
May 9: Nationals 6, Dodgers 0
The first matchup between these two teams featured a strong performance from Patrick Corbin, the Nationals Game 1 starter in the NLDS, in a victory for Washington. Corbin threw seven scoreless innings while allowing three hits with eight strikeouts and four walks.
He has a 0.59 ERA in his last five starts against the Dodgers.
Rich Hill got the start for Los Angeles and was hurt by a three-run homer in the first inning by former Dodger Howie Kendrick. Those three runs were the only that Hill allowed in five innings, but it was more than enough as the Dodgers were shut out on the night.
The Nationals tacked on three more runs in the eighth and ninth off Dylan Floro and Joe Kelly thanks to three Dodger errors, securing the victory.
May 10: Dodgers 5, Nationals 0
The Dodgers returned the favor by shutting out the Nationals in the second game behind a strong performance from Kenta Maeda, who tossed six scoreless innings while allowing just one hit with six strikeouts and two walks.
Julio Urias was then lights out in relief, pitching three scoreless frames to earn his second save. L.A. jumped on Anabel Sanchez early as Joc Pederson led off the game with a home run.
Pederson also hit another home run in the fifth inning, while Chris Taylor contributed with an RBI triple and David Freese also went deep to account for the five runs.
May 11: Nationals 5, Dodgers 2
Gerardo Parra has been a thorn in the Dodgers’ side throughout his career and perhaps his biggest hit against them came on this night. In a highly-anticipated pitchers’ duel between Walker Buehler and Max Scherzer, the Dodgers took a 2-0 lead into the eighth inning.
Buehler was dominant, throwing seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts, while Scherzer wasn’t quite as good as he gave up a two-run home run to Justin Turner in the third.
The Nationals got to the Dodgers bullpen in the eighth inning, scoring five runs, with four of them coming on one swing of the bat. Parra hit a grand slam off Floro to secure the come-from-behind victory and spoil an excellent outing from Buehler.
May 12: Dodgers 6, Nationals 0
The Dodgers responded to the brutal loss with a strong performance in the series finale to earn the series split. Hyun-Jin Ryu turned in one of his best outings of the year, allowing just one hit in eight shutout innings while striking out nine and walking one.
Kenley Jansen then shut down the door with a perfect ninth inning.
Stephen Strasburg gave up two runs in his six innings of work for Washington. Corey Seager hit a sac fly in the second inning to score Cody Bellinger, and then Alex Verdugo drove in Turner on a groundout in the fourth.
It was Seager who came up with the big hit of the day in the eighth, launching a grand slam off Kyle Barraclough, who is no longer with the Nationals, to put the game out of reach.
Series at Nationals Park
July 26: Dodgers 4, Nationals 2
As was the case in a lot of the games between these two teams, the starting pitchers did their parts in the series opener at Nationals Park. Ryu went 6.2 innings while Sanchez went seven innings, allowing one run apiece.
That left the game up to the bullpens, and it was the Nationals relievers that faltered as Turner slugged a three-run home run off Barraclough in the eighth inning to give the Dodgers a 4-1 lead.
Jansen struggled in the ninth, loading up the bases after getting two quick outs. He then walked Soto to bring home a run but eventually struck out Kendrick to escape the jam and earn the save.
July 27: Dodgers 9, Nationals 3
Will Smith led the way for the Dodgers offense to help earn their second straight victory in Washington. The rookie catcher went 3-for-3 with a home run, two doubles and a sacrifice fly, driving in a career-high six runs.
Clayton Kershaw got the start on the mound and tossed six strong innings to earn the victory. He gave up three hits and two runs while striking out nine and walking three. The Nationals jumped on him early with two runs in the first on an RBI triple by Adam Eaton and sacrifice fly by Soto, but he settled in from there and got through six.
July 28: Nationals 11, Dodgers 4
Buehler did not fare as well in the final regular-season game against the Nationals as he did in his start at Dodger Stadium. He got through four scoreless innings, but Washington wound up scoring a combined seven runs off him in the fifth and sixth innings.
Only four of those runs were earned, but it was still more than enough with Strasburg pitching seven innings of one-run ball. Soto capped off the blowout win with a home run off Jamie Schultz in the eighth inning to help avoid the sweep.
Corey Seager hit a three-run home run in the ninth, but all that did was make it an 11-4 loss.
