The Los Angeles Dodgers have dug themselves quite a hole in recent weeks as their poor play, coupled with strong stretches from the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, has dropped them to third place in the National League West.
The Dodgers went into play Friday 4.5 games behind the Diamondbacks in the division, although they were able to defeat the San Diego Padres, and Arizona lost to the Seattle Mariners. Colorado also lost, allowing the Dodgers to pick up one game in the standings on both teams.
With over a month left in the season, the Dodgers still have time to get back into the postseason picture, although they will need to play better than they have in recent weeks.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts commented on their upcoming stretch of games, stressing his club must pick up wins and focus on their opponent without looking ahead to matchups with the Diamondbacks and Rockies, via Rowan Kavner of Dodger Insider:
“Every game’s tough and every game’s different,” Roberts said. “It doesn’t really matter who we’re playing and the schedule. We can say games we should win or whatever, but the bottom line is, whoever’s in front of us, we’ve got to win.”
After the Dodgers finish up their weekend series with the Padres, they travel to take on the last-place Texas Rangers for a two-game series before hosting the Diamondbacks in a key four-game series at Dodger Stadium.
Roberts recently said the Dodgers should embrace the need to play with a sense of urgency, and that will certainly be the case during the series against Arizona, who have won eight of 12 head-to-head meetings this season.
The Dodgers still have seven games against the Diamondbacks as well as six against the Rockies left in the season. So the next few weeks will be crucial for Roberts’ club if they want to win the NL West for the sixth consecutive season.
