It took longer than 162 games, but the Los Angeles Dodgers were crowned champions of the National League West for the sixth consecutive season on Monday afternoon when they defeated the Colorado Rockies, 5-2, in the tie-breaking game at Dodger Stadium.
The stakes couldn’t have been higher, with the winner hosting the Atlanta Braves in the NL Division Series and the loser having to go catch a flight to face the Chicago Cubs in the Wild Card Game on Tuesday.
In such an important game, the Dodgers decided to hand the ball to rookie Walker Buehler, and he came through in a big way. Buehler did not allow a hit until the sixth inning, and in all tossed 6.2 innings of shutout ball, allowing just the one knock while striking out and walking three.
Buehler also helped out his own cause at the plate, slapping an RBI single to right field, capping off an outstanding day for the 24-year-old.
The Dodgers offense was able to get the job done against Rockies starter German Marquez as well, beginning in the fourth inning. Marquez struck out four batters in that inning, but he also gave up a big two-run home run to Cody Bellinger that allowed Los Angeles to take a 2-0 lead.
Marquez faltered again in the fifth, giving up a double to Joc Pederson and then another two-run homer, this time to Max Muncy to extend the lead to 4-0. The long ball was Muncy’s team-leading 36th of the season, which absolutely no one could have predicted before the start of the season.
Kenley Jansen closed out the win for the Dodgers after giving up back-to-back home runs to Nolan Arenado and Trevor Story, ensuring the Dodgers wouldn’t have to play again until Thursday.
