The Los Angeles Dodgers took three of four from the Arizona Diamondbacks to create some separation in the National League West standings amid a stretch of strong play.
Even with their loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday, the Dodgers have a 4.5-game lead over the San Diego Padres for first place in the NL West. The Diamondbacks now are in third place, five games back of Los Angeles.
Freddie Freeman led the Dodgers in the four-game set at Chase Field, going 6-for-15 with four homers and 10 RBI.
While the series gave the Dodgers some breathing room in the division, the veteran slugger emphasized it’s still too early to be watching the standings, per Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“I mean, we still have 20-plus games left,” said Freeman, who returned from getting a series off to hit four home runs and drive in 10 runs against the Diamondbacks. “So if you’re looking at division leads this early in September, you’re doing the wrong thing.”
The Dodgers won the season series over the Diamondbacks, meaning they’ll hold the tiebreaker if their respective records at the end of the regular season line up even.
Last year the Dodgers went 100-62 in the regular season to win the NL West by 16 games. The Diamondbacks, as a Wild Card team, wound up rumbling their way through October before eventually losing to the Texas Rangers in the World Series.
Freeman giving acknowledgement that complacency is something the Dodgers are hoping to avoid bodes well for their final month of regular season play.
What’s ahead for the Dodgers
After settling for a split of the Freeway Series in Anaheim, the Dodgers have an off day that is followed by matchups with the Cleveland Guardians and Chicago Cubs.
The Guardians sit atop the American League Central, while the Cubs are suddenly resurgent and winners in seven of their last 10 games.
Landon Knack is joining the Dodgers rotation on Friday and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is scheduled to come off the 60-day injured list Tuesday.
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