When the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Milwaukee Brewers on Aug. 25, they improved to 51 games above .500 and 21 games ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West standings. Both marks were season-highs.
In the nearly four weeks since that point, the Dodgers have gone into a tailspin and the Diamondbacks went on a franchise-best 13-game winning streak. Included in that was sweeping the Dodgers at Chase Field from Aug. 29-31, then doing the same at Dodger Stadium from Sept. 4-6.
Despite their torrid pace, Arizona never quite threatened to unseat Los Angeles atop the NL West standings. The head-to-head matchups and different directions the clubs are heading has made for lively debates.
One executive recently pegged the Diamondbacks as being superior to the Dodgers, according to Jon Heyman of Today’s Knuckleball:
One rival, comparing the D-Backs to the Dodgers, recently said Arizona is “simply a better team right now.”
After their winning streak was snapped, Arizona dropped four of five games. They responded with four consecutive wins, only to lose three of their next four contests. The Diamondbacks enter play Friday with a six-game lead over the Colorado Rockies for the first Wild Card spot.
The Dodgers snapped a four-game skid on Thursday, but still are just 7-20 since Aug. 26. Whereas they had single-digit losses each month from May-July, they’ve managed just seven wins in September.
Their historic slide included an 11-game losing streak that was the worst in franchise history since 1944. Nonetheless, the Dodgers wrapped up a fifth consecutive NL West title on Friday night.
Los Angeles enters play Saturday separated from the Cleveland Indians by two games for home-field advantage through the World Series. The Houston Astros remain 3.5 games back, and Washington Nationals trail by 5.5 games.
