The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched a postseason berth with their 20-4 blowout victory over the Miami Marlins and now turn their sights to winning National League West for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons.
The Dodgers enter play Friday tied with the Philadelphia Phillies for the best record in baseball at 91-62. Meanwhile, they hold a four-game lead over the second-place San Diego Padres in the NL West with nine contests remaining on their regular-season schedule.
The Dodgers are only 9-8 during the month of September, which can be attributed to the plethora of injuries they’ve had to endure. That, along with the Padres’ and Arizona Diamondbacks’ excellent play in the second half, has led to a tight NL West race over recent weeks.
Joe Musgrove believes the Padres could potentially overtake the Dodgers in the NL West but noted they are more focused on winning every game possible, via Kevin Acee of The San Diego Union-Tribune:
“We’re chasing right down their backs right now,” Joe Musgrove said last night. “They’re physically not where they want to be, but that’s how it goes. I mean, we lost plenty of guys throughout the course of the season and managed to stay above water and keep ourselves in position. So, you know, it’s just how baseball goes at times. You lose key players. But we’re playing really good baseball right now. Our confidence is high, the approach is right on both sides of the baseball. So I think we’re in a really good spot to make a push of this thing. But I don’t think it changes a whole lot of how we play. I think we still are out there with the intention to win every game and do what the game’s telling us we need to do, and then just see where things fall.”
The Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the NL West is down to six games, so the Padres don’t have much room for error if they want to win the division.
San Diego, at minimum, should still clinch a postseason berth as they currently hold the first NL Wild Card spot. That would give them home-field advantage in a best-of-three Wild Card series against the No. 5 seed.
The Dodgers and Padres will face off in a three-game series at Dodger Stadium next week, which could ultimately decide who wins the NL West.
Dodgers-Padres tiebreaker for NL West
The Dodgers are just 3-7 against the Padres this season, so if the teams finish with the same record, San Diego will win the division by way of a tiebreaker.
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