For the fourth straight season, the Los Angeles Dodgers are ending the year at the top of the NL West.
The Dodgers clinched the NL West division title with a 8-0 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday. Los Angeles becomes the latest team to clinch a division title, joining the NL Central-winning Milwaukee Brewers, NL East-winning Philadelphia Phillies and AL West-winning Seattle Mariners.
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The win brings the Dodgers to 90 wins, with a 90-69 overall record. It marks the 12th time in 13 seasons the Dodgers have won the division, further cementing the team’s recent dominance.
The Dodgers’ dominant win was helped by a stellar, two-homer night from first baseman Freddie Freeman, who hit a solo bomb in the first inning and a two-run homer in the fourth.
L.A.’s victory was also boosted by Shohei Ohtani’s 54th home run of the year, as the two-way threat sent the ball into the outfield pool in Arizona. The homer ties Ohtani’s career high and Dodgers single-season record, which he hit last season.
With Thursday’s win, the San Diego Padres fall to 3.5 games back in the division, though the Padres have already secured a wild-card berth.
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The Dodgers officially clinched a playoff spot last week, during Clayton Kershaw’s final regular-season start in LA. Kershaw, who has spent his entire 18 year-career with the Dodgers, will retire at the end of the 2025 season.
Despite winning the division, Los Angeles will not have a bye in the first round of the postseason: The Dodgers can’t catch the Phillies nor Milwaukee Brewers for the top two records in the NL.
The division title comes a bit later than one might’ve expected from a Dodgers superteam. The Dodgers’ bullpen has been a consistent problem, particularly this month.
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After losing the first game of the D-Backs series due to a late bullpen meltdown, they nearly blew it again on Wednesday: That near trainwreck saw a stunning eight L.A. pitchers take the mound before the Dodgers eventually pulled out a 5-4 win in 11 innings. Rookie starter Roki Sasaki, who has been out since May with a shoulder injury, stepped in for a relief appearance, and was joined by Kershaw in a rare relief appearance.
Long-term, the bullpen is certainly something the Dodgers will need to focus on for the playoffs, as is the issue of All-Star catcher Will Smith, who may or may not be able to return for the postseason. But Los Angeles has held strong enough to secure the division and move into October with relative ease.
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The Dodgers will travel to the Pacific Northwest to play the Seattle Mariners, who clinched the AL West on Wednesday, in the final series of the regular season.
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