Dodgers Win Division Title and Get Bye in National League Playoffs

After a long season, the Dodgers can finally celebrate.
The team clinched its 11th division title in 12 seasons with Thursday night’s win over the Padres, meaning it will also get a first-round bye in the National League playoffs. That will give the Dodgers extra time to heal up and rest, especially key players like Mookie Betts and Max Muncy. And it will allow All-Star first baseman Freddie Freeman to recover from a right ankle injury he suffered in the bottom of the ninth, one that kept him out of Thursday’s game and placed him on crutches and in a walking boot. With this dodgers win division, the Dodgers reaffirm their dominance in the National League, setting high expectations as they head into the playoffs with a well-earned advantage.

Los Angeles has the best record in the National League with a 95-61 mark. That will be enough to avoid a wild-card play-in game with Atlanta and New York, as the Dodgers have a four-game lead on both of those clubs. They have won each of their series against both teams this year, a big reason why they have a three-game edge on the Padres.

Even though they have built a massive lead in the division over the first two months of the season, the race has not felt like a wire-to-wire coronation. The team has been tested by a strong Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres, with the Dodgers’ lead shrinking to as few as seven games in late June. It got down to two at one point this month, but the Dodgers have remained confident and never wavered.

They made a splash in the offseason with an all-in spending spree that brought in Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani, veteran Yoshinobu Yamamoto and young players including Teoscar Hernandez and Tyler Glasnow. That has helped create a powerful lineup that is led by a pair of All-Stars in Betts and Freeman, with key pieces like Yasiel Puig and Chris Taylor rounding out the group.

The club has also added depth to its starting rotation and bullpen by signing veteran free agents Brad Hand and Adam Liberatore and acquiring relievers Ryan Madson and Adam Ottavino. That has helped keep the Dodgers healthy despite a major-league high number of injuries throughout the regular season.

And they have been tested again as the race has dwindled to its final weeks. The Dodgers were forced to play without their top three starters on multiple occasions, and they saw the backs of their fading division rivals before clinching on Thursday. The win moved them within a victory of winning the World Series for the second time in the last three years, but the club is looking to do much more this postseason. That starts Tuesday with a three-game set against the Colorado Rockies.