The Los Angeles Dodgers finished a three game series against the Washington Nationals with a tough loss on Wednesday, falling in 14 innings. The Dodgers had their chances to win late in the game but failed to score runners from third with one out in both the 10th and 11th innings. Losing two of three games to the Nationals, Wednesday’s loss could come back to haunt them.
Luckily with the San Francisco Giants losing to the Rockies 2-9, the Dodgers keep a two and a half game lead in the National League West as September sets up to be another thrilling race to the playoffs.
For the Dodgers, they have a fairly easy schedule ahead with 22 games left to play. The more challenging of those games will be six against the Giants, who are creeping up behind them in the standings and could potentially end up taking the division. This year, the Dodgers are 6-7 against the Giants.
They already have the best current pitcher in the universe with Clayton Kershaw. As most likely to win the NL Cy-Young award for the third time, he’s arguably the best in line to win MVP as well. He’s likely to win about three or four more games this season, which at this rate could make him the only 20 game winner in the league this year. The Dodgers are looking great when he pitches but what happens when he’s not on the mound?
Against contending teams this season, the Dodgers are 21-32. Of those games played, Kershaw started in 7 and went 5-1. If they make the playoffs, this will be important but for now they need to worry about this final month.
LA is 5-5 in their last 10 games. They are 37-20 against their division this season which is crucial considering 18 of their last 22 games will be played against division rivals down the stretch. The NL West looks like theirs to lose, however, the Giants won’t go away without a fight.
With the Rockies and Diamondbacks elimination numbers down to one and four respectively, they will most certainly be aiming to play the role of spoiler. The Padres elimination number is at fourteen, but it’s only a matter of time until they’re mathematically out of the picture. Let’s be honest though, it’s been a two-way battle all season between the Dodgers and Giants.
If they both play well against the division from here on out, it could come down to the final six games between the two. Nothing is certain though in September as we’ve seen in previous years that anything can happen.
With a solid pitching staff anchored by Kershaw, Zack Greinke, and Hyun-Jin Ryu, the Dodgers have a good shot at taking the division. Dan Haren and Roberto Hernandez have been decent at the back end of the rotation going a combined 5-3 in August with a 4.21 ERA. Currently the Dodgers have a 3.30 ERA which is good enough for fourth in the National League and ranked second in batting average at .259. They certainly have the lineup to take on the Giants, but will they show up when it counts?
Look for the Dodgers to take their second consecutive NL West title later this month. The playoffs though, is another story. We may have just seen a glimpse of the NLCS with this past series against the Nationals.
