Dodgers reach 100 wins on last day of season

The Dodgers won their 100th game of the season on the last day of the season against the Giants in San Francisco.

Kike Hernandez hit a three-run home run and the Dodgers won 5-2 to officially capture the National League West title. 

The Dodgers will be the second-seeded team in the playoffs. They have a bye in the first round and will await the winner of the playoff series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Milwaukee Brewers. The first game of the National League Division Series will be at Dodger Stadium on Saturday.

The Dodgers won 100 games for the third season in a row. They won 100 games in 2019, giving the Dodgers four 100-win full seasons in a row. There were only 60 regular season games played in 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic and the Dodgers went 43-17. It was also the year the Dodgers won the World Series.

The Diamondbacks are the No. 6 seed in the playoffs, the last team to qualify for the playoffs. The Brewers are the No. 3 seed.

The Atlanta Braves are the No. 1 seed in the National League playoffs. They await the winner of the playoff series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Miami Marlins. The Phillies, the No. 4 seed in the playoffs, won the NL pennant last season.

The Marlins are the No. 5 seed.

Freddie Freeman fell one double short of becoming the first player since 1936 to hit 60 doubles in a season. He finished with 59 doubles and set a Dodgers record for doubles in a season. Joe Medwick hit 64 doubles and Charlie Gehringer hit 60 doubles in 1936, the last time any player hit 60 or more doubles in a season.

Clayton Kershaw took the loss on Saturday, 2-1, against the Giants. It was the first time Kershaw has lost a game since May. 

He was 7-0 with a 1.96 ERA in 13 starts since May 21 before losing on Saturday. He gave up two runs on five hits in 5 ⅓ innings.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts hinted after the game Saturday that Kershaw will be the Game 1 starter in the NLDS.

“Whenever it is, I’m just excited to get to do it," Kershaw told the Associated Press after Saturday’s game. “It’ll be fun. With the way this year kind of went, I didn’t really expect to be in this spot for a lot of reasons. But it’s here and if that happens, I’ll be ready.”

Rookie Bobby Miller won the game on Sunday. He is 11-4 with a 3.89 ERA and will most likely be the starter for Game 2 of the NLDS.

Dodgers starting pitcher power rankings:

1. Bobby Miller
2. Clayton Kershaw
3. Lance Lynn
4. Emmet Sheehan
5. Caleb Ferguson

The Dodgers (100-62) will have some time for two players to recover from injuries. Chris Taylor was hit by a pitch in Sunday’s game and left with a bruise on his leg. Migual Rojas was hit in the hand by a pitch in Friday’s game and missed the next two games.

Dodgers coming in hot as season comes to a close

The Dodgers are rolling into the playoffs, securing home-field advantage in the first round and taking three of four games against those surprising San Francisco Giants over the weekend.

The Dodgers went 5-2 last week against the Detroit Tigers and Giants and are 8-2 in their last 10 games.

The Dodgers needed extra innings to beat the Giants on Sunday. The score was tied 2-2 after nine innings when Chris Taylor drove in the winning run in the 10th inning. It improved the Dodgers record to 6-6 in extra innings. But more importantly, it all but knocked the Giants out of playoff contention. They are five games out of the last wild-card playoff spot with six games left to play.

As for the Dodgers, they are closing in on a third 100-win season in a row and have wrapped up the National League West title.

The Dodgers shut out the Giants 7-0 on Saturday and set a number of records in the process.

Clayton Kershaw won his 210th game, putting him all alone in second place in franchise history in that category. He passed Don Drysdale, who won 209 games as a Dodger. Only Don Sutton has more than Kershaw with 223.

Mookie Betts drove in two runs, giving him 105 RBIs for the season, the most ever by a leadoff hitter in MLB history. He passed Charlie Blackmon who drove in 103 runs as the leadoff hitter for the Colorado Rockies in 2017.

“There’s been a lot of great leadoff hitters and for him to be number one is pretty remarkable,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the Associated Press after Saturday’s game. “It seems like every night we’re eclipsing milestones as individuals."

Freddie Freeman went 2-for-5 and notched his 203rd hit of the season. It is the first time he passed the 200-hit mark in a single season and it is a career high in hits for Freeman.

He also hit his 57th double. He already has the Dodgers record for doubles in a season. He has seven more games to become the first player to hit 60 doubles in a season since Charlie Gehringer and Joe Medwick did it in 1936.

As for Kershaw, he should be well-rested for the playoffs. The Dodgers have been starting him on six-days rest as the season comes to a close. He is 13-4. But since Aug, 10, when he came off the injured list, he has made seven starts and has a 2.03 ERA with 27 strikeouts and 14 walks. 

The Dodgers really have nothing left to play for except to keep their players healthy before the playoffs start.

Dodger starter power rankings:

1. Clayton Kershaw
2. Bobby Miller
3. Lance Lynn
4. Emmet Sheehan
5. Caleb Ferguson

The Dodgers (96-59) have a doubleheader against the Rockies in Colorado on Tuesday and finish the season with a three-game series against the Giants in San Francisco starting on Friday.

Dodgers stumble to the finish line

The Dodgers swept the Mariners in a three-game series in Seattle over the weekend and pretty much ruined the Mariners playoff plans.

The Dodgers are limping to the end of the season despite the sweep. They have won seven of their past 10 games, but are 8-7 in September. They have lost Julio Urias for the rest of the season, and are using a patchwork starting rotation that includes Lance Lynn with a 5.94 ERA and two rookies.

The Dodgers clinched a playoff spot and won the National League West title in the series in Seattle. It is the 10th time the Dodgers have won the NL West in the past 11 seasons, and Clayton Kershaw was reveling in celebrating another title.

“You have to embrace it. You have to enjoy it. Like I've been saying, this could be the last one for a long time. Every year I say that, but you just can't take it for granted,” Kershaw told the Associated Press after Saturday’s game.

The Dodgers don’t have much left to play for. They are in the playoffs and will most likely be the second-seeded team. The division title is wrapped up. They have the luxury of watching other teams fight for playoff spots.

The Mariners were one of those teams. They are in the hunt for the American League West title and a wild-card playoff spot. But after the Dodgers swept them, they fell a game behind the Texas Rangers for the last playoff spot and 2.5 games behind the Houston Astros for first place in the AL West.

The Dodgers have 14 games left in the season, seven at home, seven on the road and seven against the San Francisco Giants.

The Dodgers can kill the Giants playoff hopes in the final two weeks of the season. It’s always worth it to spoil the Giants chances of making the playoffs.

The Giants are two games out of the last playoff spot behind the Cincinnati Reds, Chicago Cubs and Miami Marlins. The Giants chances of making the playoffs are already remote, but the Dodgers have plenty of chances to eliminate them officially in the next two weeks.

In the meantime, the Dodgers can coast to the end of the season. They are in such a comfortable spot, Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy took the day off in Sunday’s game and they still won, 6-1.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is giving his players a chance to enjoy the moment and it’s probably the right move.

“Winning the division is something always special, but doing it by winning a baseball game and not by default makes it more special,” Roberts told the Associated Press after Saturday’s game. “Tonight we get a chance to celebrate with one another, celebrate with our fans.” 

Dodgers starting pitcher power rankings:

1. Bobby Miller
2. Lance Lynn
3. Clayton Kershaw
4. Ryan Pepiot
5. Gavin Stone

The Dodgers (91-57) start a three-game series against the Detroit Tigers at Dodger Stadium tonight and finish the week with a four-game series at home against the Giants.

Dodgers take a stormy route to the playoffs

After beating the Washington Nationals on Sunday, the Dodgers magic number to win the National League West title is six.

But it looks like the Dodgers will need more than magic to make a successful playoff run.

Injuries and pitching problems, mainly the arrest and suspension of Julio Urias, has made the staff extremely thin. Reinforcements aren’t coming any time soon either with news of Walker Buehler missing the remainder of the season recovering from surgery.

That leaves Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller and Lance Lynn to hold down the rotation in the playoffs. 

Ryan Pepiot and perhaps Ryan Yarbrough will fill in when needed. It’s not a promising playoff picture, and not the rotation the Dodgers had in mind for October.

It’s a sad time for the Dodgers. Even the weather in Washington, D.C., was dark and gloomy.

All three games against the Nationals were delayed by rain. The game on Saturday was delayed by four hours. The Dodgers ended up losing that one 7-6 in 11 innings.

The Dodgers went 3-3 on their road trip last week to Miami and Washington. The Dodgers lost two of three games to the Marlins and won two of three games against the Nationals. 

It was a rough road trip for the Dodgers.

“I think right now we're all emotionally (and) physically spent,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told the Associated Press after Sunday’s game. “Happy to come away with what we did on this road trip and get home and get back to some good weather.”

But it was quite a weekend for Freddie Freeman. 

The Dodgers All Star first baseman broke the franchise record for doubles in a season. He hit his 53rd double of the season in Friday’s game. The Dodgers won, 8-5. Freeman broke the Dodgers record set by Johnny Fredrickson in 1929. Fredrickson, who hit 52 doubles in the 1929 season, still holds the record for most doubles in a season by a rookie.

Freeman hit another double in Saturday’s game to give him 54 with 20 games left to play. The National League record for doubles in a season is 64, set by Joe Medwick of the St. Louis Cardinals in 1936. 

Earl Webb of the Boston Red Sox has the major league record for doubles in a season with 67 set in 1931. 

For good measure, Freeman went 2-for-4 and scored two runs in Sunday’s game to raise his batting average to .336.

James Outman hit his 19th home run of the season to improve his case for National League Rookie of the Year.

And Max Muncy hit his 34th home run of the season in Saturday’s game. It was a two-run shot in the eighth inning.

At least the hitters are providing a little sunshine for Dodgers fans.

Dodgers starter power rankings:

1. Ryan Pepiot
2. Ryan Yabrough
3. Clayton Kershaw
4. Emmet Sheehan
5. Bobby Miller

The Dodgers (87-55) start a three-game series with the San Diego Padres tonight and head to Seattle for a three-game weekend series with the Mariners.

Dodgers season takes a nasty turn

If it wasn’t bad enough for the Dodgers after losing three of four games at home to the Atlanta Braves, Julio Urias was arrested and charged with domestic violence after the series on Monday.

It’s the second time Urias has been accused of domestic violence.

In the wise words of Maya Angelou, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

This couldn’t happen to Urias and the Dodgers at a worse time. What Urias is accused of is horrible, for the victim, for the team, for the Dodgers organization. 

The Dodgers said that Urias won’t be traveling with the team to Miami. The Dodgers start a series with the Marlins Tuesday. While the investigation into what happened with Urias is underway, his participation with the team is on hold.

The Dodgers pitching staff was already thin. It leaves Clayton Kershaw, Bobby Miller and Lance Lynn as the only reliable starters in the rotation. Perhaps Ryan Pepiot enters the rotation. After that is anyone’s guess.

But filling out the rotation is the least of the Dodgers problems.

The Dodgers can’t resign Urias after this. It’s a shame too. The image of him on the mound for the final out of the 2020 World Series is etched in Dodger lore. It will have a footnote now that joins the accomplishments of Trevor Bauer.

Instead of being the next Fernando Valenzuela, Urias will become the OJ Simpson of the Dodgers.

It was a rough weekend for the Dodgers. 

They lost the first three games of the weekend series against the Braves, what many saw as a preview to the National League Championship Series.

The Dodgers and Braves are by far the best teams in the National League.

Mookie Betts and Ronald Acuna Jr. put on a show in the first game. Betts hit two home runs. Acuna hit a grand slam. Each player looked like an MVP. But the Braves hung on to win 8-7.

The third game was another nailbiter. The score was tied 1-1 after nine innings. The Braves took a 4-1 lead in the 10th inning on a three-run home run by Orlando Arcia and won their sixth game in a row, 4-2.

The Dodgers won the fourth game of the series on Sunday night, 3-1, and avoided the sweep. Miller earned the win going seven innings and giving up three hits in only his 17th career start. He’ll need a lot more starts like that if the Dodgers are to make a deep playoff run.

“After getting our teeth kicked in a little bit after the first three games, we really needed this one today," Miller told the Associated Press after Sunday’s game. “I was really locked in. I had a great feeling going into this game. Probably the most locked in I've ever been so far. ... That’s a big goal for me, to dominate a team for the second time."

It looks like it’s going to be a rough September for the Dodgers.

Dodger starter power rankings:

1. Bobby Miller
2. Clayton Kershaw
3. Ryan Pepiot
4. Emmet Sheehan
5. Lance Lynn

The Dodgers (82-49) head to Miami to start a three-game series with the Marlins. They then travel to Washington for a three-game weekend series with the Nationals.