The Dodgers went from abandoning all hope of winning the National League West championship to feeling pretty good about their chances of winning the National League West championship in a matter of hours on Thursday.
The Dodgers came into their game against the host Colorado Rockies trailing the surprising San Francisco Giants by two games in the National League West standings. The Dodgers went into the ninth inning against the Rockies trailing 5-4. Meanwhile, the Giants were beating those pesky San Diego Padres, 5-4, in the sixth inning.
It looked like the Dodgers were about to go down three games to the Giants with a little more than a week left in the season.
It looked like the Dodgers were going to have to play in the wild-card round to start the playoffs.
It looked like the Dodgers would have their playoff hopes hinge on a one-game shpowdown against the St. Louis Cardinals, the hottest team in baseball, a team that was in the midst of a 16-game winning streak.
But the Dodgers tied the score in the top of the ninth against the Rockies. Maybe there was hope after all.
Meanwhile, the Padres hit back-to-back home runs and took the lead over the Giants, 6-5, in the sixth inning.
The Dodgers all of a sudden had a chance to cut the Giants’ lead in the NL West standings to one game.
The Dodgers went into extra innings against the Rockies.
That was a good sign.
The Giants scored a run in the top of the seventh inning to tie the score against the Padres, 6-6.
That put a damper on the Dodgers rally. It gave the Giants new life. It put the wild card round back in play again for the Dodgers.
It was not going the way Dodgers fans wanted it to.
Max Muncy changed all that.
He hit a lead-off two-run home run in the top of the 10th inning to give the Dodgers a two-run lead, 7-5. The baseball gods were smiling on the Dodgers.
The Dodgers shut down the Rockies in the bottom of the 10th inning and completed the comeback. The Dodgers did their job.
Now it was up to the Padres to lend the Dodgers a hand.
The Giants and Padres game headed to extra innings. The Giants didn’t score in their half of the 10th inning. The Padres took advantage.
They scratched across a run in the bottom of the 10th inning and won the game. The Dodgers went from being three games out of first place to a game behind the Giants for the NL West lead.
Thursday was the most thrilling day of baseball in a while for Dodger fans. But it only set the stage for a desperate last week of the regular season.
The Dodgers shut out the lowly Arizona Diamondbacks, 3-0, on Sunday, but they are still in second place in the NL West standings. They are two games behind the Giants with six games to play.
At stake is avoiding playing the red hot Cardinals in a one-game, do or die playoff. Neither the Dodgers nor the Giants want that. Winning the NL West title could be the difference between celebrating a second World Series championship in a row or lamenting the season of missed opportunities and playing with a lack of urgency for the Dodgers.
The Dodger starting pitching power rankings.
- Julio Urias
- Max Scherzer
- Walker Buehler
- Tony Gonsolin
- Clayton Kershaw
The Dodgers (100-56) finish the season at home, starting a three-game series against the Padres on Tuesday and ending with a weekend series against the Milwaukee Brewers starting on Friday.
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