The Los Angeles Dodgers ended the regular season on a few high notes. They won a franchise record 111 games.
Freddie Freeman and Trea Turner reached the 100 RBI mark for the season.
And the Dodgers snapped a three-game losing streak on the final game of the regular season against the lowly Colorado Rockies.
That was on Wednesday. The Dodgers beat the Rockies 6-1 for their 111th win of the season. Clayton Kershaw started the game and struck out nine batters in five innings to win his 12th game of the year.
It was definitely a playoff prep start for Kershaw.
It was also a playoff tune-up for Freeman and Turner. They both homered in Game 162. Turner’s three-run home run gave him an even 100 RBIs and 21 homers for the season.
Freeman hit a solo home run and had an RBI single to reach 100 RBIs. He also has 21 home runs.
Freeman almost won the batting title too. He was trailing Jeff McNeil of the New York Mets entering the last game of the season and needed to go 4-for-4 to pass McNeil’s .326 batting average to win the batting title.
Freeman went 3-for-4, with a double and home run, and finished with a .325 batting average.
But McNeil and his Mets faced the San Diego Padres in the National League Wild Card Series, and lost in three games.
Enjoy that batting title, McNeil.
Now those pesky Padres play the Dodgers in the National League Division Series that starts Tuesday at Dodger Stadium.
The Padres have not been much of a challenge for the Dodgers. The Dodgers are 14-5 against the Padres this year. They played the Padres nine times in September and went 6-3. They swept the Padres in a three-game series in August. The Dodgers have to like their chances against the Padres to advance in the playoffs.
Still, the Padres are trying to make the games at Petco Park as home-field friendly as possible.
The team sent out a message over the weekend saying they won’t be selling playoff tickets to people who don’t live in or around the San Diego County area. Fans from San Diego, Imperial County, parts of southern Orange County, Baja California, south Riverside County, and La Paz County, Mohave County, Yuma County and Clark County, wherever that is, will have first dibs on playoff tickets. Los Angeles County residents need not apply.
Like that’s going to stop Dodger fans from filling Petco Park.
But keeping Dodger fans out of the stadium is the least of the Padres problems.
The Padres used their top three starters to eliminate the Mets from the playoffs. All the games were played in New York at Citi Field. On top of handing the ball to their No. 4 starter, the Padres are traveling cross country for Game 1 of the NLDS on Tuesday.
Neither the Padres nor the Dodgers have announced who will start Game 1. The Dodgers will go with Kershaw or Julio Urias. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said whoever starts in Game 1 will most likely start Game 5, if the series goes that long.
“Just to give you a peek behind the curtain, it's more of who we feel is best to potentially come back on regular rest in Game 5,” Roberts said.
It's not hard to figure out Urias is probably starting Game 1.
As for the Padres, they are down to Mike Clevinger or Sean Manaea. That’s if they don’t go with Yu Darvish who started Game 1 of the wild-card series against the Mets on Friday.
The Padres shut out the Mets, 6-0, on Sunday to win the wild-card series. Joe Musgrove started and pitched seven scoreless innings. But perhaps the biggest surprise of the series was the emergence of Trent Grisham.
The Padres No. 8 hitter has become the hottest hitter for the Friars. He is batting .500 in the playoffs, going 4-for-8 in the three games against the Mets, with two home runs and three RBIs, and scored five runs. He hit .184 in the regular season with 17 home runs.
But a couple slumping Dodgers have caught fire in the final days of the season too.
Cody Bellinger is batting .375, 9- for-24, with two home runs and eight RBIs in the last seven games.
He hit .210 with 19 home runs for the whole season.
Max Muncy had an eight-game hitting streak, and hit safety in 15 of 16 games, in the middle of September. In that 16-game stretch, he hit .262 with five home runs. He was a .196 hitter in the regular season.
Game 1 of the NLDS starts at 6:37 p.m.
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