Once again, the Los Angeles Dodgers have won the National League West. The Dodgers have made this a habit, clinching their 11th division title in the last 12 seasons, as well as a bye past the Wild Card Series thanks to a better record than the Milwaukee Brewers.
In the season that they didn’t win, they won 106 games and went to the NLCS. Their run in the last 12 years has been truly remarkable and consistent.
They won 7-2 against the Padres Thursday night in Dodger Stadium to clinch the division title.
However, this time around, it wasn’t easy for them, things got worrying a few times. They had an excellent seven-and-a-half-game lead in late July, but the resurgence of the Diamondbacks and Padres kept them on their toes.
In late August, the lead shrinks to only three games, before they pushed it back to six heading into September. But the Padres kept pushing them hard and Monday’s win in Dodger Stadium had the Dodgers’ lead down to two games.
However, the Dodgers won back-to-back games to come on top of the division.
For the Dodgers, this is the first full season since 2018 that they didn’t reach the 100-win number. This is a good indicator of how much competition they faced this season.
The Dodgers also faced some injuries that hampered their progress in the division league. Only two pitchers made more than 20 starts and none made more than 25. So, you can guess how much adversity they faced.
Three Dodgers’ players were exceptional this year, their names are Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman.
It is likely that Ohtani will be winning the NL MVP this season after the first 50-50 year in MLB history.
Now, they made the playoffs. The hard part of the journey is still to come for the Dodgers. These days, making the playoffs isn’t good enough anymore.
However, the Dodgers have done their job in the regular season to reach the playoffs.
