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The Dodgers are back in the postseason for a 14th season in a row, and are National League West champions for the fifth year in a row and 13 of the last 14 years.

This year’s clinch came with a win over the Reds in Cincinnati on Thursday, September 17, in the Dodgers’ 153rd game of the season. Here’s how that compares to other division clinches during this 14-year run.

• September 19, 2023, Game 153: at Arizona (Dodgers in last place as late as June 30)
• September 24, 2014, Game 159, vs. Giants
• September 29, 2015, Game 157, at Giants (Clayton Kershaw 13-K shutout, retired last 19 batters)
• September 25, 2016, Game 156, vs. Rockies (Charlie Culberson’s walk-off homer in Vin Scully send-off)
• September 22, 2017, Game 154, vs. Giants (Cody Bellinger set NL rookie home run record)
• October 1, 2018, Game 163, vs. Rockies (Walker Buehler wins tiebreaker)
• September 10, 2019, Game 146, at Orioles
• September 22, 2020, Game 55 (of 60), vs. A’s
• September 13, 2022, Game 141 at D-backs (earliest Dodgers clinch since moving to Los Angeles)
• September 16, 2023, Game 147 at Mariners
• September 26, 2024, Game 159 vs. Padres
• September 25, 2025, Game 159 at D-backs
• September 17, 2026, Game 153 at Reds

Garett Crochet wants to pitch in the postseason without making a single rehab appearance. That’s audacious enough, but how about playing in the postseason, without having ever played in the big leagues at all? That could be the situation Braiden Ward finds himself in. If you need to refresh your memory, Ward was the little speedster who was running wild all over Grapefruit League diamonds this spring. He hasn’t gotten a chance to show whether he can do that in the Majors yet, but Chad Tracy isn’t ruling it out. “Every time he gets on, he’s not afraid,” Tracy said. “That’s the thing. If he gets on base, he’s looking to go. That’s a unique trait. There’s a lot of guys who can run and steal bases and then there’s other guys who are, every single time they get on, almost regardless of the timing.” (Conor Ryan, Boston.com)

But a lack of speed on the base paths isn’t really the Red Sox problem right now as they muddle through a middling September. Strikeouts are. “The Red Sox are swinging and missing too much and not walking enough. This month, they have the eighth-most strikeouts and seventh-fewest walks. That doesn’t play in the postseason. Making contact does.” (Rob Bradford, WEEI)

After he initially returned to the big leagues with a bang, Roman Anthony is one of the Sox hitters who’s struggling to make contact right now. But he doesn’t sound worried. “I’m right where I want to be,” said Anthony. “I came back with enough time to get a good number of plate appearances, and to fail like I am right now and to succeed like I did in the beginning, and then kind of meet in the middle and continue to grind out every single day and get ready for what we want to be a long postseason run. [The playoffs are] what you play for after such a long year … At the end of the day, those few weeks are the only thing that really matters.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

Unfortunately, the other big power threat in the Sox lineup is also struggling to get back up to speed. Willson Contreras homered last night, but he’s still dealing with a nagging hamstring injury. “I ran pretty good there on the ground ball to shortstop, but I need to manage my leg better,” he said. “I know it’s feeling good and it’s feeling alright, but on a hard-hit ball like that, I know I’m going to be out. I was just trying to put pressure on him, see if he made a bad throw or whatever. Next time, I’ll manage better.” (Chris Cotillo, MassLive)

With Anthony and Contreras struggling in different ways, it’s important to remember that this team’s success has been built on depth, not individual star power. “Whether it was an expanded version of the trade that brought Caleb Durbin from Milwaukee to include Monasterio and Seigler, or waiver claims of Cheng and Gasper, or a minor league deal for Guerrero, the season has been a case study in the notion that perceived little moves can have a huge impact.” (Alex Speier, Boston Globe)

Fortunately, the Sox have some depth in the good guy department, too. After the departure of Liam Hendriks, who had been nominated for the Clemente Award seven times throughout his career for his charitable efforts, Garrett Whitlock has stepped in and picked up the baton. (Ian Browne, MLB.com)

On Thursday afternoon, the Rays were looking to complete a series sweep against the A’s before going into a weekend series against the Red Sox. To get the job done, they had Drew Rasmussen on the mound, up against Jeffrey Springs for the A’s. Old friend alert!

The A’s went 1-2-3 in the top of the first, though they gave up an ABS challenge pretty early in the game when the final called strike of the inning was confirmed. The Rays also went 1-2-3 for the inning.

Zack Gelof singled to start the second, but Donovan Walton grounded into a double play to eliminate the baserunner. Rasmussen got another ground ball out to end the inning. In the home half, Liam Hicks got a leadoff single, but three outs followed to end the inning.

In the third, Denzel Clarke got a two-out single, then successfully stole second. Henry Bolte walked. We got a good old-fashioned double steal as Clarke and Bolte both stole a base, but despite both getting into scoring position, the A’s weren’t able to capitalize on the baserunners. The Rays went three-up, three-down in the home half.

Lawrence Butler singled to start the fourth, but three outs followed to leave him stranded. In the home half, things opened up for the Rays in a big way. Jonathan Aranda got things started with a leadoff double. Junior Caminero walked. Liam Hicks then walked. Jonny DeLuca grounded into a force out that ended with Aranda out at home, but the bases safely loaded. Chandler Simpson singled, driving in two runs.

Ryan Vilade was hit by a pitch. Richie Palacios then doubled, but thanks to a fielding error by Heim, three runs scored and Palacios ended up on third.

Taylor Walls then singled, bringing in another run. That was all she wrote for Springs, sorry old friend, but not sorry. He was replaced by Geoff Hartlieb who got the next two outs in a row, but the Rays were suddenly up 6-0.

Ras had to be breathing a little easier going into the fifth inning. Clarke managed a two-out walk, then Bolte singled, but the A’s couldn’t manage to bring either of them home. The Rays went 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning.

Rasmussen was done after five innings with a final line of 5.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K on 76 pitches. Personally, I probably would have let him go another inning, but perhaps Cash has insights we don’t. Casey Legumina replaced him and immediately gave up a solo home run to Butler. Three outs followed, but the A’s had made their way onto the scoreboard. Joe Rock came out of the A’s pen in the home half and gave up a leadoff single to Simpson. Simpson stole second, and Vilade walked. Cedric Mullins replaced Vilade as a pinch-runner, then both Simpson and Mullins stole a base to put two runners in scoring position. Palacios walked to load the bases. Between a Rock and a hard place, the A’s went back to their bullpen for Chris Roycroft. Walls was walked, bringing in a run. With one out, Aranda walked to bring in another run. Two outs followed as the A’s finally got themselves out of their mess, but the Rays were now up 8-1.

Brody Hopkins was the new Rays’ pitcher for the seventh. Alika Williams got a leadoff walk. A wild pitch allowed Williams to advance to second. Hopkins got things back under control, though, and got the next three outs in order. Yunior Tur came in for the home half and got the Rays out in order.

Steven Matz came on for the eighth. With two outs, Gelof reached on a fielding error from Caminero, but it didn’t end up hurting the Rays as they got the final out in the next at-bat. In the bottom of the inning Palacios got a leadoff walk. Walls grounded into a force out to eliminate Palacios but keep a runner on. Aranda then reached on a fielding error to load the bases. Hicks then singled to score two more runs. Jake Fraley then walked. Drew Rom came in from the A’s bullpen to get the final out of the inning. The Rays now led 10-1.

Alex Cook took over for the Rays in the ninth and got the final three outs of the game to wrap up the Rays’ win and the series sweep.

Final: Rays 10, A’s 1

Cubs center fielder Pete Crow-Armstrong is having an historic season. Through Wednesday, 153 games, he is batting .282 /.375/.581 with 115 runs scored, 44 home runs and 37 stolen bases. The slugging percentage and .956 OPS lead the National League.

However, based on this Bluesky post, PCA might have done even better:

Okay, that’s something of what might be called a “freak show stat,” because as Mike Petriello points out, baseball is a very different sport than it was during DiMaggio’s time, which is now between 75 and 90 years ago. That’s a really long time and we should expect sports to evolve over time.

There’s one truth not stated in that post, though, and that’s the reason PCA has faced so many different pitchers. That’s from 10 days ago, and the Cubs haven’t played any teams in those 10 days that they hadn’t faced earlier this yer, so that number isn’t likely to have increased much. The only team they’ll face going forward that they haven’t seen is the Red Sox, who they’ll play for the final three games of the 2026 regular season.

The truth is this: The balanced schedule.

Before the balanced schedule took effect in 2023, MLB teams played a schedule mostly in their own league. They’d play their “rival” twice, then three games each against one division in the other league. It amounted to 20 interleague games, and playing 20 of the other 29 teams.

Now, with the balanced schedule, every team plays all 29 other teams and there are 48 interleague contests per team. What that means, of course, is that teams are playing nine clubs that they didn’t used to see, and fewer games against divisional opponents, down from 19 to 13.

This, obviously, means that players would see many more different pitchers. In 2022, 523 different men pitched for MLB teams. Now, this includes position players pitching, though that was done far less even that recently — only 30 different position players that year, compared to the ridiculous number of 11o this year. We can’t really take an “average” per team because some of these pitchers pitched for multiple teams.

You ready for this? There have been 856 different players throwing at least one pitch for an MLB team this year. Even if you take out the position players for both years, that’s still a 48 percent increase.

And that’s my point here. Hitters are just seeing far more pitchers now than they did with the unbalanced schedule. Combine that with the fact that even over just four years, the number of pitchers who can throw 98 miles per hour has also increased, and I think that likely results in a drop in batting average and offense.

Now, the Cubs have bucked that trend, a bit, by having what could be an historically great offensive season. Good on them, but if MLB went back to the unbalanced schedule, I think that would help boost offensive production. The unbalanced schedule is a good idea for a number of reasons; this is just one more, and I think that MLB and the MLB Players Association should consider reverting to the unbalanced schedule for the next CBA. It would be good for the sport, in my view.

What do you think?

We’ve learned a lot about the current St. Louis Cardinals roster this season including some great things and others not so much. The last view of this team at home this season begins Friday night when the Cardinals welcome the Washington Nationals to town.

Pitching Matchups

Friday night – Kyle Leahy (RHP 10-4, 3.33 ERA, 128 SO) vs Cade Cavalli (RHP 12-5, 3.12 ERA, 194 SO)

Saturday night – Michael McGreevy (RHP 7-9, 3.83 ERA, 112 SO) vs Andrew Alvarez (LHP 2-6, 3.35 ERA, 99 SO)

Sunday afternoon – Quinn Mathews (LHP 2-3, 3.62 ERA, 36 SO) vs Jake Irvin (RHP 2-9, 5.51 ERA, 96 SO)

Cade Cavalli has 3 no decisions in his last 3 starts. His last appearance was September 11 against the LA Angels where he threw 6 innings allowing 3 hits with 2 earned runs while striking out 9 and walking just 2. Andrew Alvarez also has no decisions in his last 3 starts. His most recent was September 12 against the LA Angels where he threw 7 innings of 1-hit ball allowing no earned runs while striking out 8 and walking 4. Jake Irvin has 1 loss and no wins in his last 3 starts. His most recent was on September 13 against the LA Angels tossing 5 innings while allowing 3 earned runs with only 2 hits striking out 6 and walking 4.

Washington Nationals Players to Watch

CJ Abrams – Abrams is tied for the home run lead for the Nationals with 30 home runs so far this season with 96 RBI’s and a .264 batting average and 29 stolen bases.

James Wood – Wood also has 30 homers this season with 75 RBI’s and an average of .266 and 21 steals.

Luis Garcia – Garcia has 23 home runs with 76 RBI’s and an average of .283.

Daylen Lile – Lile has 21 home runs with 85 RBI’s and an average of .252.

Curtis Mead – Mead has 15 home runs, 48 RBI’s and an average of .254.

The Washington Nationals have already been eliminated from playoff contention with a record of 71-81 as they sit in 4th place in the NL East. The Cardinals are on the cusp of playoff elimination as the team is 8 games out of the last Wild Card slot with just 9 games left to play.

There are a few new injury twists that the St. Louis Cardinals are dealing with. Joshua Baez left Wednesday’s game against the Giants with tightness in his side according to a report from Derrick Goold of the Post-Dispatch.

JJ Wetherholt returned to the lineup Wednesday playing a limited number of innings against the Giants, but it’s expected that he’ll be in the lineup again this weekend against the Nationals.

I’m in the process of collecting my own thoughts like many on our staff are likely doing as this season winds down. I will say that I have thoroughly enjoyed following this team much more than the previous few seasons. I really want to see this current version of the St. Louis Cardinals finish out the 2026 campaign strong. Winning or sweeping the Washington Nationals this weekend would be a good start.

While the first two games of this three-game series saw the A’s barely lose, there was no doubt who the better team was today in the last game of the set. The Athletics got smacked in the finale on Thursday afternoon, losing to the play0ff-bound Rays 10-1 to wrap up their time in Florida. Just one more road series of the season left!

Springs solid early, falters late

Making what is likely one of the final starts of his A’s tenure, veteran Jeffrey Springs got the call for the finale against his former team. It’s been an overall rough season for him but he seemed to be sprinting through the finish line here at the end. The game started out well enough for the lefty as he allowed just one hit the first time through the Rays’ lineup.

Things hit the wall in the fourth however for the southpaw. If you want to look up the exact details of what happened then be my guest but it was ugly. When the inning had ended the Rays had put up a six-spot, chasing Springs from the game after he managed just one out in the frame.

• Jeffrey Springs: 3 1/3 IP, 5 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, 66 pitches

Another dud from Springs and his season ERA now stands at 6.18 through 28 starts. Today was probably he second-to-last start in an Athletics uniform, with his final start scheduled for next week at home against the Angels. He’ll certainly be glad to not call Sutter Health Park home next year.

A’s offense struggles against an ace

On the other side of things, the Athletics’ offense was going up against Tampa’s co-ace in Drew Rasmussen. The right-hander has had a fantastic season up to this point and today was no different. The Athletics managed just four hits and a pair of walks against the right-hander as he looked dominant from the jump. The A’s had a chance to push across a run against him in the third when a double-steal put runners at second and third, but with two outs they needed a base hit and Jeff McNeil couldn’t deliver. That was their best chance against Rasmussen but just couldn’t cash in. That’s why he’ll be starting a playoff game for Tampa Bay soon enough.

The A’s would not be shutout in this one though. Rasmussen was done after five full innings, making way for the bullpen for the final four frames. Right fielder Lawrence Butler greeted the first arm out of the ‘pen with a leadoff blast to start the sixth, putting the A’s on the board:

No shutout today! That was Butler’s 17th of the year and 20 home runs is definitely within reach. That should be a personal goal for him in the final week-plus we have here in the 2026 season. He started the year slow but he’s sure ending it on a high note.

The final frames

That was just about it though. The A’s would work one more walk from Alika Williams but the Rays would continue to add on, first two more in the sixth before another pair in the eighth for good measure to make it double-digits for them on the day. Funnily enough Tampa only collected seven hits this afternoon, but they also worked nine (!) walks. Can’t win like that.

Not a good day at all in Tampa. The A’s couldn’t escape Florida with at least one win and now head to their final road destination of the year with a 61-92 record. With just nine games to go the A’s should be able to avoid a 100-loss season, but the sooner we get that 63rd win the better. Hopefully it comes this weekend.

The A’s now head to Cleveland for what will be their final road series of the season. The Guardians are holding onto the AL Central lead by a thread so it’s an excellent time for the A’s to play spoiler. The A’s have yet to announce their starter for tomorrow but it could be right-hander Mason Barnett, who could get one or two more looks here in the final stretch. Cleveland does know who they’re going with as right-hander Daniel Espino gets the nod as an opener. We’ll have to wait and see how Cleveland follows him up.

Box Score

It seems safe to say that Brewers left-hander Kyle Harrison will not be on the postseason roster.

Harrison, who recorded the first five outs of today’s game against the Pirates working around just a first-inning double, then gave up three hits, two walks, and hit two batters with two outs in the second, allowing five runs (four earned) by the time he exited.

Harrison entered his August 31 start against the Cubs with a 2.79 ERA over 103 1/3 innings this season, but he now sits with a 4.25 ERA over 112 1/3 innings, allowing 24 runs (21 earned) over his last nine innings across four appearances. The velocity is still there, but the shape is not, and it’s all but a certainty with less than two weeks until the postseason that Harrison will not be on the roster this postseason.

That’s the bad news.

The good news?

Milwaukee’s bullpen (mostly) picked him up to get the finish line.

While the Brewers ultimately lost 7-4, the bullpen worked the last 6 1/3 innings, allowing just a two-run homer in the eighth, and right-hander Garrett Stallings once again turned in a great relief appearance.

The Brewers struck first in this one, as Gary Sánchez, Sal Frelick, and David Hamilton hit a trio of singles in the top of the second to plate a run, putting the Crew up 1-0.

After striking out Brandon Lowe and inducing a groundout from Nick Gonzales to begin the second, things quickly went awry for Harrison.

He walked Ronny Simon, allowed an infield single to Jared Triolo, and a catcher’s interference by Bo Naylor (which officially counts as an E2) loaded the bases. It only got worse from there, as the rookie Konnor Griffin hit a two-run double and Oneil Cruz followed with a two-run single to make it 4-1 Pittsburgh.

Harrison then hit Bryan Reynolds with a pitch, loaded the bases again with a walk of Rafael Flores Jr., and hit Lowe to make it 5-1 before Pat Murphy was forced to pull him.

Chad Patrick entered and struck out Gonzales, but the damage was done.

Neither team had much of a threat after that until the sixth inning, when the Brewers got one back with a Joey Ortiz walk, Frelick single, and a Naylor forceout on what should have been a double play ball — Griffin threw the ball into the first-base dugout, allowing Ortiz to score and cut the lead to 5-2.

The Brewers continued to chip away in the eighth inning against Luke Weaver, as Garrett Mitchell doubled and scored after advancing on a pair of flyouts by Ortiz and Frelick. Naylor then followed with a solo home run that barely made it over the 21-foot wall in right field, as a young Brewer fan appeared to possibly reach over to (unsuccessfully) grab the ball. The homer call stood after review, and suddenly it was 5-4.

After Cooper Pratt kept the pressure on with a single up the middle, Pirates manager Don Kelly opted to go to his closer Mason Montgomery, who walked Brice Turang but got out of the inning with a strikeout of Luis Lara.

Aaron Ashby took over for Stallings — who pitched three scoreless innings from the fourth through the seventh, allowing just a hit and a walk while striking out six — in the eighth looking to preserve the one-run deficit. He wasn’t able to do it, though, as he allowed a single and a homer to Henry Davis, extending Pittsburgh’s lead to 7-4.

Andrew Vaughn drew a one-out walk in the ninth, but he was left stranded there and the Brewers were unable to complete the sweep in Pittsburgh.

It was a very rough day for Harrison (1 2/3 IP, 5 R (4 ER), 4 H, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 2 K) and home plate umpire James Hoye (nine overturned calls on 11 challenges), but a good day for Patrick (1 1/3 IP, 1 BB, 2 K), JoJo Romero (1 IP, 1 K), and Stallings, who has yet to allow a run over 14 major league innings this season.

Offensively, the Brewers finished the day with nine hits and six walks, but they didn’t do quite enough to make up for Pittsburgh’s five-run second inning. Frelick was the only player with two hits, while Naylor, Turang, and Ortiz each reached twice with a hit and a walk.

The Brewers will look to shake this one off as they continue their road trip in Baltimore this weekend. Dustin May gets the ball in Friday’s series opener, while the Orioles have yet to announce a starter (though it’s expected to be Cade Povich). First pitch in that one is at 6:05 p.m. See you then.

Sheets of plastic were already in place in the Great American Ball Park visiting clubhouse Thursday afternoon, attached to the ceiling with binder clips and folded up above the lockers, ready to be unfurled after the game for the Dodgers’ celebration.

It took an extra day for the Dodgers to let them down. But with their 8-2 win Thursday, they clinched the NL West division for the 13th time in 14 years. It was never much of a contest. The Dodgers widened their lead in the division to 9 1/2 games — before the conclusion of the Padres’ game against the Rockies.

“What’s funny is Los Angeles has always been looked at, as far as sports, a Laker town,” manager Dave Roberts said this week. “I don’t know, I think we might have market share now in Los Angeles.”

They are guaranteed, at the very least, home-field advantage in a wild-card series. The next week and a half, they’ll be playing for a first-round bye, straight into the National League Division Series.

Read more:Plaschke: No more bubbly — NL West champion Dodgers appear headed for early fall

On Thursday, however — as the offense surged from top to bottom and the bullpen-day pitching staff, headlined by Justin Wrobleski’s three perfect innings and Landon Knack’s four scoreless innings, quieted the Reds offense — was a chance for the Dodgers to celebrate what they’d done so far in the season.

It’s a big deal,” Roberts said. “It’s not easy. I think a lot of people think it’s easy, it’s a rite of passage. It’s not easy to win a division when everyone is gunning for you, to keep everyone motivated to play over the course of 162.

“It’s something we’re all really proud of but that’s not the end goal. Like I mentioned [Monday] night when we clinched the postseason berth, you have to celebrate those moments and then turn the page and look forward. But it’s exciting.”

As wide of a lead as the Dodgers have in the division race, their season hasn’t been smooth sailing.

At the beginning of the year, the rotation bore the brunt of the injury bug, with left-hander Blake Snell and right-hander Tyler Glasnow missing months of the season.

Meanwhile, the Dodgers’s two big deadline acquisitions didn’t make nearly the impact they were expected to.

Right fielder Kyle Tucker — who continued his recent hot streak with a single, two doubles and a home run on Thursday — is still on pace for the worst full season of his career. And reliever Edwin Díaz not only has spent most of the season on the IL but lost the closer spot with poor performance when he was healthy. He’s scheduled to be activated off the IL (neck inflammation) Friday.

So, the Dodgers made a splash at the trade deadline, acquiring two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal. He’s fit right in, making a now Shohei Ohtani-less projected postseason rotation still the most daunting the sport has seen in decades.

What was supposed to be Ohtani’s first full season of two-way duties since joining the Dodgers turned into a second-half injury-management debacle. The Dodgers still hope he’ll be back from the 15-day IL (right biceps and left knee injuries) before the end of the regular season.

He’s set to progress to hitting off coach-thrown batting practice this week, Roberts said.

“Overall, body feels normalish,” Roberts said. “... There’s no pain. He’s doing everything he needs to do. I still don’t know when time to (return to) play is, but everything that I hear is really positive.”

Injuries have hit the position-player group hard down the stretch, with center fielder Andy Pages (fractured left hand) — likely to return during the Dodgers’ upcoming homestand — and catcher Dalton Rushing (right elbow) also on the IL, and first baseman Freddie Freeman (right knee tendinitis) and infielder Miguel Rojas (right shoulder soreness) playing through ailments.

The rotation also isn’t out of the woods. Snell left his start Wednesday with what the team called left groin tightness, and it remains to be seen if he’ll make another regular-season start. Right-hander Roki Sasaki is working back from a blister on his middle finger and is penciled in to return from the IL next week against the Padres.

Read more:Blake Snell exits Dodgers' loss early because of injury

Despite all of that, the Dodgers have already won 93 games — matching their 2025 season total — with nine games to go.

“I don’t think we’ve been able yet in the season to be the whole group healthy and performing the way we know we can perform,” left fielder Teoscar Hernández said when the Dodgers clinched a postseason berth Monday. “But at the same time, it’s baseball. Things like that are going to happen, so just have to support each other the way we’ve been doing this year, the past year, in the hard moments, and just keep going.”

Ideally, that means the best is yet to come.

But first, champagne showers.

Sign up for more Dodgers news with Dodgers Dugout. Delivered at the start of each series.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Fittingly, in a game in which the Dodgers secured the NL West crown, they did so in the dominant manner in which they’ve won this division—this season and in many other campaigns—beating the Reds 8-2 in the final game of this road trip.

There are plenty of games in the regular season in which you can pinpoint a couple of pitches—mistakes that were hit and others that weren’t—to argue a game could’ve gone the other way. Well, this was not one of those times, as Brady Singer could not buy a strikeout against the Dodgers, throwing less than half of his pitches inside the zone, which led to plenty of walks. And the walks were the least of his problems, as whenever Singer threw anything in the zone, it was getting hit and hit hard.

Before Elly De La Cruz could even enter the batter’s box for the first time, the Reds already trailed the Dodgers by a pair. In the top of the first, Kyle Tucker took advantage of a Freddie Freeman walk and hit a two-run bomb, crushing a low sinker right in the middle of the zone.

Because the Dodgers stranded a couple of runners who got on base in the first after that Tucker homer, the right fielder would already come back to hit again in the next frame. Tucker made it a 4-0 game with an RBI double following a Freddie Freeman RBI sac fly.

Seemingly trying to push through Singer’s struggles, the Reds kept him in there, and even in a scoreless third, the signs of trouble were evident—multiple hitters reached base, and a Josue De Paula lineout over 100 MPH was doing the heavy lifting for that only zero Singer put up on the board. It felt inevitable that in the following frame, it’d turn sideways quickly. The first six hitters to come to the plate in the fourth all reached safely, including Tucker with his third hit in as many at-bats. Josue De Paula’s RBI single made it 7-0, and Singer finally got the hook, by that point already nearing 100 pitches on the day.

As the Reds starter was running on fumes in a feeble attempt to contain the Dodgers’ offense, Justin Wrobleski was cutting it loose, as only a pitcher who knew he was in for a shorter outing would do. Sitting at 96 mph+ on his fastball and sinker—a tick and a half over his season average on the former—Wrobleski faced nine hitters and retired them all, dominating through three before handing it off to the Dodgers’ bullpen to maintain a seven-run lead. Blake Treinen contributed one inning that had the Reds’ only run—a Sal Stewart long ball—before Landon Knack came in to complete four scoreless frames, enjoying the momentum of a commanding lead to keep the Reds from making this a close contest. The final inning was left to Seth Halvorsen, who went from taking the loss yesterday to finishing the NL West-clinching game, allowing just one run—quite the turnaround for the former Colorado Rockie.

With a single, a double, and a homer after four, Tucker had multiple chances to become the first Dodger to hit for the cycle since Cody Bellinger did it back in 2017 as a rookie. He even crushed one into the gap in left center, but the Reds’ defense played it cleanly, forcing him to not even be able to try a bold move by going to third—already looking gassed from all the running around the bases he had to do.

In the ninth inning of a 7-1 game, the Reds did what they should know better than to do against the Dodgers—they let a left-hander pitch to Miguel Rojas. The Dodgers’ veteran infielder didn’t forgive this offense by tacking on a run with a solo shot, his fourth of the year, all against southpaws.

Game particulars

• Home runs— Kyle Tucker (16), Miguel Rojas (4)
• WP— Landon Knack (1-0): 4 IP, 4 hits, 2 strikeouts
• LP— Brady Singer (6-15): 3.1 IP, 9 hits, 7 runs, 4 walks

Up next

The Dodgers rush back home because the Giants await, with a three-game set starting on Friday night (7:10 p.m. PT) in an exclusive broadcast on Apple TV. Tyler Glasnow starts, hoping to shake off a couple of rusty starts against the Twins and Marlins, while César Perdomo makes only his fourth appearance in the big leagues.

For the 13th time in 14 seasons, the Los Angeles Dodgers are champions of the National League West. And while this particular journey has been filled with unforeseen bumps, the two-time defending World Series champions just might be rounding into form at the right time.

Kyle Tucker, their $60 million-a-year-man who was rarely heard from the first five months of the season, homered for the fourth time in his past eight games and drove in three runs as the Dodgers thumped the Cincinnati Reds 8-2 Thursday, Sept. 17 at Great American Ballpark to clinch the division title with nine games remaining.

The Dodgers (93-60) hold a four-game lead over the Atlanta Braves in the race for the No. 2 seed in the NL and a first-round bye. Atlanta holds the head-to-head tiebreaker so Los Angeles must finish a game clear of the Braves to avoid playing in the wild-card series.

The likeliest scenario is the Dodgers playing host to the winner of an Atlanta-San Diego best-of-three in the NL Division Series. They most certainly won't have Shohei Ohtani, the pitcher, in this postseason and they may not have Ohtani the hitter near the height of his powers, or even at all.