It’s probably safe to put the T-shirts in production.
Because barring an epic September collapse, the Dodgers now seem to be on a glide path to another National League West title.
In one game that effectively counted for three in the standings, the Dodgers defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-6 at Chase Field on Monday afternoon — a victory that not only moved the team six games clear of Arizona in the NL West race, but also clinched their season series (and potential end-of-season tiebreaker) against the club in their 13th and final meeting of the campaign (the Dodgers finished 7-6 against the Diamondbacks this year).
“For us to win three here is a tough feat,” manager Dave Roberts said. “It took some big hits, some big pitching. Overall, to come out of here up six games on these guys — we took care of business.”
No one was rolling out champagne bottles yet.
With four weeks to go, and important absences remaining on the mound, much can still go awry for a currently shorthanded Dodgers team.
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But with only 24 games left in their schedule — and some relatively easy ones at that, with series against the Angels, Miami Marlins and Colorado Rockies (twice) still remaining — the Dodgers (83-55) have put all the pressure on the Diamondbacks (77-61) and the San Diego Padres (79-61), who were five games back in the standings Monday night.
Even if the Dodgers go just .500 the rest of the way, the Diamondbacks and Padres (who come to L.A. for three games the last week of September) would have to win roughly 75% of their remaining games, if not more, to catch them.
By taking three of four games at Chase Field this week, the Dodgers basically put one hand on what would be their 11th division crown in the last 12 years.
“If you’re looking at division leads this early in September, you’re doing the wrong thing,” first baseman Freddie Freeman cautioned.
Still, countered Monday’s starting pitcher Jack Flaherty, “there’s no secrets” about the standings.
“Every game just becomes a little bit more important,” Flaherty added. “So just a big, big win today, to win the series and just continue to move things forward.”
