The Los Angeles Dodgers are closing in on an NL West title. Sure, Wednesday night was a swing and miss, as all the Dodgers needed was to win OR for the rival San Diego Padres to lose. Neither of those things happened, and thus our entire content plan was thrown in the garbage can. That's just what happens when you try to predict baseball.
The good news for the Dodgers is they have a chance to clinch once again on Thursday. Sure, a day game against the Cincinnati Reds stands in their way, but Elly De La Cruz, Sal Stewart and Co. don't have much to play for. The question isn't if the Dodgers will clinch, but when. That's what we're here for.
What is the Dodgers magic number to clinch the NL West?
The Dodgers magic number to clinch the NL West is one. That number is relatively easy to figure out, as the magic number formula is as follows: Games remaining +1 - (Losses by second place team - losses by first place team). Basically, up to this point the Dodgers have needed a combination of wins and losses by the two teams fighting for the final NL Wild Card spot — the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks. The good news for Dodgers fans is that moving forward, all they have to do is win.
The math behind that is relatively simple. If the Dodgers win on Thursday, they'd secure their 93rd win. Even if Los Angeles were to lose out, the Padres couldn't possibly finish with a better record, as San Diego has 69 losses on the season and the Dodgers own the tiebreaker.
Winning the NL West would at least ensure that Los Angeles is playing its first playoff series at home. But they'd love for that series to be the NLDS, rather than a best-of-three Wild Card matchup. That means finishing with either the No. 1 or No. 2 overall seed, which has become a three-team dogfight with the Milwaukee Brewers and Atlanta Braves. The Dodgers enter Monday in the No. 2 spot, up on Atlanta and well back of the Brewers, though they don't hold the tiebreaker against either team.
Have the Dodgers already clinched a playoff spot?
The Dodgers have already clinched a playoff spot thanks to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Los Angeles already has 92 wins on the season, which puts them in a safe position to make the postseason. Even if the Dodgers were to lose out — an unlikely scenario, of course, given all the talent on this team — they couldn't possibly finish behind Arizona. The Padres would, in this scenario, win the NL West, while the Dodgers would slide into their spot as a Wild Card team.
Clinching a playoff spot was expected of the Dodgers to open the season. Of course, getting to the playoffs is always cause for celebration, but the bar is realistically much higher for the two-time defending World Series champs. It's three-peat or bust for the Dodgers this season, which means Dave Roberts and Co. will have their sights set on a division title — and, with any luck, a first-round bye in October.
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