LOS ANGELES — Because the bottles began popping Thursday night time at Dodger Stadium, Clayton Kershaw and Tyler Glasnow ditched their T-shirts, Shohei Ohtani let the champagne burn his eyes, and Freddie Freeman stood on the periphery taking within the scene. He wished to listen to the speeches, to be a part of the jubilation of one other division clinch on the finish of an particularly taxing season, however he might solely accomplish that a lot together with his physique supported by crutches and his proper foot encased in a strolling boot.
The victory that sealed the Nationwide League West crown for the Dodgers additionally served as a microcosm of a season outlined by a litany of accidents and the membership’s capability to triumph regardless of them. To lastly maintain off the surging Padres and declare an eleventh division title within the final 12 seasons, it meant withstanding yet one more.
Towards the tip of a raucous go-ahead, five-run seventh inning on Thursday that solidified their place atop the NL West standings, the Dodgers held their collective breath. A hush enveloped the sold-out crowd of 52,433 followers in attendance for the membership’s common season dwelling finale as Freeman sat on the bottom in ache behind first base after rolling his ankle whereas making an attempt to beat out a throw.
Not like many of the gamers on the staff’s season-opening rotation, and lots of the pitchers the Dodgers hoped to depend on come October, their All-Star first baseman believes he’ll be accessible when the postseason begins. X-rays on Freeman’s ankle, which had ballooned after the sport, had been adverse.
“It is swollen,” Freeman stated. “It is like a grapefruit. However they’re fairly optimistic that I ought to be capable of go by [next] Saturday within the playoffs. That is what I am banking on. I’ve by no means rolled an ankle, so I do not know.”
Freeman stated he requested to remain within the recreation, however head athletic coach Thomas Albert advised him that would not be taking place. So he hobbled off the sector beneath his personal energy. He is not going to journey to Colorado for the membership’s common season finale, however he now will get eight days to relaxation earlier than the Dodgers host the primary recreation of the Nationwide League Division Sequence.
“I am not too fearful about it,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman stated. “We’re gonna be cautious. There is not any cause to play him this weekend. We might have, probably, if we would have liked it. We do not want it.”Â
Their comeback victory in opposition to the Padres staff that was chasing them within the standings ensured that.
Contemplating the cash the Dodgers spent this offseason including Ohtani, Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Teoscar Hernández to an already formidable roster, maybe it should not be a shock that considered one of baseball’s most costly ball golf equipment will get an opportunity to avenge their surprising back-to-back first-round exits of their final two playoff appearances.
Alternatively, this yr was not like any of their current roads to October.
“All of them really feel candy,” supervisor Dave Roberts stated. “However I will let you know, man, with what we have gone by means of this yr, this feels a tick sweeter.”Â
The Dodgers handled vital losses within the beginning rotation final yr, however the quantity of absences this season stands alone. Solely Yamamoto, who missed almost three months with a rotator cuff pressure and has but to go greater than 4 innings since getting back from damage earlier this month, is left standing from a season-opening rotation that included Glasnow, veteran James Paxton and rookies Bobby Miller and Gavin Stone.
Glasnow’s All-Star yr was derailed by a season-ending sprained elbow. Paxton was designated for project and traded to Boston. Miller was ineffective in a follow-up marketing campaign to a tantalizing rookie yr. Stone was a stabilizing pressure in a rotation decimated by damage and would have earned a playoff begin till he, too, finally broke down, succumbing to a season-ending shoulder concern.
In Thursday’s postgame celebration, Kershaw sought out Stone, who completed the yr 11-5 with a 3.53 ERA and a team-leading 25 begins.
“I advised him, ‘Hey, you had been as massive part of this as something, and it is advisable get pleasure from this,'”Kershaw stated. “That is particular. Whether or not it is your first or your fiftieth, it is one of the best.”Â
Not like final yr, it does not appear doubtless that Kershaw will be capable of grit by means of damage in time to assist, both, although he has not given up all hope of returning in some unspecified time in the future within the postseason from the large toe damage that has held him out because the finish of final month.
Myriad accidents worn out not solely the staff’s anticipated starters but additionally a lot of the depth behind these gamers. Younger starters River Ryan and Emmet Sheehan wanted Tommy John surgical procedure. Dustin Might was on the restoration path from elbow surgical procedure when he suffered an esophageal tear, additional depleting the group. Extra hits arrived within the division-clinching collection. Beginning shortstop Miguel Rojas aggravated an adductor tear on Wednesday. Earlier than Thursday’s collection finale, relievers Brusdar Graterol and Brent Honeywell Jr. had been positioned on the injured checklist. Then Freeman obtained damage.
And but, right here the Dodgers are once more.
“It will’ve been straightforward for us to make excuses,” Roberts stated. “You lose three, 4, 5, six, seven starters, write the season off. However not one individual on this clubhouse did that.”
Numerous illnesses, plus second-half surges from their prime division foes, prevented one other 100-win season and early clinch for the Dodgers; nonetheless, they prevailed. The commerce deadline offered a vital increase, giving the Dodgers one other starter in Jack Flaherty, a better in Michael Kopech and a flexible place participant in Tommy Edman.Â
After going 11-13 in July, a 19-8 month of August and a 13-10 begin to September put the Dodgers in a well-recognized place. Regardless of all of the accidents, the Dodgers enter the weekend with one of the best file in baseball.
“We like excessive expectations,” Friedman stated. “We relish them. It beats the s— out of the choice and other people simply not caring. Individuals care, they’re passionate concerning the Dodgers. They’ve excessive expectations. So will we. We expect that is an excellent factor. And for us, that is the 1st step.”Â
For the primary time since a tiebreaker Recreation 163 in 2018, the Dodgers obtained to have fun clinching a division in entrance of a full crowd at Dodger Stadium on Thursday night time. Identical to that recreation six years in the past, it was Walker Buehler on the mound once more.Â
During the last half decade, Buehler constructed a status for delivering within the highest-pressure moments. A second Tommy John surgical procedure threatened to forestall him from incomes these possibilities once more. Unable to overlook bats or command the baseball the way in which he did previous to the elbow surgical procedure that worn out his 2023 season, his return to the mound in a contract yr has been extra of a slog than a dashing success. He took a 1-6 file and a 5.63 ERA into this week’s begin.
Walker Buehler got here up massive when the Dodgers wanted him to on Thursday night time. (Photograph by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Pictures)
However when the Dodgers wanted him Thursday, he stepped up once more.
“That is what I reside for,” Buehler stated after holding the Padres to 1 run in 5 innings.
“He is the man you need on the mound in a giant state of affairs,” Max Muncy added. “I do not care what his numbers say.”
During the last month, these numbers have seemed extra serviceable.
Buehler has a 4.44 ERA because the begin of September — removed from his ordinary dominance, however doubtless sufficient, given the Dodgers’ circumstances, to be the staff’s third starter this postseason behind Flaherty and Yamamoto. Over his final three outings, Buehler held the Braves to 1 earned run in six innings, struck out 9 Rockies, then delivered the Dodgers one other division title.
He was not the one scuffling Dodgers veteran who discovered his kind when it mattered most.
The Dodgers had but to attain in opposition to Joe Musgrove coming into the seventh inning on Thursday when Will Smith, relegated to the sixth spot within the order after watching his OPS drop greater than 100 factors because the starting of June, despatched a 95 mph fastball down the center of the plate out 426 ft to middle subject. He flipped his bat within the air and let loose the emotion as he neared first base. Later within the breakout body, Mookie Betts did, too, after padding the Dodgers’ lead with a two-run single.
Dodgers’ Will Smith blasts a two-run homer to even rating in opposition to Padres
Betts entered Thursday hitless in eight at-bats in the course of the collection and was batting .170 over his earlier 13 video games. He sought to alter that by means of additional work within the cage earlier than the sport. A few of his teammates watched him hit for greater than an hour. He completed with two hits and recorded simply his second stroll within the final 13 video games.
“We’ll battle,” Betts stated. “Win, lose or draw, we’re gonna battle.”
If the Dodgers are to satisfy the expectations they’d once they made their offseason spending spree, will probably be this offense carrying the way in which — together with a participant who hasn’t been there for the Dodgers’ previous couple playoff disappointments.
Amid the bounceback performances was one other standout day from the steadiest pressure in probably the most harmful lineups within the sport. The night time prior, Ohtani tried to pump his dugout up after delivering the game-deciding RBI single. At crucial time of yr, Roberts is witnessing “the proper vitality” from Ohtani — pressing, however not urgent — the type that may productively trickle all through a roster.
“Your greatest participant is taking part in with emotion,” Roberts stated, “everybody follows.”
On Thursday, the two-time MVP was again at it once more, offering the go-ahead hit within the seventh inning to grow to be the primary main league participant with 400 whole bases in a season since 2001. Extra importantly, he turned a part of a division winner for the primary time.
“It was an superior feeling,” Ohtani stated by means of his interpreter, “and I am hoping to proceed having the ability to pop extra champagne.”
That is all new to Ohtani, however he feels the setting of his first ever playoff push has elevated his efficiency. The numbers would recommend the identical. He has delivered a success in 10 of his final 11 at-bats with runners in scoring place. In these clutch spots, Ohtani stated, he’s too centered to consider the nerves.
Total, he’s 20-for-29 with 5 homers, 5 doubles, 16 RBIs and 7 steals over his final seven video games.
“It is one thing that I do know Shohei’s dreamed about ever since he was a younger child, and now he is residing it proper now in actual time,” Roberts stated. “He is placed on a present the final couple weeks, and clearly what a yr he is having. We’ll journey that horse, that thoroughbred, to a championship.”
For that to occur, the Dodgers might use some constructive information on the well being entrance. Accidents have impacted however not but eradicated the Dodgers’ probabilities of successful their first World Sequence title since 2020 and their first full-season championship since 1988.
Rojas hopes to return for the common season finale in Colorado and be prepared for the postseason.
The larger query, now, is that if Freeman will likely be able to do the identical.
“We labored actually arduous to beat lots of adversity, and it by no means ends, it looks like, this yr,” Freeman stated. “I will do every little thing I presumably can to be prepared.”
Rowan Kavner is an MLB author for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand coated the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved again to the West Coast in 2014. Comply with him on Twitter atÂ@RowanKavner.
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