Giants and Dodgers Secure Postseason Berths

The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-4 on September 14th behind three home runs for their fifth straight victory. The win clinched a playoff berth for the Dodgers for the ninth consecutive year.

Los Angeles is the second club to clinch a post season berth. Their National League West rival San Francisco Giants were the first when they wrapped up a spot on September 13th when they beat the San Diego Padres 9-1. Through games of September 14th, the Giants had the best record in the majors at 95-50, and were riding a nine game winning streak. The Dodgers weren’t fire behind at 93-53, with a five game winning streak. L.A. has the second best record in the majors, so we will likely wind up with a scenario in which the club with the second best record in the majors—whether it is Los Angeles or San Francisco–has to deal with the one game Wild Card playoff.

The Giants turnaround from last year’s 29-31 Covid shortened record to this year’s probable 100+ win season and a playoff appearance is one of the surprises of the 2021 campaign. Equally surprising is the San Diego Padres’ apparent decline from last year, or at least the club not living up to expectations. After finishing 37-23 in 2020, the Padres reached the playoffs and beat the Cardinals in the Wild Card Series (the playoff format in 2020 included a best of three Wild Card Series) before losing to the Dodgers in the National League Division Series. San Diego made trades for starting pitchers Matt Snell and Yu Darvish which was supposed to put them over the top. Instead, at 74-70, the Padres are battling with the Cardinals, Padres, Reds, Phillies, and Mets for the final Wild Card slot.