Los Angeles, CA (News4usOnline) – While the Dodgers‘ 5-0 victory over the Phillies was not technically a must-win, it certainly felt like one after losing the first two games of the series.
Blake Snell delivered a second straight dominant performance on the mound and has struck out 23 batters over his last 13 innings, giving up no runs in the process. Shohei Ohtani homered for the second straight night, upping his total to 51, pretty much locking up the NL MVP after becoming the first player to hit 50 home runs and strike out 50 batters in the same season.
Ohtani is two home runs behind Kyle Schwarber for the NL lead, and the two sluggers have also been battling it out for MVP honors.
“That is going to be a good race. I still will bet on our guy,” said Dave Roberts on the home run battle, but as for MVP, the Dodgers’ manager thinks that race is over.
“With what he has done with the bat, and now what he has done on the mound, it is a landslide; a no-brainer. The only thing is, I hope some of the voters don’t get voter fatigue just because it’s the easiest option.”
Snell is starting to look like the two-time Cy Young winner that he is. He struck out four different Phillies batters twice and Schwarber three times in what was his most impressive outing of the year.
For a moment, it looked like he was going to be pulled with two outs in the sixth after issuing his first two walks of the game. Alex Vesia even made his way halfway to the mound from the bullpen, but Roberts allowed Snell to stay in after a quick chat. He responded with a five-pitch strikeout.
“I don’t want the bullpen to finish my innings. I am very adamant about that. I don’t want to put them in that situation. I am big on I put myself in this, and I want to find a way out of it, and that is kind of what was going through my head,” said Snell.
Especially when considering the Padres had already won earlier in the day, and the way in which Los Angeles lost the first two of the three-game set, this was one the Dodgers had to have. Their division lead remains at 2, but even more importantly, they picked up a much-needed win against a team they might face in October.
“We needed to win this game. You get two great performances as far as starting pitching (to open the series), and we don’t win. So getting another great performance, we needed this one, and offensively, it has been really fun to watch with the situational hitting. I am really impressed and proud of the way these guys are playing baseball,” said Roberts.
It has been a struggle for Los Angeles against all three National League teams that have already clinched a spot in the postseason. They are 3-4 against Chicago, 0-6 against Milwaukee, and now 2-4 against Philadelphia.
While they do not have to face any of them again during the regular season, they will surely have to beat at least one, possibly all three, to reach the World Series.
Every team the Dodgers will face over their final 10 games is also fighting for its postseason life (San Francisco, Arizona, and Seattle), which will make for a grueling last stretch.
If San Diego were to pass the Dodgers for the NL West title, it would potentially set Los Angeles up with the Cubs in the Wild Card, the Brewers in the NLDS, and the Phillies in the NLCS, creating the toughest path imaginable.
They finished the season 5-14 against the top three ballclubs in the NL, but there is no doubt that winning the last one is a confidence builder, and they also proved their starters are more than capable of shutting them down in a seven-game series.
“The starters pitched their tails off this series, and I thought we played a great series. We had a few bad innings, but in totality, I thought we played really good baseball. I thought the offense was fantastic. I thought the defense was great, and we just had a few bad innings that cost us the series, but I like our chances if we play like this against anyone,” said Roberts.
Continuing to play good baseball through the finish line is key for the Dodgers. They have very little room for error over the last 10 games, but they are starting to look more like the team everybody thought they would be.
Benjamin Verbrugge is a reporter for News4usonline who studied journalism at CSU Dominguez Hills. “Sports have brought me much joy throughout my life, and I want to give a little back to something that has meant so much to me.” Email Benjamin at benverbrugge8@gmail.com.
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