Philadelphia came to Los Angeles having already clinched a playoff berth. With Monday’s 6–5 extra-inning win over the Dodgers, the Phillies added a division title to that collection, one they celebrated in the center of the Dodger Stadium infield, then with champagne in the tiny visitors’ clubhouse.
The Dodgers are zeroing in on a playoff berth and division title of their own. So the chances are high the teams will meet again in the postseason, which makes this week’s series a great opportunity to do a little scouting.
“We try to gather as much information as we can,” infielder Miguel Rojas said. “They’re doing the same thing.”
That’s not the main objective though. Because if the Dodgers are closing in on the postseason, they aren’t there yet. And they have even more work to do after Monday’s game, which ended with Philadelphia’s J.T. Realmuto’s 10th-inning sacrifice fly scoring ghost runner Harrison Bader from third with the winning run.
Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy reacts to grounding out in the 10th inning, sealing the Philles’ win Monday at Dodger Stadium.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
“With where we’re at, I’m trying to win every game,” said manager Dave Roberts, whose team fought back from deficits three times before losing. “And where it falls out is where it falls out.”
One of the things that both sides surely learned Monday is that the Dodgers bullpen is still far from being playoff ready. Because after Emmet Sheehan held the Phillies to one hit over 5⅔ innings, striking out seven, he watched a quartet of relievers combine to give up four runs — two on home runs — over the next four.
“It’s frustrating, just from a team perspective,” third baseman Max Muncy said of a bullpen that has blown 24 saves and ranks fourth in the National League with 30 losses.
It’s unlikely to cost the Dodgers another trip to the postseason. Even with Monday’s loss, they are two games in front of idle San Diego in the National League West with 12 games to play and their magic number for clinching a 12th division title in 13 seasons is 10.
The magic number to clinch a wild-card berth is six.
The Dodgers have also been eyeing the No. 2 seed in the postseason tournament, however, a spot Philadelphia holds and one that brings with it a bye in the first round. It’s a break Roberts’ battered roster could use, but it’s one that may now be impossible to grasp: Monday’s win pushed the Phillies’ lead to 5½ games in the race for No. 2, a deficit the Dodgers have less than two weeks to make up.
“It’s really hard to not face these games down the stretch like a playoff game,” Rojas said. “We’ve been doing this for almost two weeks now. That’s the way that we have to look at it if we want to be prepared for October.”
Those preparations were uneven at best Monday. The Dodgers fought back from deficits three times to send the game to extra innings on Andy Pages’ solo homer with one out in the ninth. But they also went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position and, after Muncy grounded out with the bases loaded in the 10th, they left nine men on base. That erased a big game from Mookie Betts, who drove in three runs on two sacrifice flies and a tying homer in the seventh.
Dodgers shortstop Mookie Betts hits a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Phillies at Dodger Stadium on Monday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
That gave him 19 RBIs in September and 78 for the season, three better than his total from all of last year. But that wasn’t enough to overcome another bullpen meltdown.
Sheehan followed opener Anthony Banda to the mound, taking the ball three batters in the game with the Phillies already leading 1-0 on Kyle Schwarber’s league-leading 53rd home run. Sheehan left with a 3-1 lead after giving up his only hit, a leadoff double to Otto Kemp in the seventh. But three batters later the Phillies had a 4-3 lead after Weston Wilson, the Phillies’ No. 9 hitter, homered off Jack Dreyer.
The Dodgers rallied to tie the score twice after that, but each time the bullpen gave the lead back, the final run coming in the 10th on Realmuto’s game-winning fly ball to right off right-hander Blake Treinen (1-5).
Asked if the series will show the Dodgers anything they can use if they face the Phillies again next month, Muncy shook his head.
“Personally, I don’t necessarily think so,” said Muncy, whose third-inning homer, his first since returning from the injured list a week ago, opened the Dodgers’ scoring. “We’ve done that in the past. We’ve played teams right before we’ve seen them in the postseason and usually they do everything complete[ly] opposite.
“Right now, you’re just trying to win a game. You’re not really worried about what’s ahead.”
Notes
Reliever Brock Stewart, the Dodgers’ most-celebrated acquisition at the trade deadline, left Monday to join Oklahoma City for a two-game rehabilitation assignment. Stewart, on the injured list since Aug. 12 because of right shoulder inflammation, is expected to pitch Tuesday and Thursday in triple A before returning to Dodger Stadium.
“If all goes well, then we have a conversation over the weekend,” Roberts said of Stewart’s availability. “We’ve just got to make sure he’s healthy. If he’s right, then it could be very additive.”
For the second straight year, Betts has been chosen as the Dodgers’ nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award, baseball’s most prestigious off-the-field prize, in recognition for his wide-ranging charity work.
In January, Betts’ 5050 Foundation donated more than $30,000 of Nike clothing to victims of the Southern California wildfires. A few weeks later, in partnership with the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation (LADF), he donated more than $160,000 to the Brotherhood Crusade to help fight hunger and homelessness in Los Angeles.
Also this season the 5050 Foundation partnered with the Obama Foundation at Hyde Park Academy to donate youth sports equipment and other supplies while also funding the Mookie Betts Metro Baseball Tournament in Nashville.
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