The Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks on Wednesday night in Arizona. Earlier in the day, the Padres dropped their series finale at home to the Milwaukee Brewers. Los Angeles is up two and a half games on San Diego.
Dodgers 89-69 (.563) – – –
Padres 87-72 (.547) 2 1/2 GB
By virtue of beating the Padres nine times in 13 games to secure the season series, the Dodgers hold the tiebreaker over San Diego. So they only need to tie the Padres to clinch the division.
The Dodgers magic number to clinch the National League West is now 1.
Put another way, the Dodgers have four games remaining, the Padres have three, and they don’t play one another. The Dodgers need one of those seven outcomes to go their way to win the division, while the Padres need all seven outcomes to fall their way to prevail in the division.
The Dodgers have one more game against the Diamondbacks before heading to Seattle to face the American League West-winning Mariners. The Padres finish up at home with three games against the D-backs.
The earliest possible day the Dodgers could clinch the division is Thursday, September 25, with a win in Arizona.
