Los Angeles Dodgers Get The Series Win They Needed

After a tumultuous August, the Dodgers find themselves alone in first place after a series win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Welcome to the 2018 Los Angeles Dodgers, where Matt Kemp, Max Muncy, and Walker Buehler have lead the way in LA’s two wins so far this month. I don’t think this will ever get old; the fact that a returning vet, a 24-year-old rookie, and the most underrated slugger in baseball are leading the charge for the reigning NL Champs. One week ago, the Dodgers were 2.5 games back of the Arizona Diamondbacks with a four-game matchup just days away. The weight and the importance of this series could not be understated.

Many said that this series would make or break the Dodgers’ postseason hopes, and it was a difficult point to argue. Get swept, and the Dodgers would find themselves 6.5 games back, and all but out of the postseason conversation. Sweep the D-Backs, and they’d find themselves in first.

Well, they didn’t get the sweep, but they did win the series, and in doing so, they got the one thing that truly matters in September; the lead.

After dropping the first game of the series 3-1, the Dodgers came back and won on Friday thanks to a Kiké Hernandez and a Justin Turner home run in the 7th and 8th. The late-inning heroics didn’t end there, as Matt Kemp would hit a 3-run home run the next night in the bottom of the 8th.

The Dodgers were not done and neither, it seems, was Kemp.

As the game entered the bottom of the 9th on a sunny Sunday in Los Angeles, Arizona closer Brad Boxberger came in to pitch. The Dodgers have fallen victim to his fastball on multiple occasions, but Sunday he walked the first two batters he faced (Alex Verdugo and Max Muncy) and Manager Torey Lovullo didn’t want to take any chances. After a Kiké Hernandez bunt that advanced the runners to second and third, Arizona’s skipper called on the pen once more.

The reliever that jogged out would change the game.

It was Archie Bradley, a seemingly logical move as he has been one of the Diamondbacks’ best bullpen arms all season long.

Like I said, it seemed logical. The part that made the call a little illogical was due to who was standing in the on-deck circle for the Dodgers. It was Matt Kemp, the same player who hit a monster go-ahead home run off Bradley less than 24 hours before.

In spite of yesterdays heroics, Lovullo called on his guy, and on the first pitch, Kemp drove the ball to the center-field wall. It could have easily been a home run, but with the speedy Tim Locastro representing the winning run on second, it didn’t need to be. The ball bounced off the Budweiser sign in left-center and rolled back past A.J. Pollock. Kemp touched second, Locastro touched home.

Game over.

This was the series win the Dodgers needed. If they intend to win the division (and boy, do they want to) this was the series they had to take advantage of. They did, and are in first place because of it.

That said, the road ahead is still rocky, literally. The Colorado Rockies are only a half-game back and have been playing great baseball lately.

But for the next 24 hours or so, the Los Angeles Dodgers are alone in first place.

24 hours may be all they need.