The 2020 MLB season remains in hiatus because of the novel coronavirus, but we continue to simulate games. Here are the results for April 27-30 for the AL.
It took a full month plus two inter-league series for the Los Angeles Dodgers to pass the Arizona Diamondbacks in the simulated 2020 NL West race.
Now that the Dodgers have maneuvered themselves into a half-game lead, the burden will be on the D-Backs to prove they can stay with the prohibitive league favorites.
More from Call to the Pen
- Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
- Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
- Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
- Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
- 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals
And although the two teams will eventually meet 19 times this season, the first of those 19 isn’t until mid-June in Los Angeles. That means Arizona must navigate nearly 40 games against other opponents to even be in a position to meaningfully deal with the Dodgers head-to-head.
LA got a short leg up by sweeping a mid-week series from the Minnesota Twins while the Diamondbacks took two of three from the Astros and Cubs.
The Dodgers knocked the Twins out of the AL Central lead, rallying for five runs in the ninth and tenth innings Tuesday against the Minnesota bullpen. Devon Smeltzer left in the eighth inning holding a 3-1 lead thanks to Josh Donaldson’s RBI double and two-run home run.
But in the ninth, Cody Bellinger took Taylor Rogers deep with Corey Seager on base to tie the game 3-3. Then, in the bottom of the 10th, Mookie Betts homered off Tyler Clippard with two aboard for the 6-3 victory.
One day later, the teams were tied 4-4 entering the bottom of the ninth, when hits by Betts, Max Muncy, and Bellinger loaded the bases off Zack Littell. Trevor May came on to face Matt Beaty, whose walk-off grand slam sealed an 8-4 outcome.
In other National League series, the Phillies took two of three from the Giants in San Francisco to hold their two and one-half game lead over Atlanta, which beat Cincinnati two of three.
In the Central, the St. Louis Cardinals took three of four games in San Diego and faced a new challenger. The Chicago Cubs ran their winning streak to eight games with a sweep of the Pirates in Chicago before losing the opener of a four-game series in Phoenix.
Washington swept a three-game series from the Milwaukee Brewers, and the Colorado Rockies split two games with the Chicago White Sox at Coors Field. In Miami, the Marlins won the battle to escape the NL East cellar, beating the News York Mets two of three.