The NL’s two best teams meet for the right to advance to the NLCS
The Diamondbacks-Dodgers division series pitted the two teams with the National League’s best records against one another.
All season long, underdog Arizona had challenged the heavily favored Dodgers, eventually winning out on the strength of a remarkable 107-win regular season.
That thrust Los Angeles back into a one-game wild card playoff against the Philadelphia Phillies despite the fact that LA’s 99-win season would have won the NL East by six games or the NL Central by eight.
Arizona took the simulation season series from LA by 11-8, including four wins in five September meetings. The problem for the D-Backs was post-season experience. Arizona had only reached post-season play once since 2012, that coming in 2017. But only three regulars returned from that roster – Robbie Ray, Ketel Marte and Jake Lamb.
The Dodgers, of course, presented the most battle-tested post-season team in decades. LA was making its eighth successive post-season appearance, having won the NL West annually since 2013. The only Dodger without playoff experience was part-time rookie infielder Gavin Lux.
With no meaningful injuries to speak of, the Dodgers were also the healthier team. Arizona outfielder David Peralta (.286, 17 home runs, 70 RBIs) had spent much of September nursing nagging physical ailments that made his post-season value questionable. Entering the Dodger series, that intensified the pressure on backup Tim Locastro (.252, 3 homers, 28 RBIs in 85 games), who would be Peralta’s primary fill-in.