Dodgers back to divisional play

We are down to five weeks left in the regular season, with 32 games left on the Dodgers’ regular season schedule. A whopping 26 of those games are against the National League West, including the next nine against the non-Giants.

That run starts with three games at Coors Field against the Rockies, beginning Monday night in Denver. LA has one home and one road series left with all four other teams in the division.

The Dodgers are 28-22 (.560) against the NL West this year, the second-best record within the division (San Francisco is 32-20). That includes a 12-13 record on the road within the division, including 3-3 at Coors Field.

When the Dodgers left Denver at the beginning of the month, the Rockies took two of three games and climbed back to .500, on the fringes of contention just three games out of a wild card spot.

But Colorado is just 8-14 since then and now find themselves 6½ games behind the Cardinals for the second wild card spot, with three more teams in between.

The run prevention has gone south for Colorado, who got back into it by giving up 3.93 runs per game in July, but has allowed 5.84 runs per game in August.

Jon Gray saw a three-start blip during which he allowed 19 runs on 22 hits in 12 innings, but he rebounded with 10 strikeouts in six innings last Tuesday in Milwaukee, allowing just two runs.

Kenta Maeda starts against the Rockies on Monday, with a 1.45 ERA in three starts against Colorado this season, with 22 strikeouts and two walks in 18⅔ innings.

Maeda is one of just four Dodgers starting pitchers to allow two or fewer runs in multiple starts in one season at Coors Field . No Dodgers pitcher has ever done it more than twice in the same year.

Game info

Time: 5:40 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA