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The Dodgers regained control of the National League West last week by sweeping the team that was ahead of them (Rockies) and then winning a weekend series against the Padres to finish a 5-1 week.
Chris Taylor provided the fireworks on Tuesday night with the first walk-off home run of his career, then Yasiel Puig continued his power surge with a pinch-hit three-run shot in the seventh inning on Wednesday to break a tie. Those two blasts helped swing what began as a half-game deficit in the division into a 1½-game lead over Colorado to end the week.
The Dodgers’ magic number to clinch the National League West is six.
Batter of the week
Joc Pederson didn’t have one single last week but he was still quite productive, with three home runs and three doubles, driving in five and scoring a team-best six runs despite totaling just 13 at-bats.
Pitcher of the week
Hyun-jin Ryu was stellar, pitching 13 scoreless innings in his two starts. He didn’t allow a run, he didn’t walk anyone, and he struck out 13. Ryu on the season has a 2.00 ERA in his 14 starts, with 86 strikeouts against only 13 walks.
Ryu was great at the plate too, going 3-for-5 with a walk and three runs scored.
Week 26 results
5-1 record
40 runs scored (6.67 per game)
13 runs allowed (2.17 per game)
.887 pythagorean record
Season to date
87-69 record
759 runs scored (4.87 per game)
586 runs allowed (3.76 per game)
.616 pythagorean record (96-60)
Miscellany
National League history: Matt Kemp ‘s solo shot on Wednesday against the Rockies was his 20th home run of the season, the seventh to hit 20 home runs with the Dodgers this season. They are the first National League team ever to have seven players with 20 home runs, and joined six American League teams in sharing the major league record.
Grand birthday: Kemp on Sunday homered, doubled and singled on his 34th birthday, and drove in three runs. His solo home run in the second inning gave him 1,000 career runs batted in, the 287th player in MLB history to reach that milestone.
Max Power: Yasmani Grandal smashed a solo shot on Saturday against San Diego, giving the Dodgers 222 home runs on the season to break the franchise record set last year. The Dodgers finished the week with an NL-best 225 home runs, 19 more than the next-best team. This will be the ninth time in 61 years since moving to Los Angeles the Dodgers have led the NL in homers, joining 1974, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1983 and 2015.
Start me up: Joc Pederson homered twice and doubles on Monday against the Rockies, including a tater to start the game in the bottom of the first inning. He homered agains to start Saturday’s game. Pederson now has seven leadoff home runs (in just 55 games batting first), matching the Dodgers franchise record set by Davey Lopes in 1979.
Home, sweet home: Hyun-jin Ryu’s two gems last week lowered his ERA at home this season to a ridiculous 1.15, the fifth-lowest in Dodger Stadium history (minimum 50 innings). Ryu allowed no runs in five of his nine starts at Chavez Ravine in 2018.
Transactions
Monday: A trio of relievers were activated for the final two weeks. Tony Cingrani came off the 60-day disabled list, John Axford was activated off the 10-day DL, and Yimi Garcia was recalled from the minors. To make room for Cingrani on the 40-man roster, Daniel Hudson was transferred to the 60-day DL, ending his season.
There are 39 players on the active roster.
Game results
- Monday: Dodgers 8, Rockies 2
- Tuesday: Dodgers 3, Rockies 2
- Wednesday: Dodgers 5, Rockies 2
- Friday: Padres 5, Dodgers 3
- Saturday: Dodgers 7, Padres 2
- Sunday: Dodgers 14, Padres 0
The week ahead
The Dodgers finish off the regular season by running the Matt Williams gauntlet, ending on the road in Arizona and San Francisco all while wiping their mouth on their sleeve. The pitching matchups for the final weekend are my guesses.
The final week schedule
| Mon, Sep 24 | Tue, Sep 25 | Wed, Sep 26 | Thu, Sep 27 | Fri, Sep 28 | Sat, Sep 29 | Sun, Sep 30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, Sep 24 | Tue, Sep 25 | Wed, Sep 26 | Thu, Sep 27 | Fri, Sep 28 | Sat, Sep 29 | Sun, Sep 30 |
| at D-backs | at D-backs | at D-backs | Off | at Giants | at Giants | at Giants |
| 6:40 p.m. | 6:40 p.m. | 6:40 p.m. | 7:15 p.m. | 1:05 p.m. | 12:05 p.m. | |
| Kershaw | Buehler | Stripling | Hill | Kershaw | Ryu | |
| v. Ray (L) | v. Koch (L) | v. Greinke | v. Bumgarner (L) | v. Rodriguez | v. TBD | |
| SNLA | SNLA/ESPN | SNLA/ESPN | SNLA/MLBN | SNLA/MLBN | SNLA |
Previous weeks in review: Mar. 29-Apr. 1 | Apr. 2-8 | Apr. 9-15 | Apr. 16-22 | Apr. 23-29 | Apr. 30-May 6 | May 7-13 | May 14-20 | May 21-27 | May 28-Jun 3 | Jun 4-10 | June 11-17 | June 18-24 | June 25-July 1 | July 2-8 | July 9-15 | July 16-22 | July 23-29 | July 30-Aug. 5 | Aug. 6-12 | Aug. 13-19 | Aug. 20-26 | Aug. 27-Sep. 2 | Sept. 3-9 | Sep. 10-16
Stats
Week 26 batting
| Player | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | BABIP | Player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | HBP | SH | SF | PA | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | BABIP | Player |
| Pederson | 13 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0.462 | 0.462 | 1.385 | 1.846 | 0.500 | Pederson |
| Kemp | 15 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0.333 | 0.333 | 0.800 | 1.133 | 0.300 | Kemp |
| Muncy | 12 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0.333 | 0.500 | 0.583 | 1.083 | 0.429 | Muncy |
| Hernandez | 15 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0.333 | 0.412 | 0.600 | 1.012 | 0.308 | Hernandez |
| Taylor | 17 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0.353 | 0.450 | 0.529 | 0.979 | 0.455 | Taylor |
| Puig | 12 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0.333 | 0.385 | 0.583 | 0.968 | 0.375 | Puig |
| Machado | 24 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0.292 | 0.320 | 0.583 | 0.903 | 0.278 | Machado |
| Grandal | 13 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0.154 | 0.313 | 0.462 | 0.774 | 0.125 | Grandal |
| Turner | 22 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 0.273 | 0.360 | 0.409 | 0.769 | 0.286 | Turner |
| Bellinger | 13 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0.154 | 0.267 | 0.231 | 0.497 | 0.200 | Bellinger |
| Dozier | 10 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0.100 | 0.250 | 0.200 | 0.450 | 0.167 | Dozier |
| Starters | 166 | 32 | 48 | 12 | 0 | 12 | 34 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 36 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 187 | 0.289 | 0.369 | 0.578 | 0.947 | 0.305 | Starters |
| Verdugo | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 1.000 | 2.000 | 1.000 | Verdugo |
| Barnes | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0.167 | 0.286 | 0.667 | 0.952 | 0.000 | Barnes |
| Farmer | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0.000 | 0.500 | 0.000 | 0.500 | 0.000 | Farmer |
| Freese | 10 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0.200 | 0.273 | 0.200 | 0.473 | 0.500 | Freese |
| Utley | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Utley |
| Toles | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | #DIV/0! | Toles |
| Gale | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.000 | Gale |
| Locastro | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ----- | ------ | ------ | ------ | ------ | Locastro |
| Bench | 24 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 0.208 | 0.296 | 0.333 | 0.630 | 0.308 | Bench |
| Pitchers | 13 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 0.231 | 0.286 | 0.231 | 0.516 | 0.375 | Pitchers |
| Offense | 203 | 40 | 56 | 12 | 0 | 13 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 51 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 229 | 0.276 | 0.355 | 0.527 | 0.882 | 0.309 | Offense |
Week 26 pitching
| Pitcher | G | GS | W | L | Sv | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | ERA | WHIP | FIP | Pitcher |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | G | GS | W | L | Sv | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | SO | HBP | ERA | WHIP | FIP | Pitcher |
| Ryu | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 13.0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.615 | 1.20 | Ryu | |
| Buehler | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 0.00 | 0.667 | 0.20 | Buehler | |
| Hill | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1.29 | 0.571 | 3.06 | Hill | |
| Kershaw | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.0 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1.29 | 1.143 | 6.34 | Kershaw | |
| Stripling | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3.3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5.40 | 1.500 | 6.50 | Stripling | |
| Starters | 6 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 36.3 | 21 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 39 | 1 | 0.99 | 0.798 | 2.87 | Starters |
| Jansen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2.7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.375 | 0.20 | Jansen | |
| Urias | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.500 | -0.80 | Urias | ||
| Fields | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.000 | 0.20 | Fields | ||
| Baez | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.600 | 3.80 | Baez | ||
| Maeda | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.600 | -2.80 | Maeda | ||
| Floro | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1.3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.500 | 0.95 | Floro | ||
| Venditte | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 1.000 | 3.20 | Venditte | ||
| Alexander | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.000 | 1.20 | Alexander | ||
| Ferguson | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.000 | 0.20 | Ferguson | ||
| Cingrani | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | 6.000 | 12.20 | Cingrani | ||
| Rosscup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 0.000 | 3.20 | Rosscup | ||
| Madson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1.3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6.75 | 0.750 | 11.45 | Madson | ||
| Garcia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9.00 | 2.000 | 4.20 | Garcia | ||
| Wood | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1.3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 13.50 | 2.250 | 6.20 | Wood | ||
| Axford | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27.00 | 12.001 | 3.20 | Axford | ||
| Bullpen | 28 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 18.7 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 25 | 2 | 2.41 | 1.018 | 2.18 | Bullpen |
| Totals | 34 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 55.0 | 35 | 13 | 9 | 4 | 13 | 1 | 64 | 3 | 1.47 | 0.873 | 2.64 | Totals |