The second-half NL West schedules for the Dodgers, Giants, and Padres

The Dodgers’ first 16 games after the All-Star break are against the National League West, something we should get used to over the final 2½ months of the season.

With still so many games to be played between the Dodgers, Giants, and Padres — owners of the two best and three of the top four records in the National League — how they play against each other could very well decide things.

The immediate post-break schedule for the Dodgers features two showdown series against the Giants — July 19-22 in Los Angeles, a tentative target for the return of a handful of injured Dodgers; and July 27-29 up north — but surrounded by soft-landing series against the Rockies (July 16-18 in Colorado, one weekend later at Dodger Stadium) and the D-backs (July 30-August 1 in Phoenix).

So far this season the matchups between the top three in the division have been a real test of the transitive property. The Dodgers have lost seven of 10 to the Padres, who lost five of nine to the Giants, who lost six of nine to Los Angeles.

The Dodgers have played 36 games against the NL West, accounting for 39.6 percent of the schedule. That leaves 40 games within the division after the break, 56.3 percent of the calendar down the stretch.

San Diego has the best record in games between the top three NL West teams (11-8), but they also face the biggest deficit, currently in third place in the division, six games behind the Giants and four behind the Dodgers.

The Dodgers still have 21 games remaining against Arizona and Colorado, against whom they are 15-2 this season. That’s more games against the bottom two teams than the other division contenders, but not appreciably so.

It’s those 19 games against the Giants and Padres that will be of paramount importance in deciding the division. But we already knew that.

“This is when the really good teams start to ascend,” Dave Roberts said, “and I think we’ve got a really good club.”