Dodgers Week 18: Owning the National League West

The Dodgers didn’t win the trade deadline last week, but they did win games. All of them. Against the two teams closest to them in the National League West.

Facing the division this season, the Dodgers are 35-12 (.745), including 21 wins in their last 23 games against the NL West.

Batter of the week

There were no shortage of candidates last week, with the Dodgers averaging over six runs per game. Max Muncy and Cody Bellinger have struggled all season, but both had great weeks. We’ll go with Mookie Betts, who set the table all week, leading the team in hits, extra-base hits, runs scored, and runs batted in. Then he gave a bat to a fan on Sunday.

Pitcher of the week

Julio Urías continued his steady pitching with six scoreless innings on Wednesday in San Francisco, and had his eight walk-less starts in 21 outings this season.

Honorable mention goes to Evan Phillips, who stranded a bases-loaded, nobody-out situation two nights in a row, including bailing out Urías in the seventh inning.

Week 18 results

7-0 record
45 runs scored (6.43 per game)
14 runs allowed (2.00 per game)
.894 pythagorean win percentage

Year to date

75-33 record
571 runs scored (5.29 per game)
345 runs allowed (3.19 per game)
.715 pythagorean win percentage (77-31)

Miscellany

Great Eight: The Dodgers swept the Giants in four games in San Francisco for the first time in 45 years, which came only two weeks after their first four-game sweep of the Giants at Dodger Stadium since 1995. That’s eight wins over the Giants in a 15-day span, and also ties the Dodgers’ longest win streak against the Giants since moving to Los Angeles. The only longer win streaks against their rivals came in Brooklyn, a 10-gamer in 1953, and nine straight wins in 1940.

Welcome aboard: After having no rookie position players all season, the Dodgers had a hitter make his major league debut for a second straight week. This time it was Miguel Vargas, who got his first call to the bigs on Tuesday, the day of the trade deadline, then made his debut one day later. Vargas hit an RBI double in his first at-bat, then drove in another run with a single in his second time up. He also stole a base in his debut.

Batten pitchin’, pitcher battin’: With a position player — infielder Michael Batten — pitching the eighth inning to finish off Friday’s blowout, Freddie Freeman got for him what counts as rest, the final inning off. Dave Roberts sent Tyler Anderson to pinch-hit for Freeman, the career .095/.149/.133 hitter struck out on five pitches. Anderson is just the second Dodgers pitcher to bat this season, joining Evan Phillips, who walked in a May 26 blowout in Phoenix, in his fourth career plate appearance.

Transactions

It was a light trade deadline for the Dodgers, who — dating back to the previous Saturday — added only one hitter (Joey Gallo) and one relief pitcher (Chris Martin), and also moved three players mostly to clear spots on the 40-man roster.

Monday: Reliever Garrett Cleavinger was traded to the Rays for minor league outfielder German Tapia.

Tuesday: Outfielder Joey Gallo was acquired from the Yankees for minor league pitcher Clayton Beeter.

Tuesday: Designated hitter and corner man Jake Lamb was sent to Seattle for a player to be named later or cash.

Tuesday: Pitcher Mitch White and minor league infielder Alex De Jesus were traded to the Blue Jays for minor league pitchers Nick Frasso and Moises Brito.

Tuesday: Miguel Vargas got the call to the majors for the first time.

Tuesday: Justin Turner was placed on the 10-day injured list with an abdominal strain, retroactive to June 30.

Wednesday: Gallo was added to the active roster.

Friday: Clayton Kershaw was placed on the injured list with low back pain, likely knocking him out until September. Reyes Moronta was recalled as an extra arm in the bullpen.

Friday: Chris Taylor was activated after missing a month with a broken foot, and James Outman and his 1.409 OPS was send down after a scintillating debut week.

Sunday: Yency Almonte landed on the injured list with elbow tightness, and Andre Jackson was called up as a fresh arm.

Game results

• Monday: Dodgers 8, Giants 2
• Tuesday: Dodgers 9, Giants 5
• Wednesday: Dodgers 3, Giants 0
• Thursday: Dodgers 5, Giants 3
• Friday: Dodgers 8, Padres 1
• Saturday: Dodgers 8, Padres 3
• Sunday: Dodgers 4, Padres 0

Previous weekly reviews: Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 | Week 10 | Week 11 | Week 12 | Week 13 | Week 14 | Week 15 | Week 16 | Week 17

Up next

The Dodgers run the Steve Braun gauntlet, finishing off the interleague portion of their regular season schedule with two home games against the Twins and a weekend series against the Royals in Kansas City. The two-game series provides off days on Monday and Thursday, which allows the Dodgers some flexibility as to when they actually need another starting pitcher to replace an injured Kershaw. I think Ryan Pepiot will get the start on Wednesday, but that’s just a guess.