The Los Angeles Dodgers magic number has dropped to two Saturday night, after defeating the Colorado Rockies and coupled with a San Diego Padres loss. This means that in the event that this same scenario repeats itself on Sunday, then the Dodgers will clinch the NL West. Whether they clinch Sunday or not, it seems inevitable that they will clinch their eighth-straight NL West title. The Dodgers have heated up as of late, winning their fifth in a row today. With only seven games remaining in the regular season, it would be really surprising if they did not win at least two of them. However, the Dodgers do not even have to win one of them in order to clinch the West. Since the Dodgers magic number is two, that means that if the Padres lose two games then the Dodgers also clinch.
While the Dodgers will take a night to celebrate their eighth-straight title whenever it happens, it is only the first step in what many expect to be a third World Series birth in the last four years. A lot of experts call the Dodgers “the overwhelming favorite” to do exactly that this year. Perhaps not only to represent the National League in the Fall Classic but win the World Series. The Dodgers last won the World Series in 1988, despite 14 playoff appearances since then. So, they seem due for another win.
2020 Playoff Picture
The 2020 playoffs will be different than any year so far due to the shortened season and expanded playoffs. As of today, the National League seeding chart has the Dodgers with the number one seed with the best record in baseball. They would be facing off against a surprisingly strong eighth seed Cincinnati Reds team. The top three seeds are the division winners, with the next three being the second finishers. The seventh and eighth seeds are the wild card teams. The NL seeding is as follows: 1. Los Angeles Dodgers; 2.Chicago Cubs; 3. Atlanta Braves; 4. San Diego Padres; 5. Minnesota Twins; 6. St. Louis Cardinals; 7. Philadelphia Phillies; 8. Cincinnati Reds.
This year, the whole first round has been dubbed as the Wild Card Series and is a best-of-three scenario. This is a dangerous series because anything could happen in a three-game series. The Reds are especially dangerous with Cy Young favorite Trevor Bauer leading the way. After the Wild Card Series comes the best-of-five Division Series, followed by the best-of-seven series in the NLCS and World Series. It will come down to who gets hot at the right time, and the Dodgers are hot right now—putting up 40 runs in their five-game-win streak. It is starting to get exciting!
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