The Dodgers packed away another division flag Thursday afternoon, beating the Reds 8-2 at Great American Ball Park to lock up the National League West with nine games left on the regular-season slate. It was a different kind of celebration from the postseason-clinching toast three days earlier: louder, wetter and carrying the expectation that October will bring more chances to gather.
Key takeaways
- Los Angeles has reached the postseason for a record-tying 14th straight year and captured its 13th division title in that span.
- Kyle Tucker went 4-for-4 with three RBIs and finished a triple short of a cycle.
- Justin Wrobleski delivered three perfect innings to begin a bullpen game, while Landon Knack supplied four scoreless frames.
- Shohei Ohtani and first-time All-Star Andy Pages remain on the 15-day injured list.
- The Dodgers own a four-game edge on the Braves for the NL’s No. 2 seed and the first-round bye that comes with it.
A division race settled, another October chase ahead
The West title is the Dodgers’ fifth in a row, and it adds another layer to a run that has stretched well beyond one dominant summer. Since their current postseason streak began, only the 2021 Giants have kept Los Angeles from finishing atop the division.
This year’s club will enter the playoffs chasing a third consecutive World Series championship. The Dodgers repeated in 2025 after winning in 2024, becoming baseball’s first title defender in 25 years. A third straight crown would make them the first Major League club to accomplish the feat since the Yankees won three in succession from 1998 through 2000.
Manager Dave Roberts said the group has not lost the drive that carried it through the last two championship seasons. “We’re as hungry as we were in ’24 and ’25,” Roberts said. “It’s its own season, and the players understand that.”
That point matters for a roster that has not always looked airtight. The offense has endured uneven stretches, and the pitching staff has been forced to work around a shrinking rotation. Still, on the day the division became official, the lineup gave its relievers plenty of room.
Tucker fuels the clincher as the bullpen covers the innings
Tucker set the pace with four hits and three runs driven in, missing the first Dodgers cycle since 2017 by only a triple. Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Josue De Paula and Miguel Rojas also brought home runs as Los Angeles built an early cushion.
With the club needing a bullpen game, Wrobleski handled the opening three innings without allowing a baserunner. Blake Treinen gave up a solo homer in the fourth, but Knack steadied the afternoon with four scoreless innings. Seth Halvorsen surrendered a ninth-inning run, leaving Cincinnati with two runs in the final.
The Dodgers’ immediate task is getting healthier before the postseason begins. Ohtani, their leading hitter, is sidelined on the 15-day IL, and Pages is out as well. What had largely been a six-man starting group has been cut to four fully built-up starters available on the active roster, which made the all-reliever plan necessary in Cincinnati.
Los Angeles expects help to return before October. Securing the No. 2 seed would offer an especially useful break: a direct ticket to the NL Division Series and five days between the regular-season finish and its postseason opener. For now, the Dodgers have the division in hand and a four-game margin over Atlanta in that race for a bye.
