The LA Dodgers are Fighting with the Giants for first in the NL West
The LA Dodgers have been fighting with the San Francisco Giants for most of the season for first in their division, the NL West. It’s been a tight race, sometimes the Giants were ahead, and sometimes the Dodgers were ahead. Right now the Giants are one game ahead of the Dodgers, but that could easily change because all it takes is the Dodgers winning a game and the Giants losing a game and then they’re tied. The Dodgers are at 97-54, and the Giants are at 98-53, they’re only a game apart from each other.
The standings for the division the LA Dodgers and San Francisco Giants are a part of.
No one expected the Giants to be this good this year, most people thought that the Padres would be the second best team in the NL West and the Dodgers to be the first, so the Giants have surprised everyone. They don’t have any big-name players besides their catcher Buster Posey and their third baseman that they recently picked up, Kris Bryant who they acquired from the Chicago Cubs who cleared out most of their roster to get new players next year. They have had a lot of players step up this year and have done a lot for the Giants’ team. Injuries have held the dodgers back some this season as well as former Cy Young award winner Trevor Bauer who was probably seen for the last time in the MLB in June or July because of Sexual Assault charges he’s facing. That doesn’t change the fact that San Francisco has surprised everyone this season. Current injuries include three outfielders, former MVP Cody Bellinger, Billy Mckinney, and AJ Pollock. There are also 10 injured pitchers, Danny Duffy, Garrett Cleavinger, Cole Hamels, Jimmy Nelson, Jimmy Sherfy, Scott Alexander, Caleb Ferguson, Tommy Kahnle, Edwin Rios, and one of their starting pitchers, Dustin May. The Dodgers also picked up two key pieces of their team late this season, Max Scherzer, arguably the best pitcher in the league right now with an ERA of 2.08 and .78 with the Dodgers.
Both teams have been really good in the past, last year the Dodgers went to the world series against the Tampa Bay Rays and won their first world series since 1988, 32 years and they made it to the world series in 2017 and 2018 as well. The San Francisco Giants won the World Series 3 times in 6 years, in 2014, 2012, and 2010, but after that their team kind of fell apart. Both the Dodgers and the Giants have clinched playoff spots with the two best records in the league.
The problem some people have with two really good teams in the same division is that they could be the two best teams in the league just like this year, but one of them has to play in the wild card game where anything could happen. It’s only one game and if the better team loses they are out of the playoffs. The winner of the NL Wild Card game which will likely be either the Dodgers or the Giants will play the other team in one of the NLDS series. With around 10 games left in the season, the playoffs are closer than ever, which team will come out on top, the Dodgers or the Giants? Only time can tell for us, in around two weeks we will know who is going to be the Wild Card team and who will play the winner of that Wild Card game in a best of 5 series.
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