Dodgers conquer NL West: Shohei Ohtani's first playoff run comes with expectations of either the World Series or failure

A familiar phrase in the baseball world today can be uttered again: The Los Angeles Dodgers are the champions of the National League West.

With their 7-2 victory over the Padres on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, the ballclub clinched the division title for the 11th time in the last 12 seasons and bowed out of the Wild Card Series thanks to a better record than the Milwaukee Brewers. The only time during that period the Dodgers did not win in the West, winning 106 games and advancing to the NLCS. It's a remarkable streak of consistent excellence in the regular season.

This time things got a bit worrying a few times along the way. Although the Dodgers built a nine-game lead at the end of June and still held it at 7 1/2 games at the end of July, they had to deal with overwhelms from both the Diamondbacks and Padres and saw the lead shrink to three games in late August , before they put pressure on There are up to six games until September. The Padres kept coming, however, and after Monday night's win at Dodger Stadium, the Dodgers' lead shrank to two games. However, the Dodgers responded with back-to-back wins and closed the division.

The 2024 season will be the first full season since 2018 in which the Dodgers do not reach 100 wins. This is a good example of how much adversity the team has faced, relatively speaking. Their rotation in particular has been ravaged by injuries: Only two pitchers made more than 20 starts and none made more than 25.

Thanks to organizational depth and a strong offense led by three MVPs, they have maintained their winning ways. Shohei Ohtani will most likely win the NL MVP this season first 50-50 year in MLB history. Teoscar Hernández, another offseason signing, had a great offensive season. Mookie Betts (when healthy) and Freddie Freeman were also standouts.

Of course, the fact that the Dodgers franchise sets such a high bar in the regular season means the hard part comes next. It's no longer enough to make the playoffs. They won the NL pennant in 2017 and 2018 and the World Series in 2020, but went 1-6 in playoff games the last two seasons. The season will be considered a failure if the Dodgers are not successful in the playoffs, and that means at least a trip to the NLCS and probably even a trip to the World Series. There are even some who would call the season a failure if they lost in the World Series. That just comes with the territory of an organization that has won so much.

For now, however, the Dodgers have their job done in the regular season. They are once again the best in the West.