SEATAC — On a bright Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Park, the Dodgers kept winning, and there was more joy.
Los Angeles completed a three-game road sweep of the Mariners with a relatively easy 6-1 victory in front of a full crowd of 45,477 spectators, the day after exploding champagne corks and partying into the night following a victory that secured a 10th National League West title in the previous 11 years.
14 games remain: against DET (3), against SF (4), at COL (4), and against SF (3)
Standings update: On Saturday, the Dodgers (91-57) secured the NL West crown. They are 4 1/2 games behind the Braves (96-53) for the top National League spot. They have a 7 1/2 game advantage over the Brewers (84-65) for a bye in the NL Wild Card round.
The victory was achieved despite MVP contenders Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman not playing and despite it being a “bullpen game,” with Shelby Miller serving as the team’s one-inning “opener” and left-handers Ryan Yarbrough (4 2/3 innings, one run, seven strikeouts) and righty Gavin Stone (3 1/3 scoreless innings, one hit, five strikeouts) covering the rest of the workload.The Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, “Like I’ve said before, you can’t simulate the postseason, but what you can do is put guys in some different spots, give them some opportunities to go out there and perform.” “And this environment here is as good a test for any player, veteran or young,” the speaker continued.
The Mariners, who have been struggling over the past two weeks and are in the thick of the American League West and Wild Card battles, have been putting all they’ve got into winning games lately, but the Dodgers proved to be too tough.
On Sunday, Austin Barnes contributed with a two-run homer in the second, Amed Rosario contributed with a home run in the second, Jason Heyward contributed with a triple then blasted a home run off Logan Gilbert in the first, and James Outman added a single shot to center field in the eighth.Heyward had three hits to follow up his 4-for-5 performance with three doubles on Saturday with the No. 2 slot in the lineup, which is usually held by Freeman. This season, he has accrued 24 multi-hit games and 12 games with two or more RBIs.
He has had a fantastic season, according to Roberts. He’s a better teammate still. He’s a fantastic guy, and right now he’s on a hot, man, for what he’s done for our troops—experienced guys, young guys, and veteran guys. He is dominating the strike zone with his bat stroke and is hitting hard when they make a mistake, such as a 3-2 split below. He’s playing defense with a Gold Glove. He poses a threat offensively and had a significant series.Even though the Dodgers have already clinched the division, the seasoned outfielder, who captured the 2016 World Series with the Chicago Cubs, stressed the importance of continuing to compete during the remainder of the regular season.
“The finish line, to us, is that we want to be the last team on the field, winning whenever the last game is, and that’s to try to win every day,” said Heyward. “We get ready. We don’t consider what will happen next or what came before. We had to leave immediately. And to me, that perfectly encapsulates our bunch. Therefore, there are no ideas of the goal or to “keep pushing.” Simply put, we strive every day.Barnes, who hit his second home run of the year, concurred.
“You just go out there and play the game when you just have a bunch of competitors,” Barnes said. “You never want to appear in public and look foolish. Now, those contests obviously hold a lot of significance for [the Mariners], so we went out and attempted to compete, and we did an excellent job.The Dodgers will now play their final seven regular-season home games in Los Angeles. According to Roberts, the squad is in a good place and has a good chance of winning the month of October.
Naturally, this was such a fantastic series, Roberts remarked. “I feel good because [we are] going into this next series with a loaded bullpen and we have Lance [Lynn] going tomorrow.”