It's now official. The Dodger will be playing October playoff Baseball.
This afternoon, the Dodgers defeated the Chicago Cubs in glorious fashion and clinched, at minimum, a tie for a wild card playoff berth. Then, with the Milwaukee Brewers defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Pirates this evening the Dodgers now claim an official berth.
Of course, the "Boys in Blue" are not content with just the wild card. They want to win the division. So, you shouldn't expect the Dodgers to let up now.
Per Don Mattingly via Dylan Hernandez at the LA Times:
"If you're able to do that, you've at least given yourself a chance to play when there's only going to be 10 teams left," Manager Don Mattingly said before the Milwaukee outcome. "If that's your only way, you're good with it. But you feel like winning the division is really what you're here to accomplish."Clayton Kershaw seconded that notion, via Bill Plunkett on twitter:
Kershaw (cont): "It’d be kind of a letdown to get just the wild card ... Maybe not something to celebrate, but maybe just a pat on the back"
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) September 19, 2014
Heck, Matt Kemp has an even bigger goal in mind, via Bill Plunkett on twitter:
#Dodgers Matt Kemp on maybe clinching wild card: "We have bigger plans than that. I'd still like to get the best record in NL." 1 GB Nats
— Bill Plunkett (@billplunkettocr) September 19, 2014
The Dodgers now have a magic number of seven games for a West Division Championship, and with the Giants currently losing 5 to 0 to the Padres at the time of this writing that number could drop to six. As it now looks, the Dodgers may very well be able to secure a Western Division trophy against the Giants at home at the beginning of next week. How great would it be to celebrate that with the Gaints watching from the dugout?
Graphic above via SportsNet LA on twitter
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