Dodgers clinch best record in baseball then beat Rockies again

DENVER – Roll it back to February when they reported for spring training – or all the way back to December when they committed over $1 billion to new players. This is exactly where the Dodgers were expected to be.

They clinched their 11th division title in 12 years on Thursday. And Saturday night, they clinched the best record in baseball for the third time in the past five seasons.

Even before they took the field and beat down the Colorado Rockies with 18 hits in a 13-2 win, the Dodgers had clinched the No. 1 seed for the postseason (by virtue of the  Philadelphia Phillies’ loss earlier in the day).

“For me I knew it since spring training when I saw the group and I saw the way these guys approached the game,” Dodgers outfielder Teoscar Hernandez said. “I knew it was going to be a special season for me – not only for me but the whole team and every guy on the team.”

The Dodgers (97-64) will finish with the best record in baseball for the fourth time in Dave Roberts’ nine seasons as manager, giving them home-field advantage through the World Series – if they can get there.

The Dodgers hope Yoshinobu Yamamoto will play no small part in getting them there. The first-year import from Japan lines up to start Game 2 of the National League Division Series on Sunday (against an opponent to be determined).

Over his four starts since returning, Yamamoto has given the Dodgers hope that he will be the front-line starter in the postseason they envisioned when they signed him for 12 years and $325 million last winter.

He struck out eight in four innings in his first start back then pitched four scoreless innings against the Atlanta Braves his next time out.

But he only lasted three innings against the Rockies last week and hadn’t been able to get deeper into games as the Dodgers hoped.

Before the game, Roberts acknowledged it hasn’t been “the ideal buildup” for Yamamoto since he returned, citing an illness that Yamamoto has dealt with recently as a complicating factor – as was making his final tuneup start at altitude in Colorado.

Yamamoto gave up two hits and a run in the first inning and a solo home run to Ezequiel Tovar in the third inning Saturday. But he retired the final 10 batters he faced, five on strikeouts, and pitched into the fifth inning for the first time since June 7.

“So although I gave up a run in the first inning and third inning, as I got deeper into the game I started getting back my normal feeling and at the end, I think it turned out to be a pretty good outing,” Yamamoto said through his interpreter.

“I think that was good enough. Today, I started gaining back good feelings and what I usually have in the game. I’m getting close to a postseason game.”

It was good enough for Roberts who called it a “great tune-up for Yoshinobu.”

“I thought the fastball was really good. Had life to it. I thought the command of it was really good,” Roberts said. “As the game went on, the split got better. The curveball was good.

“With Yoshi, I think the pitch count is fine. Getting him through the fifth inning was great. There’s going to be certainly a lot more adrenaline when he makes that start (in the NLDS). But then he’ll have time to recover. So as far as the build-up, I think he’s in a good spot.”

Offensively, the Dodgers followed up Friday’s 11-run, 15-hit performance with more of the same against a Rockies pitching staff that will once again finish with the highest staff ERA in baseball.

Shohei Ohtani kept the dream of a Triple Crown alive heading into the final day of the regular season by going 2 for 5 with a pair of singles and a walk. He stole one base to reach 58 for the season, had another taken away by a balk and had yet another stolen only to be doubled off when Mookie Betts popped out.

Ohtani will take a .310 average into the final game, four points behind San Diego’s Luis Arraez who did not play Saturday.

“It’s very unlikely,” Roberts said. “But I would expect Arraez to play tomorrow. And we’ll see if Shohei can throw out another big day.”

Kiké Hernandez and Teoscar Hernandez each hit three-run home runs in the game. For Teoscar, it was his career-high 33rd of the season. Kiké Hernandez also had two singles and is 12 for his past 25.

Gavin Lux had a three-hit game – and so did Chris Taylor who didn’t even enter the game until the fifth inning.

“I would say the added importance of the games,” Kiké Hernandez said of his hot streak. “Beginning with the game against the Rockies right before the series with the Padres, understanding that was an important game because if we lose that game and the Padres win that would have put us in a really bad spot with the Padres coming to town.

“After that, it’s just feeling good. Try to stay there and don’t try to change anything or try to do more because you’re feeling good. I would say the importance of the games kind of made me just not really care about anything else but having good at-bats.”

UP NEXT

Dodgers (LHP Anthony Banda, 3-2, 3.14 ERA) at Rockies (RHP Ryan Feltner, 3-10, 4.66 ERA), Sunday, 12:10 p.m., SportsNet LA, 570 AM