The Los Angeles Dodgers entered Thursday with a magic number of one, and it was the series finale against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
After Los Angeles 8-0 win over the Diamondbacks, in which Freddie Freeman homered twice, Andy Pages homered, and Shohei Ohtani smashed his 54th home run of the season to tie his career-high, the Dodgers won the NL West for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto also pitched six strong innings to close his phenomenal 2025 campaign.
The Dodgers continue their dominance of the NL West
There were a lot of lows for the Dodgers this season. They had several starters go down with injuries throughout the season, and the bullpen had some poor performances down the stretch from players they financially committed to, and Los Angeles was down to its third and fourth catchers on the depth chart in September. Mookie Betts also had one of the worst statistical seasons as a batter in his career.
However, when you have a player like Shohei Ohtani, who emerged as a durable starter in August, you're going to be just fine. Ohtani is well on his way to a third consecutive MVP award, and fourth in the last five seasons. He is the modern-day Barry Bonds, except he also throws 100 mph with a wicked splitter and wipeout sweeper.
Now, the Dodgers aim to become the first repeat World Series Champions since the turn of the century. It's been nearly 25 seasons, but if there is a team/organization that can do it, it's the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The baseball season is so long, and there are too many things that happen daily to fit into one post, but there were several very memorable moments along the way.
Clayton Kershaw is retiring after the season, so if the Dodgers need any extra motivation, they should gear it towards the future first-ballot Hall of Famer.
As for the other NL West competitors, it will be as tough as ever to win the division with Shohei Ohtani, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto taking the ball every fifth day for years to come.
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