Home field, a Triple Crown is on the line when the Dodgers take on the Rockies

The Los Angeles Dodgers have secured a bye for the National League Division Series and can secure home field for the NL postseason against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday evening in Denver.

Los Angeles (96-64) leads Philadelphia by two games after Friday's 11-4 win over Colorado, but must finish ahead of the Phillies, who won the season series between the teams and hold the tiebreaker.

Philadelphia lost 9-1 to Washington on Friday, so a win Saturday night would put the Dodgers atop the NL.

Los Angeles will send Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-2, 2.96 ERA) to the mound in a right-handed battle against Colorado's Antonio Senzatela (0-0, 3.38).

Los Angeles manager Dave Roberts, who has been at the helm in eight of the last nine NL West titles, is less worried about ranking and more about being healthy and ready for next weekend. He used a few position players on Friday night and will substitute a few more throughout the weekend.

“It's more about letting things go the way they go and trying not to influence the wins and losses too much by hoping for a certain seed,” Roberts said before Friday night's game.

Shohei Ohtani will play both remaining games, Roberts said, with a chance to win the NL Triple Crown. His .309 batting average is second best to San Diego's Luis Arraez (.314), but Ohtani leads the league in home runs (54) and RBIs (130) after going 4-for-5 with a home run and four runs driven in on Friday night.

“Shohei, he put on a show,” Roberts said. “Now I’m personally invested in the Triple Crown. He is aware of it. He has almost 200 hits (194). Anything attainable is on his radar.”

The National League hasn't seen a Triple Crown winner since Joe Medwick of St. Louis in 1937, when he batted .374, hit 31 home runs and drove in 154 runs.

Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman will not play this weekend after spraining his right ankle in Thursday night's decisive division win. He did not make the trip to Denver and is currently receiving treatment to be ready for the first playoff game in Los Angeles on October 5th.

Yamamoto has already faced the Rockies twice this year in his first major league season. He is 1-0 with a 5.00 ERA in those appearances and is set to make his first start in Colorado.

Yamamoto's opponent against the Rockies last Sunday was Senzatela, making his second start after undergoing Tommy John surgery. Senzatela allowed one run in five no-decision innings in his team's 6-5 loss to the Dodgers and is 4-5 with a 5.68 ERA in 16 career appearances – 14 starts – against Los Angeles.

Senzatela missed more than a year after his last pitch in May 2023, so it was important to get a few more starts before the end of this season. He pitched only three innings in his first game on September 16 against the Arizona Diamondbacks and was able to pitch slightly longer in his second start.

“It feels really good overall,” Senzatela said after last Sunday’s game. “My arm is really good. My throws worked better than last time. I kept more balls on the ground.”

Colorado (61-99) is trying to avoid another 100-loss season. The Rockies must play the final two games of this series to avoid that dubious mark for the second straight year.

–Field level media