Dodgers insights: A big week with postseason implications ahead

Oh, what a difference two swings made for those Los Angeles Dodgers.

Before Shohei Ohtani and Mookie Betts hit two straight home runs to defeat the Colorado Rockies and preserve the series win on Sunday, the Dodgers held a two-game lead in the NL West (their smallest since Aug. 17) in three of their last six games against the second-place San Diego Padres.

The increasingly tight table raised fears of an impending catastrophe.

But after Ohtani and Betts hit two of the most consequential hits of the season, the Dodgers had a three-game lead heading into the Padres' three-game trip to Dodger Stadium. A series win could clinch the division for good, and FanGraphs odds on Los Angeles winning the NL West are at 90.8 percent. The Dodgers have a half-game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies for the top spot in the National League.

Mookie Betts' walk-off home win over the Rockies set the stage for a dramatic final week of the regular season. (John McCoy / Getty Images)

The Dodgers' magic number is four. A champagne celebration is imminent. They still have their fate largely in their own hands before October, although a lot can change in the final week of the season. That goes for the No. 1 seed. The Phillies have the tiebreaker over the Dodgers after winning the season series, meaning the Dodgers would have to match the top record outright to secure home-field advantage on the NL side of the bracket.

The Dodgers still hold a commanding four-game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers, who finish the season with their final two games at the Pittsburgh Pirates and at home against the playoff-contending New York Mets. As long as the Dodgers win the division, a first-round bye is fairly assured (and as necessary as ever, given the many question marks surrounding their pitchers).

In the division, the Padres also have the tiebreaker and technically still have their fate in their hands when it comes to breaking the Dodgers' streak of 10 division titles in the last 11 seasons. San Diego clinches the NL West if it wins its six road games against the Dodgers and the Diamondbacks.

Who the Dodgers will face in the playoffs is still unclear. The playoff field is almost set, with the Dodgers, Phillies and Brewers officially in the race (and the Padres close to joining them). The Diamondbacks, Mets and Braves are battling for the final two spots, although there is still some room for fluctuation in the rankings.

The scenarios for the Dodgers range from an away start in a best-of-three wild-card series to a game against the winner of places 3-6 or 4-5 as the No. 1 or 2 seed in October.

So yes, this week will be worth watching, including perhaps the most watched Dodgers series at Coors Field in years to close out the season.

The pitching seems largely fixed

Despite the inconsistent rotation over the past month, the Dodgers' pitching plans for the postseason seem clear.

Jack Flaherty has been a stabilizing force. Yoshinobu Yamamoto struggled with his control on Sunday and has yet to pitch more than four innings since returning from the injured list. Still, he will inevitably play a big role in the Dodgers' plans. Walker Buehler has continued to have inconsistent results, sometimes within the same game, but the organization has made it clear it's banking on his October lineage. It's hard to argue against Landon Knack at this point; as much as the Dodgers have kept him on a leash this season (he only faced 20 total batters the third time through the lineup), he's been as consistently effective as anyone.

This could change with possible reinforcements.

It's unclear how close Clayton Kershaw is to facing hitters in batting practice, let alone in games. He's taken plenty of bullpen sessions to keep his arm moving and has used various insoles and removed a stud from his left shoe to take pressure off his sore left big toe. At some point, Dave Roberts said last week, the Dodgers will have to give it a try and see if he can throw for them.

Then there's Tony Gonsolin, who hasn't pitched this season but has gone from an outside reliever to someone who could rack up enough innings during his minor league rehab to get a decent start. There's a chance Gonsolin's next assignment could be at the major league level, making him one of only four pitchers in Jon Roegele's public database to return from Tommy John surgery in 12 months or less (Gonsolin had the surgery on Sept. 1 of last year).

Shohei Ohtani remains up to date

“I really haven't seen a player as focused as Shohei in quite some time,” Roberts told reporters over the weekend.

It's possible that no one ever has. As Eric Stephen of True Blue LA pointed out Sunday afternoon, no player in major league history had a seven-game streak of six or more home runs and seven or more stolen bases … until Ohtani, the odds-on favorite for NL Player of the Week honors.

Ohtani's recent dominance has added a unique perspective to his season. Among players with at least 50 stolen bases in a season, Ohtani's OPS of 1.023 is now the highest since George Sisler in 1922.

Third-base coach Dino Ebel joked that after Ohtani's great season this year, a 55-55 record is the goal for next year, but it's entirely possible to achieve that record this year – after Sunday, he has 53 home runs and 55 stolen bases, his 15th game this season with at least one stolen base and a home run (a major league record).

Four of those games took place in September and eleven since the All-Star break.

It's a hot streak that Ohtani said he was close to last week when he was close to 50-50, saying, “I'm really just a little bit away from feeling good.”

It's safe to say he's feeling good, and if he keeps that up over the next few weeks, Ohtani could have as much of an impact on the Dodgers' fortunes in October as anyone.

(Photo by Shohei Ohtani: John McCoy / Getty Images)