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LOS ANGELES The Los Angeles Dodgers didn’t win a game Thursday. But they got something far more valuable before even taking the field for their 4-2 loss to the San Diego Padres.
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With the Atlanta Braves’ loss to the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the day, the Dodgers clinched the second seed in the National League playoffs and the first-round bye that goes with it. That means the Dodgers will get five days off next week to prepare for their playoff opener, a godsend for a bruised and bloodied team that has stumbled to the finish of the regular season.
“I think we all know why it’s important,” first baseman Freddie Freeman said of the break. “There’s a lot of us kind of limping toward the end here, a lot of aches and pains this year.”
In addition to Freeman, who has been hobbled all month by a sore right knee, the Dodgers are rushing to get designated hitter Shohei Ohtani, starting pitcher Blake Snell and closer Edwin Díaz healthy.
Center fielder Andy Pages, who missed a month with a broken hand, returned to the lineup three days ago while Dalton Rushing, who is competing for a bench spot on the postseason roster, is expected to be activated off the injured list Friday.
All of them will benefit from some additional rest before their playoff opener, at Dodger Stadium, on Oct. 3.
And speaking of Dodger Stadium, the No. 2 playoff seed carries another important perk: the home-field advantage for the Division Series – and possibly the World Series, if the Dodgers make it that far. Home has certainly been an advantage for the Dodgers, who drew a sellout crowd of 53,027 Thursday, pushing the team’s total home attendance over four million for the second straight year.
“It’s more turning of the turnstiles than any venue in the world,” Dodger manager Dave Roberts said. “The amazing thing is that it’s not just localized. It’s international. Everyone looks different at Dodger Stadium.
“It’s spectacular and our players certainly feed off of it.”
The Dodgers are one of five franchises in big-league history to draw more than 4 million fans in a season but just two others – the Toronto Blue Jays, from 1991-93, and the New York Yankees, in the final four years at old Yankee Stadium – did it in consecutive seasons.
Plus the Dodgers are the only team to do it since 2008. They also lead the majors in road attendance this season, having drawn 2.82 million, or 36,159 a game. And for some fans, it’s hard to separate their support from the team’s success.
“A synergy exists between we the fans and the players,” said Charles Flores, an associate professor at Cal State L.A. and lifelong Dodger fan who attended more than a dozen games this season. “One inspires the other.”
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Russ Hoffman of Santa Clarita, a season-ticket holder for 40 years, agrees.
“The atmosphere created by drawing so many fans definitely contributes to their success,” he said. “Winning continuously drives the attendance and the current ownership has committed the assets to do that.”
That edge can be even bigger in the playoffs. The Dodgers lost just five of 16 postseason games at home – a .688 winning percentage – en route to World Series titles the last two years.
“During the playoffs Dodger Stadium is a tough place to play because it’s 56,000 crazed fans yelling on every play,” said Stan Brooks, an award-winning film producer and long-time season-ticket holder. “The fans are so loud and the environment is so intense every night.”
The Dodgers (97-62) will finish the regular season with three games this weekend in San Francisco, where they will continue their preparation for the postseason. Ohtani had a single and a run-scoring double Thursday. He also sent Jackson Merrill to the center-field wall to run down two long outs Thursday.
Mookie Betts, dropped to second in the lineup with Ohtani’s return, went three for three with a walk, raising his average for September to .347, while Freeman had two hits for the third time in four games.
But the Dodgers stranded eight runners, going 0 for 8 with men in scoring position through eight innings, avoiding their first shutout of the season at home on Adrian Morejon’s balk in the eighth.
On the mound, Tyler Glasnow, who will be the Dodgers’ fourth starter in the postseason, was perfect through three innings. He walked Fernando Tatis Jr. on four pitches to start the fourth, but didn’t allow another Padres batter to reach base until Ethan Sales singled with one out in the sixth.
That proved costly when Tatis singled on the next pitch, sending Sales to third, from where he scored on Dustin Harris’ sacrifice fly, putting the Padres ahead to stay.
Glasnow (5-2) got out of the inning by striking out Manny Machado, giving him a season-high 11 strikeouts on the night and 21 in his last two starts but San Diego then blew the game open in the seventh, chasing Glasnow and scoring three times off reliever Justin Wrobleski on run-scoring singles by Austin Hayes, Sales and Tatis.
Díaz pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two.
With the win, the Padres (89-70) clinched a postseason berth for the fifth time in seven seasons.
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(Staff writer Maddie Lee contributed to this report.)
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This story was originally published September 24, 2026 at 10:30 PM.