By admin 
LOS ANGELES – The schedule has given them lemons and the Dodgers have made some sweet lemonade this month.
Read more Aces win 6th straight, clinch top-3 playoff seed
Their September schedule has been the easiest in MLB, and it was just what they needed to refresh their offense. After sagging in July and August, they went into Tuesday night’s game first or second in the majors this month in runs, home runs, walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS.
The degree of difficulty goes up for three days this week, but the result didn’t change Tuesday as the hot Dodgers beat the even-hotter San Diego Padres, 7-0, postponing the Padres’ chances to clinch a postseason berth.
The win was the Dodgers’ 15th in their past 18 games, their seventh in the past eight and their fifth in a row. The loss was just the second in the past 15 games for the Padres, whose magic number to clinch a wild-card spot remains two over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
This hot streak for the Dodgers has moved them to within one more win (or an Atlanta Braves loss) of clinching a first-round bye for the National League playoffs. With a Milwaukee Brewers loss on Tuesday, the Dodgers even moved within a game of the top seed in the NL (though the Brewers own the tiebreaker, making it a two-game lead in reality) with five games left in the regular season.
The Dodgers’ focus, however, has shifted to sorting through their options for a postseason roster.
Two new ones joined the mix Tuesday with outfielder Andy Pages and right-hander Roki Sasaki activated from the injured list.
Moving to his anticipated postseason role pitching out of the bullpen, Sasaki returned from his four-week stay on the IL due to a blister on his pitching hand and pitched a scoreless inning, striking out two and throwing five fastballs that registered between 99.7 and 100.1 mph.
Read more Portland tops Golden State in OT, giving Minnesota top seed
Sasaki was one of eight Dodgers relievers (only Kyle Hurt went a second inning) who combined to shut out the Padres on five hits – a callback to Game 4 of the 2024 NL Division Series.
If not Sasaki’s inning, then Edwin Diaz might have pitched the most significant inning in that group outing. He retired the side in order in the fifth, striking out two of the three batters he faced. Since returning from his own trip to the IL, Diaz has thrown three encouraging innings, allowing one hit and walking just one while striking out six of the 11 batters he has faced.
Whatever sweetening their soft September opposition has added to the Dodgers’ offense, it kicked in with two outs in an inning Tuesday. Their first six runs all scored with two outs in an inning.
Padres starter Michael King retired the first two batters in the second inning then gave up back-to-back singles to Teoscar Hernandez and Josue De Paula. In his first plate appearance since getting hit by a pitch and suffering a hand fracture, Pages stepped up – and was hit by a pitch (this time in the back of the left shoulder) to load the bases.
King issued back-to-back bases-loaded walks to Tommy Edman and Mookie Betts, forcing in runs then Freddie Freeman stroked a single through the middle to drive in two more.
Emerging from his slump, Freeman collected another two-out RBI with a single in the fourth inning to drive in Betts who had doubled.
It was Freeman’s third multi-hit game in his past five. He is 6 for his past 20 – after going 6 for 40 to start this month.
Read more Here’s what California state workers need to know about open enrollment
Edman and Will Smith added solo home runs.
More to come on this story.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published September 22, 2026 at 10:20 PM.