Sports
Padres Seek To Deny Dodgers Division Title
The Padres need a victory Thursday to keep the Dodgers from assuring themselves of their third consecutive National League West title.
SAN DIEGO, CA — The Padres will try to move one step closer to having home-field advantage for a wild-card series and keep their slim hopes of a National League West title alive when they face the Los Angeles Dodgers Thursday evening at Dodger Stadium.
Two victories in their final four games would assure the Padres of playing all three possible games of a wild-card series at Petco Park. The wild- card round will begin Tuesday.
The Padres need a victory on Thursday night to keep the Dodgers from assuring themselves of their third consecutive National League West title and 11th in the past 12 seasons.
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Los Angeles lowered its magic number to two -- meaning any combination of Dodger victories and Padres losses equaling two would assure the team of the division title -- with Wednesday's 4-3 victory over the Padres at Dodger Stadium as Shohei Ohtani singled in Will Smith with two outs in the bottom of the sixth with the tie-breaking run.
Los Angeles (94-64) have a three-game lead over the Padres (91-67). Both teams have four games remaining.
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The website Baseball Prospectus gives the Dodgers a 92% chance of winning the division and the Padres an 8% chance based on its proprietary system that projects player and team performance.
Both teams have assured themselves of postseason berths.
The Dodgers have led the division each day since April 1 when an 8-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants improved their record to 5-2.
Right-hander Joe Musgrove will pitch for the Padres. He is 6-5 with a 3.95 ERA. The Padres are 11-7 in Musgrove's 18 starts. Musgrove has had two stints on the injured list this season because of right elbow inflammation, missing 74 games.
Musgrove is 0-7 with a 4.48 ERA against Los Angeles. He has no record and a 16.88 ERA in one appearance against the Dodgers this season.
Ohtani is 1-for-8 with one RBI against Musgrove.
Walker Buehler will make his seventh start for Los Angeles since returning from a rehabilitation assignment to its Triple-A Oklahoma City affiliate. The right-hander is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA since returning to the Dodgers. He is 1-6 with a 5.63 ERA for the season.
Los Angeles is 8-7 in Buehler's 15 starts. Buehler is 6-1 with a 1.80 ERA lifetime against the Padres. The loss came in his lone appearance against the Padres this season, when he allowed three runs and five hits in 3 1/3 innings in a 4-0 loss May 12.
Padres are 8-4 against the Dodgers in 2024, including a 3-2 record at Dodger Stadium. The teams also split two games in Seoul, South Korea to start the season.
Wednesday's loss snapped the Padres' five-game winning streak and run of nine victories in 10 games. Their 41-18 record since the All-Star break is the best in Major League Baseball. Los Angeles' 38-23 record since the All-Star break is third-best behind the Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks (39-23).
The 7:10 p.m. game will be televised by Padres.TV.
— City News Service
