Early this season, another National League West Division title for the Los Angeles Dodgers seemed like a foregone conclusion.
The San Diego Padres cut the Dodgers’ lead in the National League West to two games with a 3-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Arizona Wednesday. Meanwhile, Shohei Ohtani’s hitting and pitching exploits weren’t enough Wednesday for the Dodgers in a 5-3 loss at home to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Padres have won eight of their last 10 games. Wednesday, Jose Iglesias singled in Xander Bogaerts with the go-ahead run at Arizona then Mason Miller nailed down the win by earning his 21st save this year.
The Dodgers fell despite Ohtani hitting his 39th home run of the season, a two-run blast to right field in the third inning, and giving up just one run in his four innings pitched as a starter. Ohtani struck out eight batters and walked none.
In the American League Central Division, the Detroit Tigers’ divisional lead over the Cleveland Guardians is down to six games after the Tigers had led by double digits part of the season.
All three Southern Cal MLB teams will be in action in series openers Friday. The Dodgers will host the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays, the Padres will host the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels will be at Detroit.   Â