The Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets handed the spotlight mostly on the trade deadline.
Then they played like they didn’t need much help.
The Dodgers entered a three-game series against San Diego to take a 15 1/2-game lead in the NL West, and the Mets took four of five to go 6 1/2 over the Braves in the NL East from Atlanta. took. The Padres then made serious waves at the deadline by acquiring Juan Soto, and the Braves added Jake Odorizzi and Raicel Iglesias.
Los Angeles was not so active, The Dodgers ousted Joey Gallo from the Yankees’ hands, but otherwise seemed content to lie low. He then beat Soto, Manny Machado and the Padres combined 20-4 three times. Los Angeles has won eight in a row and has won 30 of their last 35.
The Mets were also pretty quiet on the deadline. Of course, when Jacob deGrom returned to the mound for the first time in nearly 13 months he made a huge addition to the interior recently. New York lost their first start but won their second – when they played a perfect sixth inning game against Atlanta on Sunday.
The Braves have recovered well from average starts, and at times they are poised to overtake the Mets. But New York won two out of three in Atlanta in the middle of last month and this time again outperformed the Braves.
If DeGrom and Max Schazer are healthy and Edwin Diaz keeps rolling, the Mets can certainly feel good in any playoff series.
Meanwhile, Los Angeles have won 17 of their last 19 meetings against San Diego. The scary thing about the Dodgers is that they can still improve. For example, Justin Turner is expected to return this coming week. And Los Angeles is gone on this extended run without Walker Buehler, who hasn’t pitched since June 10.
very tight
What the AL Central and NL Central’s major teams lack, they can make up for in enthusiasm. Minnesota leads the AL Central by one game over Cleveland and two games over the White Sox. This can be a wild race, as none of these teams are assured of a wild card.
St. Louis has won seven in a row and leads Milwaukee by two games in the NL Central. The Cardinals took three straight takes from the New York Yankees at the end of the week. The Brewers have lost six out of seven and are 1 1/2 games out of the wild card.
trivia time
Who was the last team to win their division by more than the Dodgers’ current 15 1/2-game margin?
week line
DeGrom was impressive against the Braves, but ultimately failed to finish sixth, so the honor goes to Miami’s Sandy Alcantara, who threw his third full game of the season in a 3-0 win over Cincinnati on Wednesday night. Alcantara allowed six hits and a walk and dismissed three.
return of the week
The Cardinals beat the Cubs 4-3 in Thursday’s doubleheader opener to go 3-0 down in the seventh. St. Louis scored three in the seventh on homer by Nolan Gorman and Paul Goldschmidt and a sacrificial fly by Lars Knutbar. Nutbar then hit an RBI single in the ninth to win.
general knowledge answer
The Dodgers themselves, who finished the 2019 season 21 games ahead of second-place Arizona.
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