Sunday's game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers was more than just a normal regular season game.
The Brewers and Dodgers were both tied at three wins apiece in the season series, and Sunday was the final time the two would meet in the regular season. The winner would have the tie-breaker for seeding in the National League should they end up tied in the standings. The higher seed would have home-field advantage in October.
The Brewers have a three-game lead over the Dodgers after taking three out of four at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers offense really struggled in the series, but especially on Sunday against Logan Henderson.
"This has been four, five, six weeks of below-average production from our offense. It’s the truth,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said after the loss, per The Athletic's Katie Woo. “I just think that we haven’t played clean baseball for quite some time, and that speaks to the defense.
“Just not winning baseball. Our pedigree, what we typically do, is control the zone, grind at-bats, create stress. We’re not doing that.”
The Dodgers made a couple of costly errors on Sunday, and the offense was held to just two solo homers, with one coming off Andy Pages' bat in the ninth inning when the team was trailing by five runs. The Dodgers have gone from the No. 2 seed to the No. 3 seed in the last couple of weeks, and are now trying to pass the Atlanta Braves for a first round bye.
“I don’t think (this) is who we are,” Roberts said. “I think we’ve done it long enough individually and collectively. But I do think that just saying you’re going to come out of it is not the right way to look at it. I think coming out of it is by how you go about it, and that’s by winning a 1-1 pitch, winning a 3-2 pitch and taking a walk. Earning good counts and taking advantage of mistakes. That’s how you get out.”
The Dodgers still have about six weeks to get right before entering the postseason. Getting Tyler Glasnow and Will Smith will help the offense, and Shohei Ohtani's return to pitching should help the rotation and bullpen.