Dodgers clinch record 12th NL West title in 13 seasons, blank Diamondbacks in dominant fashion

Freddie Freeman blasted two home runs, with Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages also going deep, as the Los Angeles Dodgers posted a dominant 8-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Thursday in Phoenix, securing their 12th National League West title in 13 seasons. Freeman set the tone with a 411-foot leadoff homer in a four-run second inning and added a two-run shot in the fourth, capping the scoring.


Ohtani’s two-run homer in the fourth marked his 54th of the season and 108th in his first two years with the Dodgers, just one shy of Alex Rodriguez’s 2001-02 total and five behind Babe Ruth’s 1920-21 mark. Pages also contributed, following Freeman’s first homer with his 27th of the year. Mookie Betts drove in two runs, while Enrique Hernandez added two hits and scored twice.



On the mound, Yoshinobu Yamamoto (12-8) dominated, allowing just four singles over six scoreless innings with seven strikeouts and two walks. He finished the regular season with 201 strikeouts and has allowed only three runs and 11 hits over his last five starts covering 34 innings. Yamamoto lowered his ERA to 2.40, second in the NL to Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes.


For Arizona (80-79), Jalen Beeks (5-3) surrendered Freeman’s second-inning homer before being replaced by Nabil Crismatt, who gave up seven hits and five earned runs in three innings. Ketel Marte’s double in the eighth was the only extra-base hit for the Diamondbacks, who have lost four of seven and remain one game behind the Reds (81-78) and two behind the Mets (82-77) in the hunt for the third NL wild-card spot.


With the win, the Dodgers (90-69) earn home-field advantage in the best-of-three wild-card series starting Tuesday and close the regular season with a three-game series in Seattle, which has already clinched the AL West title.