Dodgers win 11th NL West title in 12 years
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Dodgers' run of regular-season dominance continues as the Boys in Blue captured their 11th National League West division title in 12 seasons.
The Dodgers clinched the soon-to-be-booze-soaked division champs t-shirts after beating the hated rivals San Diego Padres 7-2 on Thursday night.
Thursday's historic win marks a key checkpoint in the Dodgers' pursuit of a possible World Series run as winning the division essentially guarantees them the top-2 seed in the National League postseason, which also gives Los Angeles the right to host the NLDS and skip the wild-card round.
The division title also serves as exciting news for not only Dodgers fans, but also MLB fans, in general, as the baseball world will get to see Shohei Ohtani in playoff action.
Ohtani, who is wrapping up his historic 50-50 season, will get a chance to take part in the postseason for the first time in his MLB career as his former team, the Los Angeles Angels, never made the playoffs while the 2-time AL MVP was with the team.