Here’s what’s at stake for the Dodgers over the

SAN FRANCISCO — This is the time to carry on the rivals. The Dodgers are used to taking on challengers down the pennant stretch: the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres — and, in a earlier model of the National League West, the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds.

The closing two weeks of the common season are upon us. The Dodgers have one remaining head-to-head matchup that actually issues — and that collection begins Monday at Dodger Stadium, against the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies?

The Phillies haven’t been realigned into the NL West. However, although the three division champions mechanically qualify for the playoffs, the two with the best information earn a bye into the division collection. The division champion with the third-best report — proper now, that could be the Dodgers — must play in the first spherical.

The Milwaukee Brewers, the presumed champions of the NL Central, boast the best report in baseball. The Phillies, the presumed champions of the NL East, lead the Dodgers by 4 ½ video games. The Dodgers have 13 video games to play.

The Dodgers received a bye and misplaced in the division collection in 2022. They received a bye and misplaced in the division collection in 2023. They received a bye and got here within one sport of elimination in the division collection in 2024. Would they be better off not getting a bye and enjoying in the first spherical?

“There is not a question in my mind that that does not make sense,” Andrew Friedman, the Dodgers’ president of baseball operations, told me last week. “It is better for your World Series odds to not play those three games.”

The 5 days off that come with a bye can disrupt the timing of hitters. They also can enable time for injured and weary gamers to get well — that might be vital for Dodgers catcher Will Smith, in explicit — and for the Dodgers to prepare their beginning rotation just the approach they may prefer it. And, of course, you may’t be eradicated in the first spherical if you don’t play in it.

“We have made our life more difficult to this point,” Friedman said, “but I still think we have a really good run in us, and we’ll make it competitive. So obviously these three games against Philly are really important in that.”

What if the three video games against the Phillies go poorly?

Even if they don’t, the Dodgers won’t win the division. The Padres are nearer to the Dodgers than the Dodgers are to the Phillies.

San Diego trails the Dodgers by 2½ video games in the NL West.

If the Padres win the NL West, how a lot would that harm the Dodgers’ probabilities of a prolonged postseason run?

Not a lot, if at all. Both groups virtually definitely would end up in the wild-card spherical.

The NL West champion would play the last crew into the NL area, most possible the Giants or New York Mets and possibly even the Reds or Arizona Diamondbacks, with the probability the opponent exhausted its pitching just to get into the playoffs. The other crew would play the Chicago Cubs, and would keep away from the chance of going through the surging Phillies until the NLCS.

If the NL West comes down to the last day or two, the Dodgers would have to decide whether or not to use their best starters on that closing weekend or line them up for the wild-card collection.

In that situation, what may be the decisive issue in the Dodgers’ calculus?

The NL West champion would play all three video games of the wild-card spherical at home; the runner-up possible would play all three video games on the street. The Dodgers are 48-26 at home, 36-39 on the street. (The Padres are 47-28 at home, 35-40 on the street.)

Would there be any precedent for the Dodgers not minding if the Padres received the NL West?

In 1996, the Dodgers and Padres had been tied for the NL West lead heading into the closing day of the common season, with the two groups going through one another. Both groups had been assured a playoff spot.

In Game 162, the Dodgers began Ramon Martinez — undefeated in his earlier 9 begins — then eliminated him after one inning.

The Padres received the sport, and with it the division. The Dodgers began Martinez in their playoff opener three days later. They misplaced that sport, and they had been swept in the collection by the Braves. The successful pitchers in that collection, in order: John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.

How many video games are the Dodgers on tempo to win?

Ninety-one.

In Friedman’s earlier 10 seasons working the Dodgers, what is the fewest quantity of video games they’ve received?

Ninety-one, in 2016.

How did the Dodgers do that October?

They earned a bye into the division collection, in which they beat the Washington Nationals. They misplaced to the Chicago Cubs in the league championship collection.