Dodgers clinch NL West title, first-round bye in postseason

LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Dodgers won the National League West on Thursday night by rallying to beat the second-place San Diego Padres 7-2 with a five-run outburst in the seventh inning.

The Dodgers had not clinched at home since the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, when cardboard cutouts replaced fans in the stands. The last time fans were on hand for a clincher at home was 2018.

A sellout crowd of 52,433, including retired Dodgers star Manny Ramirez, packed Dodger Stadium for the finale of the crucial series between the top two teams in the division.

The Dodgers took two of three from the Padres and head to Colorado for a three-game set to conclude the regular season.

Their 11th division title in 12 seasons earned them a first-round bye in the postseason.

The Dodgers improved to 95-64 and will open the playoffs on Oct. 5 at home in a best-of-five NL Division Series.

Will Smith hit a tying, two-run homer off Joe Musgrove to start the Dodgers’ rally. Musgrove had held them scoreless through six innings as the Padres took a 2-0 lead.

Musgrove gave up a leadoff walk to Max Muncy. Smith followed with a 426-foot shot to center, tying the score at 2-2. It was the Dodgers’ first home run of the three-game series.

Pinch hitter  Kiké Hernández singled and took second when Andy Pages reached on catcher’s interference by Kyle Higashioka. Shohei Ohtani singled and Hernández scored on an error, while Ohtani was safe at second on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s throwing error.

Pages and Ohtani scored on Mookie Betts’ single to make it 5-2.

Pages added a two-run, two-strike, two-out homer in the eighth.

The rally against the Padres was dampened by an injury to All-Star slugger Freddie Freeman, who left the game after awkwardly trying to avoid the tag of  Luis Arraez at first base and rolling his right ankle for the second out of the seventh. Freeman grabbed at his lower right leg before hobbling off the field.

The Dodgers, though, said after the game that Freeman didn’t sustain any structural damage to the ankle and expect him to be ready for the NLDS.

Information from ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez and The Associated Press was used in this report.