If the Dodgers seal another National League West title in the coming days, Shohei Ohtani will not be on hand for the celebration.
Los Angeles moved closer to clinching the division Wednesday night with a commanding 14-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium, trimming its magic number to six. That puts the Dodgers in position to wrap up the NL West during their upcoming seven-game road trip across two cities.
Ohtani, however, will not make the trip with the team and is set to be placed on the 15-day injured list.
The Dodgers hold an 11-game lead over the second-place San Diego Padres, and they also own the head-to-head tiebreaker against them. They are 11 ½ games ahead of the third-place Arizona Diamondbacks, though Arizona holds the tiebreaker in that matchup.
For Los Angeles, another division crown would mark its 13th NL West title in the past 14 seasons.
Feasting on inferior competition, the Dodgers head into their week-long tour on a seven-game winning streak.
Games against soft opponents will continue. The Dodgers on Friday will open a three-game series in Miami against the Marlins. From there, they will go to Cincinnati for a four-game series against the Reds that starts on Monday,
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Ohtani didn’t play on Wednesday night for the sixth time in the last seven games and Freddie Freeman was sidelined with a sore knee, but the Dodgers didn’t have any problems disposing of the last-place Reds.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto reverted to his postseason form from last year, as he limited the Reds to a run and three hits over seven innings. He struck out 10 and walked one.
The Dodgers broke out offensively, as Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Kiké Hernández and Kyle Tucker homered.
Betts and Tucker in particular had productive nights, as each of them collected three htis.
Hernández also doubled and drove in a team-high four runs.
Teoscar Hernández extended his recent hot streak, going 2 for 3 with three runs batted in.
“Obviously, to see Tuck really some some life the last couple nights and Mookie doing what he’s been doing recently, which has been great,” manager Dave Robets said. “Just across the board offensively fantastic.”