After all the injuries, struggles, and tension, the Dodgers are once again division champions of the NL West following a rare easy win over the Diamondbacks, 8-0. Yoshinobu Yamamoto did his usual thing, cruising through a scoreless outing, but this time the bats backed him up early and often.
That’s the 12th division title in 13 years.
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Let’s start with the offense since there was a lot to cover for once, and things started with Freddie Freeman‘s 22nd homer and Andy Pages‘ 27th homer back-to-back in the 2nd to make it 2-0.
Freddie and Andy go back-to-back! pic.twitter.com/98dCHIm5nd
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 25, 2025
A rally started after that, as Michael Conforto walked, Enrique Hernandez singled with one out, and Dalton Rushing reached on an error to load things up. After Shohei Ohtani struck out, Mookie Betts bailed him out with a single to plate two more and make it 4-0.
Mookie singles home two more and the Dodgers have put Yamamoto in the unfamiliar position of having run support. pic.twitter.com/nIXL41H4d1
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 25, 2025
They continued adding on in the 4th, as Enrique doubled and Shohei somehow hit a changeup below the zone out with one hand for his 54th to make it 6-0.
Shohei to the pool! pic.twitter.com/Iy1gAocCnn
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 25, 2025
Later in the same inning, Teoscar Hernandez reached on an infield single and Freddie smacked his 23rd homer to make it 8-0.
FREDDIE AGAIN! pic.twitter.com/kQdOhXcfbz
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 25, 2025
The Dodgers hilariously when scoreless over the last five frames, as they couldn’t care less about scoring.
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Meanwhile, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was mostly cruising despite getting squeezed at times by the umpire. He started with a clean 1st and a pair of strikeouts, and gave up just a two-out single in the 2nd.
Yamamoto had to navigate around some traffic in the next two frames as he gave up a walk and single in both — the aforementioned umpire calls hurt him here — but maintained no damage given up. He rebounded with a clean 5th, and gave up just a single in the 6th to end his day.
He also got his 200th strikeout of the year:
Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s 200th strikeout of the season appropriately came on a nasty splitter. pic.twitter.com/C5NvVP6TU6
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 25, 2025
While his pitch count was elevated, he never felt like he was in any real danger: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 K, 94 Pitches.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto strikes out seven over six shutout to close out his season. 200 K and a 2.49 ERA. pic.twitter.com/seE4Q5HoUm
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 25, 2025
Even for this pen it would be hard to blow an eight-run lead in three innings, but it wouldn’t surprise me at this point.
Regardless, Tanner Scott started the 7th and cruised through a 1-2-3 inning, and it makes me regret even more he wasn’t given a chance to find it in low leverage earlier in the season.
To his credit, this was the first inning he’s thrown in a while where nothing was threatening. Almost like he could’ve used a few of these low leverage appearances a month ago. https://t.co/pWh807fZuy pic.twitter.com/jwEQj4U03x
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 25, 2025
The 8th belonged to Will Klein, who is auditioning for a playoff pen spot, striking out two against the heart of their order to pitch around a double.
Facing the heart of the D-backs order, two strikeouts for Will Klein in a scoreless inning as he competes for a playoff spot. pic.twitter.com/WKW4lIb1DH
— Chad Moriyama (@ChadMoriyama) September 25, 2025
Anthony Banda then closed things out in the 9th in 1-2-3 fashion.
A shutout to secure the NL West Division title! pic.twitter.com/Uq63CzIsGK
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) September 25, 2025
Celebration post coming later!
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The Dodgers are NL West champions and will be the #3 seed in the NL.
Thankfully, the series against the Mariners is now meaningless for both teams other than getting their rotations in line and what not. It’ll be a three-gamer up in Seattle starting on SNLA at 3:40 PM HT/6:40 PM PT/9:40 PM ET with Emmet Sheehan facing George Kirby (for now, at least).
