Dodgers Clinch No. 2 Seed and NLDS Bye, Then Lose to Padres Who Clinch Their Own Playoff Spot

The Dodgers spent months chasing a bye into the National League Division Series. They got it Thursday without even throwing a pitch.

Before first pitch at Dodger Stadium, the Atlanta Braves lost 7-6 to the Cincinnati Reds, which mathematically locked the Dodgers (97-62) into one of the NL's top two seeds. The Milwaukee Brewers (100-59) had already clinched the No. 1 seed and franchise-record 100 wins, so Los Angeles settled for No. 2, home-field advantage in the NLDS, and a five-day break before its playoff opener October 3 at Dodger Stadium.

Then the Dodgers went out and lost 4-2 to the San Diego Padres, who clinched their own postseason berth in the same game, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Glasnow's near no-hitter wasn't enough

Tyler Glasnow carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and finished with a season-high 11 strikeouts across 6⅓ innings, allowing three runs, per the Orange County Register. Ethan Salas broke it up with a single, and San Diego strung together enough hits in the sixth and seventh to pull away, with Salas, Fernando Tatis Jr., Jackson Merrill and Austin Hays all driving in runs against Glasnow and reliever Justin Wrobleski.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called Glasnow "a big weapon" and said he expects him to be one of the team's playoff starters alongside Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell.

On the other side, Padres starter Nick Pivetta, making just his fourth start since returning from a right elbow flexor strain, threw 4⅔ scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, according to the East Village Times. Closer Mason Miller set the Padres' single-season franchise record for strikeouts by a reliever, reaching 127 on the year, per the Sporting Tribune.

The Los Angeles Times reported the Padres' win clinched a franchise-record third consecutive playoff trip; the Sporting Tribune described it as their fourth postseason appearance in the last five years. Both figures can be true, but readers should note the two outlets framed San Diego's playoff streak differently. Either way, San Diego (89-70) is going to October for the fourth time in five years and has now clinched a playoff spot on the Dodgers' own field twice in three seasons, following its 2024 clincher via a game-ending triple play at Dodger Stadium.

A hobbled roster gets a five-day head start on healing

The bye matters most for a Dodgers team that has been grinding through injuries down the stretch. First baseman Freddie Freeman, who has dealt with right patellar tendinitis, called it plainly: "I think we all know why it's important. There's a lot of us kind of limping toward the end here, a lot of aches and pains this year."

Shohei Ohtani went 2-for-5 with an RBI Thursday, his first multi-hit or RBI game in more than a month, according to the LA Times. That's a sign he may be trending back toward full strength after returning from the injured list earlier in the timeline. Closer Edwin Díaz threw a perfect ninth with two strikeouts. Center fielder Andy Pages, back three days from a month out with a broken hand, is also working back into form. Dalton Rushing is expected to be activated off the injured list Friday, and Snell is scheduled to make his final tuneup start Saturday in San Francisco after exiting his last outing after just one inning with groin discomfort.

What's still unresolved

The Dodgers' NLDS opponent isn't set. Atlanta locked into the NL's No. 3 seed and will open the best-of-three Wild Card round Tuesday as host, but the standings for the other two wild-card slots remain tight among the Padres, Cubs and Phillies, with the Diamondbacks still mathematically alive entering the final weekend, per MLB.com. The Dodgers will face the winner of that bracket.

Attendance is its own subplot. Thursday's sellout crowd of 53,027 pushed the Dodgers past 4 million in home attendance for a second straight season, a mark reached by only five franchises in MLB history and just three teams in consecutive years, according to the LA Times. Those teams include the early-1990s Toronto Blue Jays and the final years of the old Yankee Stadium. No team has done it in back-to-back seasons since 2008.

The Dodgers are chasing a third straight World Series title, which would be the first three-peat in MLB since the 1998-2000 Yankees. Starter Tyler Glasnow shrugged off the significance of the bye itself: "We've had byes in previous years and not done well, we've been Wild Card and done well. I think it's all random." The Dodgers will find out who they're playing, and whether the extra rest actually helps, when Game 1 of the NLDS begins October 3 at Dodger Stadium.