SB Nation • 4 min read

Dodgers and Diamondbacks meet with playoff implications

Urgency drives the conversation on both sides of this NL West matchup between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Los Angeles Dodgers, one that could easily repeat itself if the Mets’ issues continue. While Los Angeles wants

to take care of business as early as possible and secure yet another NL West crown, Arizona has been, by all accounts, playing playoff baseball for a while. The D-Backs are trying to run down the Mets and overcome a flurry of teams fighting for that last Wild Card spot, one that will likely lead to a series with the Dodgers in the opening round of the playoffs.

Boasting a 29-10 record against the other three NL West teams, the Dodgers will face the one division rival that has given them fits this season. These two teams enter play on Monday with a 5-5 record in head-to-head meetings, Arizona having scored 46 runs to Los Angeles’ 43.

Arizona’s starter for the Monday series will be the youngster Brandon Pfaadt, whose disappointing season line (5.02 ERA) shouldn’t fool you. Pfaadt is coming off maybe the most gut-wrenching start in the major leagues since Yoshinobu Yamamoto lost a no-hitter with one out to go and went on to see his team lose that game. Pfaadt tossed nine scoreless innings of one-hit ball against the Giants in his last start, only to lose the game in extras because he didn’t get any run support.

Furthermore, Pfaadt’s troubles have come exclusively on the road, with one of the more aggressive home/road splits in the big leagues. At home, Pfaadt has won nine of 16 starts and has a 3.15 ERA. On the road, Pfaadt’s ERA balloons to 7.29, and he also possesses a below .500 record (4-5), actually impressive given how bad that ERA is.

Shohei Ohtani, on the other hand, takes into this game a run of 11.1 scoreless innings, dating back to his start against the Reds at the end of August. Ohtani was also at his finest in his last start, holding the Phillies to one hit in five innings and no runs.