Dodgers complete 100-win season with win over Giants

SAN FRANCISCO – Well, enough of that – now on to the important stuff.

The Dodgers reached the end of the compulsory phase of their year, finishing the regular season with a 5-1 win in 10 innings against the San Francisco Giants on Sunday afternoon at Oracle Park.

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The win was the Dodgers’ 100th of the season. It is the 12th time in franchise history that they have finished a season with 100 wins. None of the previous 100-win regular seasons were followed by a World Series championship.

“So we’re due,” Freddie Freeman said to that. “That just means we’re due as an organization.

“It means a lot. Truly, 100 wins is hard to do. It’s six months. It’s a grind. A lot of ups and downs. A lot of people getting hurt. A lot of depth pieces stepping up. A lot of good things happening for a lot of good people on this team. A hundred wins is hard to do. We haven’t been able to do it the last couple years, so to be able to do it this year is special.”

This is their first 100-win season since 2023 but the sixth in the past nine full seasons. For Dave Roberts, he has tied Hall of Fame managers Bobby Cox and Joe McCarthy for the most 100-win seasons as a manager.

“It doesn’t change anything as far as kind of our standing going forward in the postseason, but it’s still a nice feather in our cap to win 100 games,” Roberts said.

“A lot of good players, a great organization, and it’s not easy to win 100 games. There’s a lot of things that we had to go through this year, and we just continue to remain steadfast and play on. And so, yeah, that’s something to be proud of.”

The Dodgers will now take Monday off before getting together for four days of simulated games, live batting practice and whatever else they deem necessary to get ready for the opening of the postseason that will determine if they can become the first National League franchise to win three consecutive World Series championships.

Game 1 of their NL Division Series will be Saturday at Dodger Stadium against the winner of the Wild Card Series between the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies. That best-of-three series begins Tuesday in Atlanta – and the Dodgers will be watching.

“There’s going to be some watch parties at the ballpark. I thought that was something that was really good,” Roberts said of the bye week itinerary established in 2024. “You’re not playing in the Wild Card Series, but you’re watching it and you kind of get your juices going. There’s also a bonding piece that I think is important.

“I thought we did a good job of having enough live and game situations, simulating them. Our coaches are sort of revisiting what we did a couple years ago. If there’s things we want to improve on or what – it worked out well a couple years ago. A lot of it’s also contingent on how guys are feeling, making sure they get rested and reset.”

MLB’s easiest September schedule allowed the Dodgers to go into their bye week with positive momentum. They went 18-7 in the final month (including 6-0 against the Giants in the final 10 days). Only the San Diego Padres (19-6) had more wins in the month.

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“I think everybody has the same attitude,” Mookie Betts said. “Once we get to this time, we’ll be ready to go. You understand that there is a distinct difference between now and the regular season. … We’ll keep the same attitude but probably add more intensity and whatnot because it’s a short amount of time (in the postseason).”

Those bye-week sim games essentially started this weekend at Oracle Park.

On Sunday, the Dodgers sent seven pitchers to the mound to get their work. They allowed one run on five hits — and survived giving up the potential game-deciding home run. Giants shortstop Christian Koss took Dodgers reliever Bobby Miller deep leading off the eighth inning — but replay review turned the home run into a foul ball.

Roki Sasaki made his third appearance out of the bullpen since returning from a blister and did nothing to undermine his status as perhaps the most important bullpen weapon the Dodgers will have this postseason. He struck out two of the three batters he faced in a 1-2-3 inning.

Over his three innings in relief, Sasaki has faced 11 batters and struck out six, allowing two hits in his first appearance and none since.

“I think the fastball’s better,” Roberts said, comparing the version of Sasaki the Dodgers got when they moved him to the bullpen last postseason. “I think the split’s better. It’s also nice that he’s already done it. Just in total, he’s just a better pitcher than he was last year and a lot more confident.”

Edwin Diaz continued to affirm his status as a rediscovered bullpen weapon with another 1-2-3 inning. And Roberts reported Edgardo Henriquez has been throwing bullpen sessions this weekend and will participate in the bye week workouts with the expectation that he will be ready to return from his lower back injury and be part of the Dodgers’ NLDS bullpen.

The Dodgers’ offense didn’t spark to life until the 10th inning when Alex Call doubled in the free runner then trotted home on a three-run home run by Andy Pages.

Shohei Ohtani went 1 for 3 in the season finale, bouncing a single through the left side for his base hit. In five games since returning from the Injured List, Ohtani was 5 for 21 (.238) with eight strikeouts and just one extra-base hit (a double).

“I thought he looked fine,” Roberts said. “I do think that just getting some at-bats, however many he got since he came back, and then really just this (bye) week is going to be really crucial. I think for Freddie, I think it’s going to be crucial for Shohei. So yeah, I mean, I thought it looked better today.

“I thought the process early was great. I thought in the middle of that he was kind of getting a little more anxious. I thought today the process was much better. But I think the main thing is that we feel that he came out of it healthy, and so you just expect the ensuing days he feels even better. So, when you look out to Saturday, I think he’ll be in a good spot.”

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