Tucker Takes Charge, Dodgers Take The West And Finally Exhale

It was 12:22 p.m. on the West Coast when the Los Angeles Dodgers recorded the final out in Cincinnati and officially became National League West champions for the fifth consecutive season.

That seemed like a perfectly reasonable time for a few Mimosas.

After all, there had been a lot to get through before arriving at this particular Thursday afternoon. The injuries, the bullpen reshuffling, the early exits, the late-game disasters, the long road trips and all the questions that tend to follow a defending back-to-back World Series champion around like an overenthusiastic relative at Thanksgiving.

For a moment, none of it mattered.

The Dodgers had won the division. Again.

They could finally exhale.

And judging by the clubhouse celebration that followed, they did.

The Dodgers took care of business the way a team that has spent most of the season being asked whether something might be wrong with it tends to respond: by scoring eight runs, pounding out 12 hits and putting the division away without requiring another ninth-inning adventure.

Kyle Tucker led the way, and at precisely the right time, the much-discussed right fielder is beginning to look very comfortable in Dodger blue.

Tucker went 4-for-5 with a home run, two doubles, a single and three RBI, falling one triple short of the cycle. His two-run homer in the first inning got the afternoon started, and he kept adding to it as the Dodgers steadily turned what could have been a tense clinching game into something considerably more relaxing.

The fans are starting to embrace Tucker.

His teammates never really stopped.

“This is where you want to be at throughout the year,” Tucker said afterward. “Hopefully we can do this a lot more.”

That last part probably deserves to be filed away somewhere.

Because the Dodgers aren't particularly interested in stopping at the division title.

They have already secured their 14th consecutive postseason appearance, tying the longest such streak in major-league history, and now the target moves beyond the NL West.

But first, there was a division to win.

And there was a pitching staff that had been asked to do it without a conventional starter for the second consecutive day.

Under the circumstances, the bullpen game worked remarkably well.

Justin Wrobleski handled the opening act and was nearly perfect, retiring all nine batters he faced over three scoreless innings while striking out three. Landon Knack followed with four scoreless innings of his own, allowing four hits but keeping Cincinnati off the scoreboard long enough for the Dodgers to turn the afternoon into a celebration rather than another exercise in postseason blood pressure.

Blake Treinen and the other situational arms filled in around them, and while the Reds eventually got a couple of runs, the damage never came close to threatening the outcome.

Wrobleski wasn't looking for anything complicated.

“Just do my best to help the team win, and whatever that capacity is, I'm happy to do it.”

That pretty much summed up the day.

The Dodgers had a job to do, and everybody had a role.

Tucker supplied the fireworks. Freddie Freeman contributed two hits and an RBI. Max Muncy delivered a two-run double in the fourth, and Josue De Paula added an RBI single that pushed the lead to 7-0. Miguel Rojas then put a final exclamation point on the afternoon with a ninth-inning home run.

And somewhere along the way, it became apparent that this wasn't going to be another one of those games where the Dodgers had to spend the final three innings explaining how they almost gave something away.

That was probably worth celebrating by itself.

For Tucker, however, the bigger moment was the one waiting for him after the final out.

“This is where you want to be at throughout the year,” he said.

Tarik Skubal, who has had a front-row seat to the Dodgers' transition from good to very good to occasionally ridiculous since arriving in Los Angeles, was already looking ahead.

“It's gonna be special,” Skubal said. “It's gonna be the first of many.”

Teoscar Hernández, who has quietly been one of the team's most productive hitters over the past couple of weeks, put the accomplishment into the larger perspective.

“To be able to be in 1st place and win the division. Getting everybody healthy back again at the end of the season — that's what this is all about.”

That health part remains the great unknown.

The Dodgers will now have to figure out how the next phase of the season works when the schedule doesn't particularly care that they just clinched a division title. Thursday's early game ended shortly after noon on the West Coast. The champagne celebration followed. Then comes the travel back to Los Angeles and a Friday night game against San Francisco.

It is not exactly the traditional recipe for recovery.

But after everything this team has navigated this season, perhaps the Dodgers have earned the right to figure that part out tomorrow.

Freeman certainly wasn't wasting Thursday worrying about tomorrow.

“It's only step one, but it's nice to celebrate,” he said, before adding, “Man, my eyes are burning.”

Tanner Scott, meanwhile, appeared to have discovered his own definition of championship relaxation.

“I like being covered in beer and champagne,” he said.

The celebration had officially entered its proper phase.

Dave Roberts eventually stood in the middle of the chaos, champagne dripping from practically everything within camera range, and offered perhaps the clearest description of what his team believes it is doing.

“Like I said, we're the most talented, we're the smartest players and we are the toughest players and we are the most hungry. We have something unprecedented to do, 2026 is going to be special.”

Then came the part that probably needed no further explanation.

Roberts shook the bottle.

“Put your blinders on and let's celebrate!”

So they did.

For one afternoon, the standings could wait. The injuries could wait. The questions about October could wait. The endless discussion about whether this Dodgers team was really as good as its record suggested could wait.

At 12:22 p.m. Pacific time, the Dodgers were National League West champions.

Five straight.

Thirteen in fourteen seasons.

And after the ride they've been on to get here, a Mimosa on the West Coast sounded about right.