CINCINNATI — The back-to-back champion Dodgers are headed back to October. Los Angeles punched its ticket with a 4-1 victory over the Reds on Monday night at Great American Ball Park, clinching a postseason berth for a 14th straight season and tying Atlanta's all-time MLB record set from 1991-2005.
Kyle Tucker and Teoscar Hernández supplied the power and Tarik Skubal delivered the dominance. Tucker opened the scoring with a solo home run off Reds left-hander Nick Lodolo in the second inning, then drew a two-out walk in the fourth ahead of Hernández, who took Lodolo deep to extend the lead. Skubal made it stand with seven scoreless innings, scattering three hits and a walk while striking out nine.
The clincher was keyed by the Dodgers' two biggest additions in their bid for the Majors' first three-peat since the Yankees won three straight World Series from 1998-2000. Tucker, the club's biggest addition in free agency, has struggled offensively and is out of time to fully turn his season around, but may be heating up at the right time with three homers in his past five games. Skubal, the most notable in-season reinforcement after being dealt to L.A. ahead of the Trade Deadline, authored one of his finest starts since the move.
With the playoff spot secured, Los Angeles now turns to the NL West. The Dodgers will go for their 13th division title in the past 14 seasons and can win it as soon as Tuesday with another win in Cincinnati coupled with back-to-back losses by the Padres. San Diego entered Monday on a seven-game winning streak and remains red-hot.
Both Tucker and Skubal were brought to Los Angeles for this exact objective — winning another championship. Clinching a postseason berth was the first meaningful step toward defending their title once again.