6:46 AM UTC
SAN FRANCISCO — The Dodgers’ main focus over the last weekend of the regular season is to build momentum for the postseason, stay healthy and potentially set some individual and team records along the way.
With a 6-2 win over the Giants on Friday at Oracle Park, the Dodgers won their 99th game of the season, inching closer toward becoming the seventh organization to rack up 100 or more wins in three consecutive seasons. The Dodgers could also become the first organization to reach the 100-win mark in four consecutive full seasons.
“I’d like it,” said Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, when asked about the team chasing 100 wins. “I wasn’t part of one until last year. Winning 111 was pretty cool. I think it’s like three or four times in a row if we do it — so, yeah, that would be special.”
In 2019, ’21 and ’22, the Dodgers came in with lofty expectations and were expected to be among the top teams in the Majors. This season, however, with some core pieces of those teams now playing elsewhere, the Dodgers somehow came into the year under the radar.
Despite those lower outside expectations, here the Dodgers are again, on the verge of winning triple-digit games and entering the postseason with a 10th National League West title in 11 seasons.
To rack up that number of wins, it’s obvious that you need a lot of good players. The Dodgers surely don’t lack in that department, especially this season as they continue to set new individual and team records.
On Thursday, Freeman, Mookie Betts, Max Muncy and J.D. Martinez officially became the first quartet of Dodgers teammates to all reach the 100-RBI mark in a single season. On Friday, Martinez drove in the 1,000th run of his career, blasting a three-run homer in the sixth inning to give the Dodgers their 900th run of the season and extra breathing room in the game.
Martinez has been the Dodgers’ best hitter in September and is putting the finishing touches on his best month in Los Angeles. The Dodgers’ designated hitter now has eight homers in September.
“J.D., man, he’s on one right now,” said Dodgers manager Dave Roberts. “You look at the totality of his run production, given how much time he’s missed, it’s remarkable. He just comes to work every day ready to help us win and he obviously makes us a lot better. What a season he’s put together.”
With two games left in the regular season, Betts and Freeman are also at the doorstep of reaching a pair of milestones. Betts has been stuck at 39 homers since Sept. 11, but he’s trying to get to the 40-homer mark for the first time in his career. He’s also trying to gain some separation from Ronald Acuña Jr. in RBIs as Betts currently holds the record for most runs driven in by a leadoff hitter in a single season.
Freeman, on the other hand, got much closer to making history. He hit both his 29th homer and 59th double of the season on Friday, going 3-for-4 in the process. Freeman now has 90 extra-base hits this season, which is the most in the Majors.
The 34-year-old is four extra-base hits shy of tying the Dodgers’ single-season franchise record set by Babe Herman in 1930. He’s also vying to become the first player in Major League history with 30 homers and 60 doubles in a single season. He’ll get two more cracks at it in San Francisco.
“If that happens, that happens. I’m not really worried about that,” Freeman said. “If I start feeling good at the plate and start having good swings, that will potentially result in those. But if you start thinking about individual things, you’re playing for the wrong reason.”
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