Dodgers Clinch Fifth Straight NL West Title With 8-2 Win in Cincinnati

The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched the 2026 National League West title on Thursday night, beating the Cincinnati Reds 8-2 at Great American Ball Park for their fifth straight division championship.

The latest clinch added to one of baseball’s longest-running runs of dominance. The Dodgers have now won 13 division titles in the past 14 seasons, and earlier this week they secured a 14th straight postseason appearance, tying the major league record set by the Atlanta Braves from 1991 to 2005. The division crown does not end the stakes for the final stretch, either: Los Angeles improved to roughly 93-60 and held a four-game lead over Atlanta for the No. 2 seed in the National League. Under Major League Baseball’s playoff format, the top two division winners in each league receive a first-round bye.

Kyle Tucker led the clinching win with one of his best games of the season. He had four hits, drove in three runs and hit a two-run homer in the first inning, finishing a triple short of the cycle. The Dodgers kept adding on behind a lineup that also got run production from Freddie Freeman, Max Muncy, Josué De Paula and Miguel Rojas, who homered in the ninth.

Los Angeles pieced the game together effectively on the mound. Justin Wrobleski opened with three perfect innings before Blake Treinen gave up a solo home run in the fourth. Landon Knack followed with four scoreless innings and earned the win. Seth Halvorsen allowed a run in the ninth.

For Cincinnati, starter Brady Singer had a short and difficult outing. He was charged with seven runs on nine hits and four walks over 3 1/3 innings.

The Dodgers had already clinched a playoff berth earlier in the week, but Thursday’s result sharpened the shape of their October path. A first-round bye would give them extra rest and a direct trip to the Division Series, a potentially important advantage for a club that was not fully healthy at the time of the clinch. Shohei Ohtani and Andy Pages were both on the 15-day injured list.

The bigger goal, of course, remains beyond the division. Los Angeles won the World Series in 2024 and 2025 and is trying to become a three-time defending champion. That helps explain why the organization’s standards remain unusually high even amid another division celebration.

Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman told MLB.com that the team’s focus is on how it enters the postseason.

“You get so mired in each year, it’s hard to have any perspective,” Friedman said. “We’ve had our share of troubles this year. Things where we had to work harder than we expected on a couple of fronts. But the important thing is how we finish and how we go into October.”