Dodgers already have NL West title wrapped up, and its not even July

SAN DIEGO — This is over.Like, over-over.With a 4-2 victory over the Padres on Sunday at Petco Park, the Dodgers extended their division lead over their little brothers to a season-high 10 games.The Dodgers won’t say it, so I will: They won the National League West title over the weekend, their 14th division crown in 15 years.In reality, that was already decided before the Dodgers traveled down to Port Loser to take two of three games from the Padres.A cursory glance at the Petco Park stands revealed to what extent.Unlike in recent years, the stadium was overtaken by fans in Dodger blue.San Diego is intimately familiar with failure, and the people here knew better than to invest their hopes in a team with no chance.How right they were.The Dodgers did everything but stick a Uniqlo flag in the mound at Dodger Stadium South, overcoming a Roki Sasaki stinker in the series opener Friday to take the remaining two games.Manager Dave Roberts didn’t want to make too much of the standings at this stage of the season but acknowledged a lead of this size meant something.The last time the Dodgers were ahead by as many games in the NL West was at the end of the 2023 season when they were 16 games in front of the second-place Diamondbacks.“It says a lot about what we’ve done,” Roberts said. When the Dodgers visited the Padres in the middle of last month, they departed with a 1 ½-game lead.“Right now, I think it’s a sign that we’ve kind of stayed the course, doing a lot of things well,” Roberts said.Roberts called on his team to remain on course.

The Dodgers open a three-game series against the Athletics in Sacramento on Monday and will face the Padres again in a four-game series at Dodger Stadium that starts on Thursday.There’s no reason to believe the Dodgers will crumble over the next week — or at any other point this season.Powered by a three-homer, nine-run sixth inning, they scored 15 runs Saturday.Their collective plate discipline won them the gam...