LOS ANGELES – With a rookie manager leading them through record use of the disabled list – including the 75-day loss of their ace to a back injury – and leaning as heavily on the products of baseball’s top-ranked farm system as baseball’s highest payroll, the Dodgers finished atop the National League West again when Charlie Culberson’s walkoff home run in the 10th inning gave them a 4-3 victory over the Colorado Rockies Sunday afternoon.
The Dodgers will head to the post-season for the seventh time in the past 11 seasons. They are the first team to win the NL West in four consecutive seasons, the first National League team to win their division four consecutive times since the Philadelphia Phillies won the NL East five consecutive times from 2007 to 2011.