Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I don’t think there’s any debate that Giancarlo Stanton hits the most visually satisfying homers in the history of baseball. 

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Unfamiliar territory for the Dodgers

Remember at the start of the baseball season when everyone was upset with the Dodgers’ offseason spending spree and convinced that they would cruise to a second straight World Series? So much for that. 

The Dodgers fell to the Angels in a wild Freeway Series showdown in Anaheim on Tuesday night and, in the process, surrendered sole possession of first place in the NL West for the first time in 59 days. 

It was a bonkers, back-and-forth game that saw the lead change four times. It featured a triple play in the sixth inning (hit into by Shohei Ohtani and turned by Angels shortstop Zach Neto), a laser beam of a go-ahead homer by Ohtani in the top of the ninth and a controversial missed call in the bottom of the ninth that extended the game before Jo Adell won it for the Angels with a walk-off single in the bottom of the 10th. 

Meanwhile, up the California coast in San Francisco, the Padres cruised to a 5–1 win over the Giants behind home runs from Jose Iglesias and Jackson Merrill. 

After the Dodgers’ loss and the Padres’ win, both teams are now 68–52 on the season, but headed in opposite directions. 

The Dodgers had seen their lead in the division grow to as many as nine games. But since July 3, they’re a mere 12–20. That’s the sixth-worst record in the majors over that span and their worst 32-game stretch since 2018. 

The Padres, on the other hand, have been playing great baseball over the past six weeks. San Diego was an unimpressive 45–39 through the end of June but has gone 23–13 since then to erase the Dodgers’ once sizable lead. The Padres are feeling good about how they’ve been playing lately but are careful not to get ahead of themselves. 

“A lot of games to go,” Merrill said. “There’s nothing we can control over there. We’re all in the moment here.”

The Dodgers have had a stranglehold on the division for more than a decade, finishing in first in 11 of the last 12 seasons. (The lone exception was 2021, when they had 106 wins and the Giants had 107.) The Padres haven’t won the division since 2006, and have made the postseason just three times in that period. But the division crown isn’t the only thing the Dodgers and Padres will be fighting for over the final six weeks of the season. They’re currently a game and a half behind the Phillies for the second of two first-round byes in the playoffs. Whichever team finishes with the third-best record among division winners will have to play a crapshoot of a best-of-three series. That’s a position the Dodgers never believed they’d be in danger of being in. 

The best of Sports Illustrated

The top five…

… things I saw last night: 
5. Bo Bichette’s impressive throw from deep in the hole and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s full split at first to secure the out. 
4. Pete Alonso’s 253rd career home run, setting a new Mets franchise record. He added another homer later in the game. 
3. A hilariously terrible play by Rangers pitcher Robert Garcia. 
2. A towering 447-foot home run by Giancarlo Stanton. 
1. Some impressive teamwork by the Mets for an unusual double play.


This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Dodgers Lose Sole Possession of First Place After Wacky Loss to Angels.

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