Three Games Separate the NL's Big Four — and Nobody Is Blinking
Yamamoto quiets Milwaukee, Clay Holmes and Seiya Suzuki blank St. Louis, and the National League's four-team fight for two playoff byes tightens again.
The best race in baseball right now isn't in any one division — it's the four-way fight at the top of the National League, where three games separate the Brewers (75-48), Dodgers (74-49), Braves (73-49) and Cubs (72-51) with about six weeks left. Every one of those teams won or lost ground on Friday night, and the [live table](/standings/diamond) shifts almost daily.
Yamamoto cools off the Brewers
In the marquee series at Dodger Stadium, Yoshinobu Yamamoto gave Los Angeles exactly what a first-place fight demands: six innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts, dropping his ERA to 2.60 in a 3-1 win over NL-best Milwaukee. Andy Pages broke a 1-1 tie with his 20th home run of the season, Tommy Edman added a solo shot, and the Dodgers snapped a club-record five-game home losing streak against the Brewers. It also evened the score after Thursday night, when Milwaukee rallied for three runs in the ninth off closer Edwin Díaz to steal a 5-4 win.
The Cubs won't go away
Up at Wrigley, Clay Holmes carried a shutout into the seventh — 6.2 innings, one hit — and Seiya Suzuki's three-run homer in the sixth was all the offense Chicago needed in a 3-0 blanking of the Cardinals. The Cubs sit three back of Milwaukee in the NL Central, the closest they have been since late May, according to the Chicago Sun-Times, which notes roughly 40 games remained entering the weekend.
Why it matters
Only two NL teams get a first-round bye, and four are effectively tied for them. Atlanta did itself no favors Friday, shut out 2-0 at home by Arizona — the same D-backs who sit in the wild-card hunt with the Padres and Phillies. The Brewers-Dodgers series continues through the weekend; check [today's slate](/matches/diamond) for first pitch times.