Dodgers host Giants, eye postseason seeding

The Los Angeles Dodgers will return home Friday night to face the San Francisco Giants in a rivalry that will have much less bite this time around.

The Dodgers (93-60) clinched their 13th National League West title in 14 seasons on Thursday, while the Giants (64-89) are finishing their schedule as one of the worst teams in baseball.

In 2021, the Giants won the division with a 107-55 record, edging the Dodgers by one game.

This year, Friday will mark the first of six games between the teams over the final two weekends of the regular season.

Los Angeles earned an 8-2 victory at Cincinnati on Thursday to clinch the West title and is positioned as one of the top two division winners in the NL, which would give the Dodgers a bye into the NL Division Series.

Los Angeles is two games behind the NL-best Milwaukee Brewers and four games ahead of the NL's third-best team, the Atlanta Braves.

Should the Dodgers overtake the Brewers, they would be the top seed, getting home-field advantage throughout the NL playoffs.

The Dodgers' Kyle Tucker is coming to the end of one of the worst regular seasons in his career but had a home run among his four hits Thursday. He is now 12-for-29 (.414) with four home runs and 10 RBIs over his past eight games.

"From Day 1 of spring training, we knew our goal was to get to the World Series and win it," Tucker said as champagne was being sprayed in the clubhouse on Thursday. "There are a lot of steps and a lot of games before we get to that point, but ... we all know where we want to be at the end and we know what it takes to get there."

The Dodgers are the two-time defending World Series champions.

Los Angeles will send right-hander Tyler Glasnow (4-1, 3.50 ERA) to the mound against the Giants in the opener of the Dodgers' final homestand of the regular season. In four starts since returning from a back injury, Glasnow is 1-1 with a 4.91 ERA and has allowed four runs in each of his past two outings.

In nine career appearances (eight starts) against the Giants, he is 6-1 with a 3.02 ERA.

The Giants will counter with left-hander Cesar Perdomo (0-1, 3.68 ERA), who will make his fourth career appearance and his third start while experiencing the longtime rivalry for the first time.

In his home debut Saturday against the San Diego Padres, Perdomo gave up five runs on 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings in a 7-6 loss after allowing just one run over the first 10 innings of his career.

"I just see it as an outing to learn from," Perdomo said in Spanish, according to MLB.com.

San Francisco has come to life over the past two weeks at the expense of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Giants swept the Cardinals in a three-game home series last week and are coming off two victories in three games at St. Louis in the teams' most recent series..

Drew Gilbert hit a two-run, pinch-hit home run in the 10th inning of Wednesday's 6-5 victory at St. Louis. Andrew Knizner and rookie Jonah Cox each had three hits for the Giants.

With Rafael Devers out for the remainder of the season following surgery this week to repair a core muscle, Bryce Eldridge will get the most playing time at first base over the final three series of the season.

Eldridge, who is closing out his rookie season, has 17 home runs and 57 RBIs in 107 games, including a 461-foot blast in a 10-3 victory at St. Louis on Tuesday.

"I think right now we just see him on an incline," Giants manager Tony Vitello said.