2024 National League Division Series


The 2024 National League Division Series were two best-of-five playoff series in Major League Baseball's 2024 postseason to determine the participating teams of the 2024 National League Championship Series. These matchups are:
The team with the better regular season record of each series hosts Games 1, 2, and 5, while the lower seeded team hosts Games 3 and 4.
The Dodgers would go on to defeat the New York Mets in the NLCS
and then win the World Series over the Mets fellow Subway Series rival New York Yankees.

Background

The top two division winners are determined by regular season winning percentages. The final two teams are the winners of the National League Wild Card Series, played between the league's third to sixth-seeded teams.
The Los Angeles Dodgers clinched their 12th consecutive postseason berth on September 19, won the National League West and earned a first-round bye on September 26, and clinched the best record in both NL and MLB on September 28, giving them home-field advantage through the World Series. With their 12th consecutive postseason appearance, the Dodgers currently hold the longest active playoff streak in major North American professional sports. They played the San Diego Padres, who qualified for the postseason as the fourth seed wild card entrant. They swept the fifth-seeded Atlanta Braves in the Wild Card Series for the Padres to return to the NLDS for the third time in the past five seasons. San Diego won the season series against Los Angeles, 8–5, and it was the first time the Padres won a season series against their rivals since 2010. This was a continuation of the Dodgers-Padres rivalry and the third postseason meeting between the two teams. Their previous playoff meetings were in the 2020 NLDS and the 2022 NLDS in which the Dodgers swept the former series and the Padres won the latter series in one of the biggest upsets in postseason history. This was the fifth straight year for an all-National League West match-up in the NLDS.
The Philadelphia Phillies clinched a postseason berth on September 20, won the National League East on September 23, and clinched a first-round bye on September 25 It was the Phillies third straight postseason and it represented their first appearance as NL East champions since 2011. They played the New York Mets, who qualified for the postseason as the sixth-seed wild card entrant due to their head-to-head record versus the Atlanta Braves, the team they finished tied with. New York, which was 11 games under.500 at one point in the season, was the third straight sixth seed to make it out of the Wild Card series round in the National League. They did this by defeating the Milwaukee Brewers in three games, due in part to a Pete Alonso three-run home run in the top of the ninth inning that gave the Mets the lead and eventual series-win; this was their first NLDS trip since their pennant season of. The Phillies won the season series over the Mets, 7–6. This was the first postseason meeting of the Phillies and Mets, who have been rivals since the creation of the Mets franchise in 1962 but have had mutual winning seasons only ten times in 63 years of co-existence. This was also the third straight year the NLDS featured an all-National League East match-up, with the Braves versus Phillies occurring in 2022 and 2023.

Matchups

Los Angeles Dodgers vs. San Diego Padres

Philadelphia Phillies vs. New York Mets

Los Angeles vs. San Diego

This is the third postseason meeting between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. Their previous playoff meetings were in the 2020 NLDS, which Los Angeles won in a three-game sweep, and the 2022 NLDS, which San Diego won in four games in one of the biggest upsets in postseason history.

Game 1

Game 1 featured starters Dylan Cease for the Padres and Yoshinobu Yamamoto for the Dodgers. The Padres jumped to an early lead in the top of the first when Luis Arráez scored on an RBI groundout by Jurickson Profar, then Manny Machado hit a two-run home run to extend the lead to three runs. In the bottom of the second, Shohei Ohtani hit his first playoff home run, a three-run shot to tie the game. In the top of the third, Xander Bogaerts hit a two-run RBI double to score Jackson Merrill and Fernando Tatís Jr., giving San Diego a 5–3 lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Tommy Edman scored on a wild pitch, bringing the Dodgers within one. Teoscar Hernández delivered a two-run single that scored Ohtani and Mookie Betts, as the Dodgers took the lead for the first time in the game. In the bottom of the fifth, Will Smith scored from third while Edman grounded into double play, extending the Dodgers' lead to 7–5. In the top of the eighth, Blake Treinen escaped a two-out bases-loaded jam to preserve a 7–5 lead for the Dodgers and he then closed out the side with a five-out save, winning Game 1 for Los Angeles and a 1–0 series lead.
With the victory, the Dodgers won their first playoff game since Game 1 of the 2022 NLDS against the same opponent.

Game 2

Game 2 started with a solo home run from Fernando Tatís Jr. off Jack Flaherty in the top of the first to give the Padres the early lead. In the bottom of the first, Jurickson Profar robbed Mookie Betts of a potential game-tying home run with a leaping catch. In the top of the second, David Peralta hit a two-run home run as the Padres extended their lead to 3–0. In the bottom of the second, Gavin Lux hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Teoscar Hernández, cutting the Padres' lead to 3–1. In the top of the sixth, Jackson Merrill hit an RBI single off Anthony Banda to score Tatís as the Padres extended their lead to 4–1. Prior to the bottom of the seventh, Dodgers fans appeared to throw objects on the field from the stands, apparently aimed at Profar, which caused an on-field delay for roughly 12 minutes with security officers, umpires, and some Padres teammates on the field addressed the situation. In the top of the eighth, Merrill hit a two-run home run off Ryan Brasier to score Manny Machado as the Padres further extended their lead to 6–1. Additionally, Merrill's home run was the first postseason home run of his career. Xander Bogaerts then hit a solo home run back-to-back off Michael Grove as the Padres further extended their lead to 7–1. In the top of the ninth, Kyle Higashioka hit a solo home run off Edgardo Henriquez to extend the Padres' lead to 8–1. Tatís then hit a two-run home run to score Luis Arráez giving the Padres a 10–1 lead. With that home run, the Padres set a postseason franchise record and tied an MLB postseason record with six home runs in a single game. The Padres are the first team in Major League Baseball history to hit six home runs in a single postseason game on the road. The Dodgers got one more run in the bottom of the ninth when Max Muncy hit a solo home run off Alek Jacob. Jacob then closed the game by striking out Gavin Lux for the final out of the game for the Padres to take Game 2 and even the series one game apiece.

Game 3

The Dodgers scored first, with Mookie Betts hitting a solo home run off Michael King in the top of the first. The Padres answered in the bottom of the second, starting with Xander Bogaerts reaching first base via a fielder's choice and scoring Manny Machado, followed by a double by David Peralta that scored both Jackson Merrill and Bogaerts. A sacrifice fly by Kyle Higashioka scored Peralta, and Fernando Tatís Jr. ended the inning with a two-run home run off Walker Buehler to make the score 6–1. In the top of the third, Teoscar Hernández hit a grand slam to shrink the Padres' lead to one run. Both bullpens kept the game scoreless the rest of the way, with Robert Suárez getting a four-out save for the Padres, giving them the lead in the series. Tatis' home run would prove to be the last runs the Padres scored in the series, and the season.

Game 4

The Padres started Dylan Cease on three days rest for the first time in his career, while the Dodgers opened with Ryan Brasier in a bullpen game. The Padres were in position to take another series over the favored Dodgers in nearly identical fashion as in 2022; Los Angeles also was without injured all-star Freddie Freeman. Despite the apparent pitching disadvantage, the Dodgers bullpen held San Diego while Cease allowed a Mookie Betts solo home run in the first, his second consecutive first-inning home run. Shohei Ohtani hit a two-out RBI single in the top of the second to chase Cease from the game, and Betts followed with another RBI single to extend the Dodgers' lead to 3–0. In the top of the third, Will Smith hit a two-run home run off Bryan Hoeing to extend the Dodgers' lead to 5–0. In the top of the seventh, Tommy Edman hit a sacrifice bunt, scoring Max Muncy to extend the Dodgers' lead to 6–0. Gavin Lux then hit a two-run home run off Wandy Peralta to increase the Dodgers' lead to 8–0. Eight Dodger relievers combined to shut out the Padres to force a winner-take-all Game 5 back in Los Angeles.

Game 5

This was just the fourth winner-take-all postseason game in San Diego's history and Los Angeles' 17th such game.
Game 5 marked the first matchup between two Japanese-born starting pitchers in the history of the Major League Baseball postseason. In the bottom of the second, Enrique Hernández hit a solo home run off Darvish to put the Dodgers on the board 1–0. Yamamoto allowed only two hits and one walk in five scoreless innings. In the bottom of the seventh, Teoscar Hernández hit a solo home run off Darvish to extend the Dodgers' lead to 2–0. Blake Treinen closed out the Padres to seal the series with a second consecutive shutout for the Dodgers to advance to the NLCS for the first time since 2021.
The Dodgers held the Padres scoreless for the last 24 innings of the series.